Aquarium Homepage

Question: Could a marine live sand be used for freshwater aquarium?

(Posted by: __A_YAHOO_USER__ on 2010-02-07 18:10:14)

I was wondering cause it looks great and i was just wondering :P and i like sand and i cant find any sand for freshwater!!! lol if there's any website i could order freshwater sand that'd be great! thank everyone!!!!

Posted by: Frank M on 2010-02-08, 05:29:50

If they sell live sand they will also have plain old aragonite sand . Its the same thing without the bacteria, plus its a lot cheaper. Reef keepers should not even use that live crap. Home cheapo play sand is silica based which is a main food source for nuisance algae. I would not use it.

Posted by: Molly Anne on 2010-02-07, 18:19:34

You can actually use play sand or pool filter sand. I purchased some at Lowe's home improvement store the other day. Make sure to rinse it thoroughly!! Looks great and my cory catfish love it!! They started burying their little faces in it the first day!! :)

Posted by: andrew on 2010-02-07, 18:50:35

You could use live sand, but it would be a waste of money. It costs around $35 dollars. Just buy some dry sand at your local pet store. It should cost around $7 and it wont have any harmful chemicals like play sand may have.

Posted by: Kayla on 2010-02-07, 19:17:07

No. The pH of the sand is too high for most freshwater fish. You can use any old sand, except for live sand. Get some play sand from Lowes or Home Depot and rinse in thoroughly with hot water. Plus live sand is a waste of money unless you are actually doing a marine tank ...