im gonna use play sand.

Why the deep sand bed? IMO it's not worth it. To much hassle if you ever upgrade or want to reaquascape or disturb it in any way. I have about 1-2" of sand in my 55. I bought a bag 40# of argonite sand from Petco for $20. You could probably get away with just 1 bag. And as the others have said, if you can't afford sand, how are you going to be able to afford other, much more expensive pieces of equipment.

 

There you go Gexxy, $20 @ PetCo!!

 

@Jwinn- i can afford it, just need it to be summer so i can start working again. the tank comes with everything for a freshwater tank, i just need sand and rock. seabass is gonna sell me some base rock i believe, i just want ot save as much mone as possible so i can start saving for fish. (radiatta lionfish arent cheap at my lfs) i CAN afford this stuff, its just i want to save the most money possible.

 

to bad you dont live in florida, you could just go to the beach with some buckets and get some sand for free..

 

I am all about saving a buck. I am fortunate and do not really need to, but choose to: when it makes sense. I buy equipment used, I buy from locals in the club. I wish you were local, I have about 100 pounds of aragonite sand I would gladly give you which I plan to give away.

You will be investing lots of money down the road and saving money on some things make sense, but when you roll the dice on something like sand and don't win, well, that sucks. You don't want to have to break down the tank later due to something so simple as sand. I encourage you to look into a local club to find someone that may cut you a break on sand. Not saying play sand won't work, but do you want to take the chance?

 

Don't mess with play sand... if not for the silica content because it's just ugly, and usually very dusty.

Many local landscape bulk material places stock huge piles of aragonite sand for use in beach volleyball courts, sand boxes (silica free), and landscaping.

They usually sell it by the ton or by the cubic yard. If you ask nicely and bring a pizza I bet they would just give you 100# or so. Or at most charge you $20 - bring buckets!

I would call the smaller landscaping contractors in town and see if they can get it, or look for a bulk materials suppler (around here it's Calmat / Lafarge) They may not know what Aragonite sand is, so ask for "beach sand" or "sea sand" or something like that. Check it out, it should have tiny bits of shell in it and stuff...

If they have it at worst it's been stored outside for months or years and will have some dust and blow sand in it, so rinse it well.

-Doug

 

a 20 pound bag of argonite sand is like $20 its a very bright white and is very safe, I bought mine dry and put it in my tank let it sit for awhile and it wasn't a week and I saw beneficial worms going through the sand as well as when I put my tiggerpods in the tank they burrowed in the sand and now I have a great colony of pods.

 

I have the play sand in now in a display to try it. It has been a month, the rock was live from the same tank, it just moved and the sand changed...no diatoms yet, but it sat in the dark for 2 weeks. I am guessing there will be some, will let you know....


It kind of sticks to fish more than I would like.

 

Did you do the "fizz" test before you used the sand John?

 

yea john send me a pm or post on this thread please if all goes well, or the opposite. ill find a landscape company but i may just get 55 lbs on ebay.