DIY substrate?

[Sanctum38]

So a friend of mine (doesnt know anything about aquariums) brought up an idea, making your own substrate.

For example, what he was thinking, go down to a beach and sift the sand to get the thicker grains, and collect enough to say fill the bottom of a tank.

Would this be a bad idea? or?

[neven]

technically you are not allowed to remove sand from beaches. however there are many ways to get cheap substrates.

Play sand
Pool filter sand
Traction sand
pea gravel
Black Beauty (for sandblasting, made from coal slag)
Lead slag (as with black beauty, controversial, many on planted tank succesfully use it)

With the landscaping stuff, you can look up the brand name, see where their source is and check the PH of the water sources to see if you'll have some buffering. Also with landscaping you can mix various grades of peagravel, traction sand and sand to give a more textured bottom. For a large tank you are looking at a fraction of the cost.

Vinegar lets you know if there is limestone in the rocks/sand (yay for mcdonalds packets) if it foams then dont buy it

[gklaw]

So a friend of mine (doesnt know anything about aquariums) brought up an idea, making your own substrate.

For example, what he was thinking, go down to a beach and sift the sand to get the thicker grains, and collect enough to say fill the bottom of a tank.

Would this be a bad idea? or?

Baaaaaad idea 45 lbs of filter sand for $15 - not worth it. Lie on the beach and enjoy the breeze

And Neven is right, you are mining without a permit

[Sanctum38]

Oh, well this is good to know then! :P Yeah my LFS doesnt carry any type of sands, or clays... etc. nothing other than plain sized gravel substrate, in acrylic colors, or natural stones.

[neven]

try hardware stores, pool supplies, etc. Dirt cheap when you remove the term aquarium from the equation

[time4mercy]

try hardware stores, pool supplies, etc. Dirt cheap when you remove the term aquarium from the equation

I see what you did there!

[mcrocker]

From other comments I have heard in the past it sounds like the color of sand can be variable, but I'm pretty pleased with the sandblasting sand I got from lordco. It's light colored, kind of an off-white color, and is very cheap.

[teija]

I used regular play sand in a 5 gallon I set up a couple of years ago and it was ok.... had to rinse it a LOT (which is kind of difficult with sand, as it mixes in with the water and goes down the train. Just use a deep bucket with not too much sand, and don't agitate too much.