Sand Is Here! Yea!

[Canadian Man]

Well like the title says the sand is here. I am off today so if you are in need of your sand or just plain want it then today/tonight is a great time to pick it up.

Give me a call if you need directions #235-6467

If you come to the door and I don't answer it just ring the bell again cause I will be in the basement pounding nails all day.

Cheers

[reefphish]

yippee, hey remind me about the $/bag?

[Tau2301]

Picked up a bag of sand this afternoon.

Jon's basement is really taking shape - looks terrific. I now suffer once again from tank envy. :)

[Canadian Man]

Thanks Kim! Reefphish I suppose I don't have to tell you as you allready picked it up :D But as a reminder it's $25 a bag.

[kgb]

the sand is sweet johnathon but did you or anyone else knotice it gets silty easy ? is this just happen when the sand is freshly new and go's away after a while or .... :)
but yeah the tank is some what cloady and when ever the hermit crabs move over the sand bed they fling up a a cloud of silt ?

[Canadian Man]

Welcome to the world of sugar sand. It will decrease with time but if your friends read the directions on the bag it says to rinse the sand. Did they?

[StirCrazy]

if your friends read the directions on the bag it says to rinse the sand. Did they?

:shock: I hope not!! rinsing it would wash away the silt and you want that!!!

Steve

[Canadian Man]

if your friends read the directions on the bag it says to rinse the sand. Did they?

:shock: I hope not!! rinsing it would wash away the silt and you want that!!!

Steve
how come steve?

[kgb]

yeah we did and its hilarious we have come up with a few massive time consume tatics and tried them for no reason hehe just curious if anyone knows how to get ride of the silt thats all .

the tactic was we took all the the rock and put it in my tub full of salt water. them we did a massive water change and then shifted al the sand and still it did not work

[StirCrazy]

how come steve?

It is the silt that is one the different particle sizes that are benifical to the life in a DSB.

Here is a quote from Dr Ron

"most desirable of substances, "mud." Generally, what a sediment-studying scientist would refer to as fine or very fine sands with smidgen of silt, most normal folks call mud. These are sediments whose particles generally range from about 1/16th mm (0.063mm) to about 1/8th mm (0.125 mm)."

his recomendation is that 40% of your sand bed should be of this size range, by washing your sand you will most likely be getting rid of a lot of this size.

for what it is worth I dumped all my sand into the tank of water strait from the bag.. it took a week or two to settle out but now I can fluf it with my hand and it settles out right away.

kgb to answer your question, if you have critters and rock in the tank it will settle out fast.. it just takes a few days for the smaller particles to get covered with bacteria and become heavy enuf to fall out of solution.

Steve

[Bob I]

Here's an idea that I use, and will probably get flamed for (but I am getting used to people thinking they know all).

Use the sand as it comes out of the bag, and cover it with an inch or so of #6, or #7 glass beads. Glass beads are dust free so no more silt will come flying out of your sand bed. A very interesting thing is that the snails and my conch like the stuff. They bury themselves to the exact depth of the beads. I can see that because the beads are translucent, so you can see things that are buried close to the front.

It works well for me, so to all you probable detractors I say "try it you may like it" before you pan the idea. :wink:

[andestang]

Jon - PM :D

[Canadian Man]

Jon - PM :D
Ande PM :lol: back at ya

[SuperFudge]

Hey Guys,

I know the threads old but, I just thought i should mention that you SHOULD rinse your sand....regardless of the loss of silt...(or use a diatom bag of sorts.)

Especially the oolotic types that have come in to the hobby of late such as southdown and the like.
Or Re-packaged sand that has been just re-named for our purpose..and of course only to gouge us reefers a bit more. :evil:

All Sands of this type were not gathered,transported,bagged or stored in a manner that were meant for the aquatic environment,even thought they are fine to use when "clean".

These sands are usually sprayed with a "oily" type substance in the back of a dumptuck so it doesnt blow away during the transport.

Heres a quote from the manufacturer of Southdown....

