Equipment - Oolitic Sand from Stansbury Island

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Oolitic Sand from Stansbury Island

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Topic: Oolitic Sand from Stansbury Island

Posted By: Ryan Willden
Subject: Oolitic Sand from Stansbury Island
Date Posted: July 22 2002 at 7:13am

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">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/utahreefers/?yguid=89252432 for directions to the site.

Replies:

Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: August 08 2002 at 3:33pm

Oolite sand can be very useful, but I am still cautious of its size. I guess I would recommend it, as long as you are also using a crushed coral product (like the ubiquitous Carib Sea). That will really be helpful in-terms of microfauna in your tank.

Adam

Posted By: Ryan Willden
Date Posted: August 12 2002 at 6:53am

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.

Posted By: Marcus
Date Posted: September 01 2002 at 3:40pm

I also collected some of the GSL sand. However, I did find some interesting things in it after it had been in my tank for a week. I found four bullet slugs that had been fired. I am guessing that they are around 40 caliber but who cares. That was quite a suprise. I woud suggest that anyone using this sand double and triple check it before you put it in your tank! I also had a horrible time trying to clean it. I cleaned it by filling up a 5 gallon bucket 1/4 of the way with the sand. Then I filled it up water and churned it up with my hand and poured the water out. I did this about 10 times with each bit of sand. It still didn't come close to clean. I went ahead and put it my refugia and assumed that it would settle in a couple hours or half a day. Well, three days later I could start to see what I think were fish and corals. It probably took a good week before my tanks were clear again.

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: September 02 2002 at 9:21pm

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!

Posted By: Marcus
Date Posted: September 02 2002 at 9:21pm

Oops! I forgot to log in. That was me above.

Posted By: Ryan Willden
Date Posted: September 03 2002 at 10:39am

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."