Sand for tanks

I noticed sand for tanks at pet stores is crazy expensive. Can landscaping sand from lowes/home depot or a hardware store be used or do they put some weird crap like chemicals in sand that would be bad for scorpions/lizards?

I just use kids play sand or silica sand. bag of play sand is cheap enough and easily gettable.
Never had a problem with any of those sands.

2nd on the kids play sand that's why we use and it's only a few quid for 15kg so dead cheap I still bake it a bit to make sure there's no nasties in there

I use what we call here Quartz sand. Not sure if it's the same as silica sand.

Silica sand is a very fine, oven baked, dry sand used in paving etc...

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification. sounds much better than my quartz sand. Here it's frequently used for terrariums, but you can't really pack it good, it will always stay a bit loose.

I just mix it with Bentonite.

ive got a 25kg bag of kids play sand from b&q it was only £4.50 should i bake it before i use it and how long for at wot temp . or is it ok stright from the bag

I use beaches sand

I think its ok with them

Beach sand shld be fine. I'll bake anythin that is collected.
For sand, i use to buy exo terra desert sand till it got too exp to use them for all my desert specimens..
So i switched to aquarium sand which comes in diff grain size to choose from.
Abt 6USD for a bag which can fill up a 5gallon to the brim

Quote :

ive got a 25kg bag of kids play sand from b&q it was only £4.50
should i bake it before i use it and how long for at wot temp . or is
it ok stright from the bag

I just use it right from the bag, never had a problem.

thanks peloquin do u think there will be some desert hairys at the bts show this year

I should think so, there usually is. Adults were £25 last year.

i hope so bud im desprate for one lol

Haha, I know what you mean. I'm waiting for mine already 3 months. Should be here in a week or two though

ive looked on so many diffrent websites for one its unberlivable lol found a couple that sell them but one shop wants £45 for one and the other shops to far away for me to get to lol so im pinnin my hopes on the show

Point 1: Lots of people use the stuff from home improvement stores to no ill effect.

Point 2: Beach sand will have lots of salt and lots of decaying organic debris, NEITHER of which would be good in a tank. If the only sand you can get is from a beach, I would HIGHLY recommend flushing it with lots of water to remove the salt and organic matter.

Thanks for all the responses I ended up getting a huge bag of play sand for $7 from a home improvement store. I'll bake it tonight should last me a few tank changes.

I also got some live cactus in a terracotta bowl instead of the fake ones they sell which are crazy expensive and not well made at the stores near me. Hopefully they work out ok.

Will take pics and post once the new tank is done. Thanks

Mr. Mordax wrote:

Point 1: Lots of people use the stuff from home improvement stores to no ill effect.

Point 2: Beach sand will have lots of salt and lots of decaying organic debris, NEITHER of which would be good in a tank. If the only sand you can get is from a beach, I would HIGHLY recommend flushing it with lots of water to remove the salt and organic matter.

Can I bake this beach sand? if so, how would I do that

Im instantly alarmed when you said that sand from the beaches has a lot of salt and decaying organic debris

You should wash it by putting it into some sort of fine mesh strainer and running it under the faucet. You may also put it into a tall bucket and run the hose into it. It should be allowed to overflow the water without losing the sand if that makes sense. The idea here is that the water will carry out the salt with it. This will also carry out any light weight organic material. When this is done you may bake it in the oven to dry it as well as sterilize it. Put it into disposable aluminum baking sheets and bake it at 250 to 350 F until dry. The aluminum baking sheets will bend and allow you to pour your newly cleaned and sterile sand into a container for safekeeping.

Streettrash wrote:

You should wash it by putting it into some sort of fine mesh strainer and running it under the faucet. You may also put it into a tall bucket and run the hose into it. It should be allowed to overflow the water without losing the sand if that makes sense. The idea here is that the water will carry out the salt with it. This will also carry out any light weight organic material. When this is done you may bake it in the oven to dry it as well as sterilize it. Put it into disposable aluminum baking sheets and bake it at 250 to 350 F until dry. The aluminum baking sheets will bend and allow you to pour your newly cleaned and sterile sand into a container for safekeeping.

Thanks sir

Oh and one thing

How many mins should I bake the sand in the oven?

At least until it's dry. I generally bake things for about an hour or so just to be sure.