Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I'm not sure if this topic has ever been addressed. Has anyone ever gotten sand from the beach and put it in thier tank? My husband went snorkeling at the beach this past summer and brought me some snails he caught. There was a little bit of sand in the bucket and I noticed a few small bristle worms, so I poured them in the tank along with the little bit of sand and water that was in the bucket. So I would like to get more sand from the beach in hopes that it has more little creatures in it. What is your opinion on this?

only thing i can tell you is that be careful.

There are a lot of chemicals in the waters that we swim in etc... The further out and deeper you can go, the better.

saying that, check the local laws..

I thought about that myself while I was setting up my tank, and opted against it for the time being until I can figure out what is legal and to have the time to clean it and let it dry before I add it. For some reason i remember taking sand at least from Pensacola beach might be against the law... not 100% though

Anyone able to confirm this?

i remember reading before that the sand around here is silica based; so, you dont get the buffering that calcium based sand would give you. also, i think some sort of algae uses silica? maybe diatoms? anyway, something needs silica to bloom.

Beach sand as-is, is really bad for tanks, not because of being silica based, but all of the pollutants in it if cleaned, it should be fine. Its the same type or similar to that used in glass which is what most of our tanks are made of. The major problem is that it gives a strange look to tanks because of its transparent properties. Personally I think it looks like crap.

i think this article will answer your question. http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html

It's better just to not use it. It is harder than aragonite sand so it can scratch glass, it looks brown, it may have pollutants in itand you can get the same life off good live rock (I did have silica sand from HD in my old tank so I do speak some from experience). Plus when the suntan lotion and cigarette butts float to the top of the water it blocks too much light and the snails try to use the beer bottle tops for shells .