Oolitic Sand from Stansbury Island

My brother and I went out to Stansbury Island and collected some of the "Oolitic Sand" yesterday afternoon. We loaded up 4- five
Gallon Buckets of the stuff for my Brothers new 80 Gallon Tank. We strained out a few pieces of bigger rock, the weeds, etc, and rinsed it thoroughly. It looks great in his tank. I was surprised that there was not much "by-product" left over after sifting. In other words, the dunes seemed pretty well untainted by any other stuff besides the weeds. We did find a few large pieces of Calcium Carbonate in the mix as well, which was kind of interesting. We did the vinegar test on both the Oolitic, and the few large pieces that we had, and both dissolved almost completely. There were only the remains of a few grains of sand. I would highly recommend this stuff to anyone wishing to start with a good base sand. We plan on adding a bag or two of live sand, and some crushed coral for some variety, but it's a great starter. And so close to home...

 

Disclaimer: These comments are merely my opinion, and not the opinion of the WMAS or its members...

My thanks to Brett of  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/utahreefers/?yguid=89252432  for directions to the site.

Actually, I am using CaribSea crushed coral as the top layer. The oolitic sand is only used as the base. It is in a starter tank, so we will also be tossing in a bag of live sand or two to jump start the system.

Hello, me again.  Today I decided to try some more of the Oolitic sand and now I vow to never use it again.  I have found more bullet slugs in it.  There may not be bullet slugs in other Oolitic sand but what else is out there?  Its not a secret that people camp out there.  As well as go shooting and partying.  On the dirt road to the collecting spot, I saw a tremendous amount of garbage and other waste on the side of the road.  What else are we putting in our tanks?  I am really worried about this.  I would rather pay the money for the peace of mind that I am not oxidizing some metal or anything else in my tank.  As a hobbiest I strive to keep my tank as litter free as possible and if I use Oolitic sand from the Great Salt Lake, I would feel like a complete hipocrit.  I say this again to anyone else using this sand, "Double and triple check it for debri."  Is it really worth a $20 or even $100 savings in sediment to kill your tank if something deadly pollutes it?  Good luck!

FYI- Do not go out to Stansbury Island and collect from the first pile of oolitic sand you find. Otherwise, you will have an experience like Marcus'. I went 75-100' from any sign of human traces, and dug down under some weed to find completely untouched sand. I know exactly where Marcus collected, because I got there right after them, and you could see where the sand had been collected. I can attest that that spot HAS been used as a backstop for target practice as shown by the cans/shotgun shells found nearby.

As a side note, I have found the sand to be an excellent undergravel bed for nitrifying bacteria, and it was very easy to clean by placing it half full in a five gallon bucket with a hose directed near the bottom to stir up the unneeded sediments... You have to collect it properly however, from an undisturbed source. Not from the "shooting range."