I Was At Wallmart Today

[Torrean]

I bought my playsand from lowes (a hardware store) the bag had no such warnings on it. But the bags of playsand at wallmart say clearly on the front in big blue letters do not use in aquariums... Can anyone think why this would be? Sorry I didn't take down brand name or anything like that. I can go back and check in a couple days though.

 

[Mithlondwen]

Did you use it yet?

 

[Torrean]

I used playsand from lowes. It did not carry the aquarium warning. You can see it in the bottom right hand picture in my signature =)

 

[Teelie]

Most likely the Walmart stuff has an additive or compound that makes it unsuitable for aquarium use.

 

[Torrean]

Someone said they had seen antibacterial agents in some play sand in the UK. That may be what is wrong with the sand.

 

[Teelie]

I've always used pool filter and now Tahitian moon sand so I've never investigated further what is actually used in some playsands. That does sound like a reasonable assumption though given it's meant for small children to play in.

 

[wendywc]

I think I know the answer to this one.. An uncle of mine used to work in a factory. They bagged a variety of garden stuff: soil, rocks, gravel, fertilizers, sand, etc. My guess would be there is probably a concern (and rightfully so) of cross contamination. Therefore, to be safe they label them "not for aquarium use" since I would guess they are bagged by the same machines bagging fertilizer and soils and such.

Similar to how cereals and bars have warnings that "this product may contain trace elements of nuts"... They process nuts in some bars and not in others, but they still use the same mixers and equipment.

 

[Torrean]

so should we be using sand from hardware stores in our fishtanks? Lot's of people have done it. I wonder what the risk is.

 

[wendywc]

I would think you can just contact the manufacturer/supplier of your sand and ask. They should be fully aware of this issue, afterall you did find bags warning of the risk of using their's.

 

[Torrean]

Good idea. Do you guys think something about this should be put into our sand pinned topics?

 

[Teelie]

Lots of people have used play sand without adverse effects so I assume this is an exception to the rule on play sand where most of it is safe and the few that aren't have a warning about it.