Can i use the sand from the beach for my axi's tank

[betty]

hi..my axi's on gravel at the moment and his so sick because he ate some of them. i believe it's better i use sand rather than gravel...but i am not sure if beach sand is ok for my axi. the beach is just out side of the door and i dont have to buy it from petshop.

wat's ur advice? thanks

 

[karrie]

Yes sand is better.I would not use the beach sand. The germs and things like that you can get rid of by boiling or baking . I would be worried about the other stuff you wont be able to get out of it. You can get play sand at a hardware store it's pretty cheap.

 

[kapo]

Bunnings or mitre 10 will have cheap bags of playsand . It is ok to have no substrate (I have sand but after looking after my sisters baby axies do find it far easier having no substrate especially for cleaning and feeding!) the leftover gravel that I got when I bought four of my axies look very pretty in my potplants!

(Message edited by kapo on March 11, 2007)

 

[betty]

thanks KAPO

i really think the tank looks prettier with gravels or sand but well...for the safety of the axi..i am taking everything out of the tank now..

 

[jennifer]

The problem with beach sand is that it often contains a lot of crushed shells. Shells will change the pH of the tank water, sometimes making it way too high. Using it really depends on the composition of the sand and cleaning/boiling it really well.

 

[karen]

dont use it - it killed my tanks ph and the water wnet all cloudy