gulf of mexico sand for refugium OK or not??

[scuba guy ron]

Does anyone know if it is OK to use local sand for a homemade refugium? The salinity here in Clearwater Florida is off the meter so I'm sure I will have some die off. problem is I dont want to take the sand out of th display tank for my fuge. Will this sand be ok?

[Sisterlimonpot]

are you going to use it as live sand or are you going to bleach and kill everything? I think that you would be opening yourself up to a lot more problems.

[scuba guy ron]

wasnt going to bleach it. was going to use it as live sand. I currently hae mangroves growing in my overflow and will transplant them into this as well as some cheato. when you say problems why and how? do you mean if I bleach it or use it as live? Why would I bleach sand for a fuge?

[mukymuk]

I definitely wouldn't put it in a live system. Keep the fuge separate from the DT and wait for it to cycle. Stay on top of water changes.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you dig deep you might pick up some anoxic material which probably wouldn't be good.

I wouldn't bleach it. That would defeat the purpose of using it in the first place. You do need to be careful though, because you really don't know what's in the sand--chemically or biologically.

We hobbyists put all kinds of unknown stuff in our tanks, so why not some locally gathered material?

[scuba guy ron]

well If I dont use gulf sand, then the sand wont get seeded unless I get a piece of live rock from the Local fish store...rite?

[sam11909]

I think it's illegal to take sand from the beach, at least that's what I've heard.

[100%hydrophylic]

just dont get caught......... that solves the legality issues lol. but i would definately cycle the sand separate from your dt before connecting it

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally posted by scuba guy ron
well If I dont use gulf sand, then the sand wont get seeded unless I get a piece of live rock from the Local fish store...rite?

You don't need live rock to seed it all you need is a little bit of live sand from an established tank to seed it. I guess it would be nice to know what your intentions are? Are you wanting to save money and get the sand from the beach or are you looking for more biological diversity? If so don't do it. You’ll introduce things to your tank that you won’t want in there. Buy live sand from the LFS and it will give you plenty diversity. However if you like the look of the sand from the beach..(and if it's not illegal) collect it and clean it out killing all bacteria and life then use it in your sump/fuge, seeding it with live sand from an established tank will help speed up the process. Good luck.

[scuba guy ron]

Originally posted by 100%hydrophylic
just dont get caught......... that solves the legality issues lol. but i would definately cycle the sand separate from your dt before connecting it

That wont be difficult since the guy at our marina saves mangrove pods for me already. by the way my tank is 37g column with a 10 g sump. I made a seperate fuge out of tupperware so needless to say I have a serious lack of space. that being said all I'll be adding is 3x6 inch space about 3 in deep. do you think tht will make that much difference as far as cycling goes? I'v added some small pieces of LR without any ill effects in the past.

[sam11909]

I've been taking it home for years, atleast now I can do it with a good conscience!

[scuba guy ron]

Originally posted by Sisterlimonpot
You don't need live rock to seed it all you need is a little bit of live sand from an established tank to seed it. I guess it would be nice to know what your intentions are? Are you wanting to save money and get the sand from the beach or are you looking for more biological diversity? If so don't do it. You’ll introduce things to your tank that you won’t want in there. Buy live sand from the LFS and it will give you plenty diversity. However if you like the look of the sand from the beach..(and if it's not illegal) collect it and clean it out killing all bacteria and life then use it in your sump/fuge, seeding it with live sand from an established tank will help speed up the process. Good luck.

When you say buy live sand from the lfs, do you mean the sand in the bag better known as dead sand? see th prblem is that I dont know anyone with sand from an established system and the lfs has none to spare.

[Snakebyt]

you can always take a scoop of sand out of your display tank and add it to any dead sand you put in the fuge, that will seed it and there will be no cycle doing it that was either

[100%hydrophylic]

ohhhh its just that tiny bit of sand? i was picturing liek a 10g fuge or somehting. i mean if its that small you might get just a tiny tiny bit of a cycle that might bother living things in your tank a tiny bit. but i dont think it would be tooo serious. just have a water change or two ready just in case.

[scuba guy ron]

Originally posted by Snakebyt
you can always take a scoop of sand out of your display tank and add it to any dead sand you put in the fuge, that will seed it and there will be no cycle doing it that was either

as stated in my inital post i dont want to do this. the reason being that when i set up this tank 4 yrs ago I was a little naive and only have a 3" sand bed. I have none to spare.

[scuba guy ron]

Originally posted by 100%hydrophylic
ohhhh its just that tiny bit of sand? i was picturing liek a 10g fuge or somehting. i mean if its that small you might get just a tiny tiny bit of a cycle that might bother living things in your tank a tiny bit. but i dont think it would be tooo serious. just have a water change or two ready just in case.

what i used fothe fuge is a large tupperware cerial container. I'll post a pic.

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally posted by scuba guy ron
When you say buy live sand from the lfs, do you mean the sand in the bag better known as dead sand? see th prblem is that I dont know anyone with sand from an established system and the lfs has none to spare.

Yes the Live Sand that comes in a wet bag. It usually has an expiration date stamped on the bag. It will create more biodiversity.

[scuba guy ron]

[scuba guy ron]

[Sisterlimonpot]

Wow that's tiny. It’s not going to take much to fill that with sand, now I see why you want to get it from the beach. All you need is for a couple people to donate some LS and you can have that thing filled in no time.

[baldomero]

hey if u scuba then u can collect a little farther than the shore and im on the same boat with u i try to get water and some fish from the ocean a few miles from me

[scuba guy ron]

i will get the sad diving in the gulf. prbly 30 miles offshore in 80 feet of water to b as sure as i canvb that it isnt contaminated.

[scuba guy ron]

Originally posted by Sisterlimonpot
Wow that's tiny. It’s not going to take much to fill that with sand, now I see why you want to get it from the beach. All you need is for a couple people to donate some LS and you can have that thing filled in no time.

like i said earlier, 3x6 inch space about 3 in deep and i dont have the luxury of getting the live sand from the lfs. so my question till stands. gulf of mexico sand for refugium OK or not??

[baldomero]

i think 30 miles offshore is more than good just make sure the place u collect has alot of life around it

[scuba guy ron]

Im sure it will start some sort of tiny cycle since its only a little bit of sand but my skimmer works like a champ so I'm thinking I'll be ok.

[merek123]

what about unwanted pests? I wouldn't take the risk.