Weird question. Reptile sand in saltwater tank????

Hey everyone....quick question. One of my friends is having a heck of a time with his saltwater tank and asked me to come by and look at it tonight. When I looked at the tank it almost looks like he has reptile sand and not reef sand in it. Water paramiters look ok.....but the water is still cloudy and everything in it simply is not doing that well. the tank has been up and running for several months. If it is infact reptile sand.....could that be what is hurting the fish/corals? I don't know enough about reptile sand to now if it could be a problem or not. He doesn't want to drain the tank and replace all the sand if reptile sand wouldn't make a difference.

 

Would it be possible for him/her or you to post an image, a macro shot of the sand bed.

It sounds like a tank in trouble judging from your post. I have known individuals that mistakenly also used clay based cat liter not knowing any better.

 

Folks always try to cut costs and most of the time it costs them a lot more money, time, and aggravation.
If the wrong sand was not the case, I'd make sure his flow isn't creating a sand storm. How old is the tank and what is in it? If he added live stock without letting it cycle through, it will be a ticking time bomb.

Sent from my HTC EVO using Tapatalk

 

I do have reptiles also and the sand used fOr the substrate (I would imagine) would just be terrible for fish and coral. There are specific nutients in reptile sand. I would guess that if they have that as the sand bed then yes, that would be a huge problem

 

Sounds like trouble....

 

^^ Agree