Florida Keys Sand

I'd be worried about polution. Key West is beautiful (my wife and I vacation there every year for our anniversary), but not sure I would want the sand from there. Key West is a heavily inhabited island, cruise ships go in and out of there, and there is also a naval base. My guess is there is stuff in the coastal sand that may not impact the water quailty on a macro scale (the ocean), but would cause havoc on a micro scale (your fish tank)

 

Yeah the more I think about it the more I have the same thoughts. :-/

 

Also I am pretty sure collecting sand is illegal. I know taking rocks is and it comes with a very hefty fine.

 

Better find out this for sure. .. because they'll see it if she goes through airport security. They're trained to look for stuff like live rock, illegal corals ect.

 

Well, I looked all over and the only info I find is that there are illegal fishing areas but nothing about less than a gallon of sand being illegal (or even more than that for that matter.)

 

I'm 2 hrs. from Key West !!! Do not take any Rock, sand is ok !!! I rotate my water changes from the Keys in my boat !!! One time I buy 60 gallons at LFS and the next time I get it from the keys 5 miles out !! !!:

 

Go with sugar size oolite and seed a little from somebody else's tank. Have her bring you a T-shirt from Sloppy Joe's instead.

 

there were some guys on ebay selling live sand for cheap, they didn't say it but i guessed from the quantities, location, and pics they just got if from the beach.

heres another guy doing the same thing just jazzed up the bio
Aquarium Live Sand 40 lbs Florida Aquatic substrate - eBay (item 260376604281 end time Mar-19-09 19:31:03 PDT)

looks like the sand from virginia beach lol

 

better watch out with that. taking live sand is very illegal in Florida. Same punishment as taking rock. Collected sand comes from federal water. not judging, just informing. People poach it from "private lands" often, truth is any land in Florida covered by water (that is a part of the ocean - more than that but for our purposes..), is state owned submerged land. Get it from somebody taking it from federal waters. The deep water sand is better anyway.

 

Taking sand IS NOT illegal guys. I was born there, I grew up there, a true salt-water conch.
The legality is not what I'm concerned about, it's the pollution and such.
If it is illegal then it is not a written law, therefore not illegal. Not a written law that I could find anywhere anyway.
Feeding fish and other animals - illegal
harvesting coral or natural live rock - illegal
sand - not illegal
empty conch shells - not illegal
plant life on sand dunes - illegal
killing "dolphin" - illegal
nude sunbathing - illegal