# Silica free sand??



## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I really want to switch my substrate to sand so I've spent the morning researching sand and silicates and how changing to sand could effect my brown algae problem. An now I'm nervous to switch over. The gravel/rocks I have now have been submerged since mid October. All of my reading points to the silicates leaching out around the time of my break out. Which lasts around 8w, after all of my reading it seems my rocks should stop leaching out the silicates soon. So after all of my reading I'm afraid to start with a new substrate for fear of giving my brown algae even more fuel. I have found a silica free play sand for sand boxes, but it says its not safe for aquarium use.
Any advice about switching to sand and avoiding silicates? Any black sand you could recommend that wouldn't fuel my brown algae?


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Sand is silica, except for the calcium based aragonite and whatnot.

The big concern with silicates is inhalation, and since sand is a large component of sandboxes and kids tend to be a lot closer to it, there is a big risk. Some sands claim to be silica free but really all it is is prewashed to get the dust off.

As far as aquarium application, wash wash WASH the sand. Thoroughly washing the sand is your best bet at eliminating the substrate as the source of the diatoms. Of course there are many other factors involved.

Pool filter sands and play sands say not for aquarium use but are perfectly safe. It's just sand.... It's just not the products intended purpose.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

So if I wash it really really well it shouldn't add fuel to the fire? I'm finally at a place where the diatoms growth has really slowed down. It was spreading super quick. I'd really like to give the sand a go, but not at the cost of having diatoms covering everything daily again. It drove me crazy when it was growing that quickly


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Yeah just wash it really well. Doesn't mean that you won't have some diatom growth, since it's a problem you've been dealing with already. There are very few guarantees in fish keeping.


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## SweetCheeksMum (Nov 3, 2013)

I didnt notice you had replied, Thanks for the reply... I decided to get a better heater for my tank this week. I was having fluctuations(it was changing 6° to 8° everyday) because of the extremely cold weather. I felt it was more needed then the sand right now. I'm still very interested in sand and think I'll change over to it in the next few weeks


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

A wise decision


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