Sand from the Beach?

[jimv]

I live in the Tampa Bay area and was thinking of collecting some live sand and maybe even water from the beach. I go the idea from reading an article on chucksaddiction.com. Now he is out in the Philippians so he probably has less pollution to contend with. He suggest wading out as far as you can at low tide and collecting the top layer of sand and then sifting it to remove any large objects or visible life. My kids have a sand sifter in their beach toys. I have an 2nd 8 gallon nano I was thinking of trying this with. I started my other 8 gallon nano and RSM 130 with dry and rock and it was recently brought to my attention that I may lack bio-diversity. Any thoughts on this? Any one try this themselves?

 

[DaveK]

I don't recommend it for two reasons. First, you never know what else your going to pick up. Pollution, parasites and so on can be a problem. Second, and even more important, most coastal areas have very strict laws about removing beach sand from and area. In many cases the governments spend a bundle on beach sand replenishment programs, and they want it to stay there.

 

[Oxylebius]

Before you take anything from state waters it is best to look up what your state regulations are. Florida in particular has stiff fines for illegal harvest in state waters. Here are two websites for you to look over.
FL Fish and Wildlife Commission: Recreational harvest of marine (aquarium) life

I looked into a little more and couldn't find anything on harvesting sand. They do prohibit taking live rock. So, I'm not sure if sand is considered 'live rock' as defined by the state. After looking into a little more, I found these other websites: here and here. After downloading the word doc, I found that the state defines 'live rock' as: rock with living marine organisms attached to it and includes any formations created by tube worms of the family Sabellariidae.

After doing a search for 'sand' on all of these, I couldn't find anything about harvesting sand. I would suggest following-up with the Fish and Wildlife Commission to be on the safe side. B/c in other states there is a bucket limit per day and not sure what applies in FL. Another thing to be aware of is that there are locations where harvest of any sort is off limits, so you should also look into that for your area as well.

 

[Paul B]

Sand from there is fine to use as well as all the water you could get. I don't know about the laws that is for you guys to worry about. I collect water every few weeks here in NY and if I was in Florida I would use nothing but local water and sand. The sand here in NY is to fine so I can't use it.
I have been using NSW since the 60s. No problem yet.

Forget pollution, that is just ridiculous. If you travel to the places where your fish come from, you would be amazed at the pollution in some of those places. The Atlantic is pure enough anywhere you want to collect except in bays and inlets.

 

[Oxylebius]

I wouldn't collect after a major rain event. The number one pollution that affects coastal areas from stormwater runoff is nitrogen, mostly from fertilizers or from waterwater treatment plants that overflow, there are also other pollution like pesticides and petroleum oils from roadways. In Tampa, wastewater treatment plants shouldn't be a issue, major improvements since the 70's have helped w/that.

I would monitor the Florida Healthy Beaches Program for advisories or closures. That way you can be informed of what is going on in the area. There may be other state monitoring as well that an internet search should help you find.

 

[gpdno]

I live just south of Sarasota and collected all my sand and shell rubble from the beach down the street. Never have any problems. I fill up a few 5 gal buckets, put them in the trunk and drive home. I bought a large plastic tub to wash the sand out. Just ran a hose and stirred up the sand until the water ran clear. Then just put it in the tanks. Works great and I have never had any problems.


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[lbiminiblue]

yes, you can. I did this with my 120. Just make sure to rinse the sand well.

 

[jimv]

Thanks for the info. The legality of taking the sand never crossed my mind. I was thinking of experimenting my extra tank to see how it went and then possibly seeding my other tanks to increase biodiversity if all went well.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I think every time I took the kids to the beach, we brought home one gallon of sand in our shoes & on us ...

 

[pgrtgunner]

Very cool. I live in NM.