Southdown Manufacturer Warning - Here is what the representative from Southdown made a point to say that he has been hearing that people have been adding there sand in salt water aquarium and that we should be informed to how the sand is collected and transported and stored. Southdown will scoop the sand with machinery and dump tons and tons in dump trucks then transport and dump the sand in large outside storage bins. Warning!!!!!! As we all know how fine this sand is he told me that as they dump the sand in the bins they will spray a liquid oily lubricant on the sand to keep the dust (sand) from flying which can be very hazardous if the sand is not washed prior to adding any animal life. Another reason to wash your sand thoroughly is Southdown is not only a sand manufacture they also manufacture different typed of gravel and rocks like slate, marble, lava rock, etc. The rock is stored in the same bins as the Southdown sand which means that other rubble is packaged with Southdown sand.

[Quinn]

the bags jon brought in from jayson also recommend rinsing.

so how does one rinse sand? pour it into a bucket of water, drain the water off, dump the wet sand into the tank? i'm not interested in doing anything more complex than that. :?

[SuperFudge]

Teevee,

I just used a heavy diatom bag that i fill with a pound or two at a time....and jam the hose in for a minute. :D

Or if the wife isnt looking,maybe swipe a pillow case. :wink:

[spikehs]

i added 4 bags from tony's lot with no ill effects (so far atleast!)

[Canadian Man]

Now I don't know much about the whole sand thing and south down and such but. So far now one has had any ill effects with not rinsing the sand, so I have heard anyway.

now I don't know if southdown is any diffrent but I do know that this is not the southdown sand, or atleast it's not in the southdown bags :roll: . So who know's if it's prepared by the same bulldozers and oil's etc.

[Aquattro]

Or if the wife isnt looking,maybe swipe a pillow case. :wink:

Are you trying to get someone killed?????? Once I did something like that. Nearly lost an arm. :shock:

[Jayson]

First the sand is not southdown or from the same place. The sand comes from the islands in the Carribean. The label says to wash it because some people do not like the silt. I myself have never washed the sand. The sand is not sprayed with oils of any kind. Hope this helps.

[SuperFudge]

Hi all,

Didnt mean to scare yall, it was mentioned as a precaution not the law.

I just had and argument against the dumping of it in the aqaurium unwashed for the means of keeping silt.
Silt will build up in your aqaurium in time wether it is wanted or not, it doesnt matter if you have a nice sandbed if the rest of your tank is dead...

I dont mean to come down on anyone who has chosen to dump it in, i dont care really,just thought id try and save someone a potential headache.
It just seems funny to me how many take so much time and effort to set up a new reef and spend piles of cash and not take one little extra step.

Jayson, I did not advise nor intend to scare people against the use of your sand....just wash sand in general, including any packaged for the enthusiasts.
Quite the opposite actually...i just purchased 7 bags of your sand 2 months ago myself.

But in all fairness Southdown comes from the same places as all of our sands...it is aragonite based and one and the same, it doesnt matter wich island.

Unless the original excavation was made especially with the aquatic industry in mind it would be transported and stored similarly.

Good luck,

[Jayson]

The sand was aquired for aquarium use a cared for acordingly. they used stainless steel equipment for the transport. Thanks

[Canadian Man]

The sand was aquired for aquarium use a cared for acordingly. they used stainless steel equipment for the transport. Thanks

I thought it involed something like that. Thanks Jayson.
Maybe that's why SD is so cheep :wink: (but of course you can't find it anyway) they just dump it in a dump truck and don't worry about the transit process because it's going to be used in sand boxes not aquariums.

cheers

[SuperFudge]

LOL,

Ok, dont wash your sand, hopefully all works out fine.

FWIW, In the past few years ive cured both sand and rock for various purposes,and the latter in thousands of pounds.

In the rock and sand batches i have found contaminants that would scare you into washing your sand and inspecting your rock.

I have ran a magnet thru various batches of sand and found...wouldnt ya guess ?...large metal shavings..hmm,just the kind that you would find from an excavator of sorts....and guess what ? it all had fancy aqaurium packaging.

In rock i have found aluminum cans and bottle caps imbeded in the rock that would have had to have been there for many years....i still have the coralline encrusted pieces of some(the ones that i could remove from the strainer in my pump :shock: )

I wasnt speaking from my arse.

It doesnt mean anyone in paticular is guilty.... they all are!
It just means do what you can to keep it out of your tank.

Again,Choose as you see fit.