Play sand in a reef tank

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:01 am

carbon will pull meds ...........not sure on the copper, the other reason you hear people saying to turn off the skimmers is because they get suspended solids out of the column, so if you have cloudy sandy water for a few days ................i would turn my skimmer off as i dont want that grit and crap in my skimmer making it explode {not litterally} - the "dust" will settle and calm down, if you've cleaned that sand like mad it will settle in a couple days and be fine -running your skimmer is completely up to you..........................IMO its risky......................double up on the a filter sock if you have a sump or whatever your useing as a pre filiter to catch big junk and let it go

BOSS

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:19 pm

Yeah, its a pain the rear to clean your skimmer after all the dust. I ran it......because I had fish. And I didnt want them to suffer any longer than they had to. It took me a while to add sand. And its going to when I add my Caribsea Oolite. You would go through three or four filter socks, but thankfully they are easy to clean. :) Certainly do like boss said and do a filter sock. Its like crack in cleaning.

by **kelbri** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:42 pm

I have a question to add. What would it be like with a korilla pointed at it? I'm guessing you would not want something directed right at it or it would blow up too much dust. I too have a bag of playsand (haven't checked if it's silica free or not yet) that I would love to use.

by **jnelson1983** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:22 pm

I picked up some play sand at Lowes, and I've been rinsing it extensively. Anyhow, with the whole silica issue, how soon would I know if there was silica in the sand? And how long would it take for me to know it.

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:43 am

silica is basically regular sand.............glass etc..................it tends to promote algae growth so you'll know it pretty quick i would think, serial32 used lowes playsand and really never had any issues with algae in a fresh water tank, i cant speak to salt systems though

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:14 am

Cyno aka red slime feeds directly on silica. you will know within a week or two. :)

by **jnelson1983** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:36 am

Ok... but do I have to worry about it killin the fish at all? or would that risk come from any chemicals or whatnot that are on the sand itself?

by **saltwaterpimp** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:59 am

"Cyno aka red slime feeds directly on silica" Do you have readings to back this up ? From what i understand Nitrate,phosphate,lighting and ph are common sources for cyno. Your playsand will be fine, and your going to get your normal cycles of all algaes no matter what Substrate you use.

SWP

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:51 pm

In the oceans, diatoms are silica limited in some natural settings (like the polar regions and the Sargasso Sea, where the ambient silica concentration is less than 1 mM (0.06 ppm SiO2).11 There have also been many cases where eutrophication of natural waters has raised nitrogen and phosphorus levels to the point where silica has become limiting,12 even when it was not limiting in pristine waters. In reef tanks, where nitrogen and phosphorus are often not in short supply, it makes sense that silica could be limiting. In case you were thinking that silica limitation to diatom growth is necessarily a good thing, there are drawbacks. The limitation of silica, inhibiting the growth of diatoms that would otherwise take up the limiting nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, has even been implicated in blooms of cyanobacteria.1

http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:02 pm

Directly, it feeds diatoms....which we all know makes a complete mess out of our tanks. I HATE diatom blooms. I was reading where play sand comes with diatoms in it....no matter how much you rinse it. But a little bit of silica is a good thing.......HUGE amounts is bad. fish corals and sponges all use it, so its good to have. And play sand will dissolve silica faster than anything, so thats why you end up with brown and green algae covered sand, because the algaes eat it up

In short.... its safe to use yes....thats all im going to say.......its safe.

Play sand in a reef tank

31 posts • Page 2 of 4

Play sand in a reef tank

31 posts • Page 2 of 4