MARINE SAND AND TANGS--Any Problems?

[SGypsyMermaid]

over the years, i've always read that coral should not be used in freshwater tanks because it is too sharp and freshwater fish can't navigate around it without damaging themselves. being the hard-headed aquarist that i am, i use coral rock and sand in my tanks to buffer the water.(i also like the way that it looks). i've never had any problems with the fish hurting themselves; i believe that lake cichlids in learning to navigate around sharp rocks in their natural habitat are equipped to deal with coral. however, an article on a site that boilermaker pointed to indicates that tangs, being sand sifters which blow sand out through their gills could severely damage their gills if the sand is crushed coral(coral sand). any thoughts on this?

[jonah]

What's it doing to all the gobies and dragonets in reef tanks? They sift sand too. Of course I don't know too many people that use crushed coral in marine tanks anymore. They're out there, I just don't know any.

I've had a mbuna cut itself on some lava rock so I'm not so sure about them knowing how to navigate around sharp rocks. How sharp are Malawi's rocks anyway? I heard they were more like big boulders.

[SGypsyMermaid]

you may be right about those malawi rocks. is crushed coral different from marine sand? is the sand finer?

[jonah]

Sand is finer. Crushed coral is more coarse. Can you find "Southdown" playsand in NYC Home Depots? It's like sand made out of finely powdered coral. It's all the rage on marine boards, but it's not available outside of the northeast. The cost is about $4/40 lbs. I don't know for sure that it'll buffer the water, but it's a nice white color and I think it's caltrate(?) based.

[Overawed]

What about using the crushed coral in the media container of a filter? Or would that be to small?

[SGypsyMermaid]

jonah--we have home depot's here--gotta check out the sand. overawed--i was confused...i actually have marine sand in a couple of the tanks.

[jonah]

The sand will say "Southdown Tropical Playsand" and it'll say "not for use with aquariums" on the package. Ignore the warning, it's just to cover themselves legally because of a contract with an aquarium sand supplier. It's all dredged from the same place in the Caribbean.

[Overawed]

for the sake of my filters I use Swimmingpool filter sand which is cheap and availiable at Home DePot, its heavier and lets the substrate breath a little better, but it does not look as nice. I'm always thinking point-counterpoint.

[SGypsyMermaid]

does the pool sand buffer the water? i know a lot of folks like to put the calcareous stuff in the filter, but i prefer to have it in the tank(and to be perfectly honest--i couldn't tell you why :oops: ).

[Overawed]

It does buffer the water a small bit but not much.

[Boilermaker]

I looked for the "Southdown playsand" The playsand I found was a California based company and bagged right here in Salt Lake :? guess I could try it.
I would really like some of that "Sahara Sand" from CaribSea inc.

[jonah]

There's another playsand called Yardright that comes from the Caribbean. I think Yardright and Southdown might also have regular playsand as well so you'd want to make sure it says tropical or Caribbean on the bag. Each Home Depot district seems to have a local supplier for playsand so it's hard to find this stuff locally. They sell Quickrete playsand at ours, which is silica. Good sand, but it doesn't have that cool white color and it doesn't buffer.

[jnorris]

With sand watch out fro your powerheads (if you have any) its hard on them.

I have considered sand in my new 90 gallon, but I went with polished rock and crushed coral (mostly crushed coral). A friend of mine talked me out of it because it clouds the water. I have a brackish tank in the works, I might use sand in it.

[Boilermaker]

Seems like last summer the sand was different at HomeDepot I think this is the third diff. manufacturer I've seen on the playsand.
Jnorris, How long does it take for the cloudiness to settle down? I know it was about three weeks for the African rift natural from Caribseas, and this doesn't have much sand in it. I still have to be careful when I vacuum.