INTERESTING QUESTION! *Can I use live sand from the Ocean?*
- Thread starter HandsyLobster
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Js.Aqua.Project
Reef Addict
I wish I lived close enough to dive the Keys often. I usually end up puddle jumping the springs up here.
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HandsyLobster
Active Member
The springs are beautiful I've dove them before!
legionofdoon
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There are lots of nice places from Jupiter South. I snorkel Jupiter inlet pretty often.
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HandsyLobster
Active Member
Yeah Jupiter is beautiful. I live in Fort Lauderdale so a little south of that!
How are you going to start the conversation?
“Hello Officer. I just collected a 5 gallon bucket of sand, critters and possible contraband from the no-take zone over here.”
Take a plastic water bottle, collapsed in your dive bag or tucked in your BC and reinflate it under water and scoop it full of sand, put the top back on and put it back in your zippered pocket. Surface, stow the bottle in with your fins, loosen the cap so that it can breathe and don’t waste or excite the game folks. Otherwise they will chase you down whenever they see you near the water and I may be wrong but I think the Ocean floor can spare a one time sample for your tank.
If you really want to be fair and kind, boil a water bottle filled with sand and take that diving with you and make an even trade. Just make sure the trade sand is completely clean dry and dead before you put it in the ocean and collect a replacement.
Also, when you get back on the boat be careful that nothing from the ocean, no sand, seaweed, or bacteria are clinging to your gear. It might die when you shower off and rinse off your diving equipment.
I would use a 500 ml bottle, one or two liter bottles are too bulky and heavy to haul around with your other dive gear. That’s why I recommend snorkeling but either way is fantastic to see the reef side of creation.
The Native American reefers used to bring back small baskets of sand for their reef tanks. That’s how Florida came to be.
Reefering1
Valuable Member
Can always do it like the cartels.. tie >30 feet of fishing line to the bottle, filled enough to sink, and tow it behind the boat; if they approach, likely for a shake down, cut the string
You can ask FWC. If they would let me, I would use as much as I could from waist deep water with a bit of mud in it. I have no idea if this is legal. Even a water bottle from the same type of areas will have more things in it than any bottled stuff does.
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HandsyLobster
Active Member
Im for sure going to ask. I think if im allowed im going to use a good portion for my sand.
Take it from where the life is... the shallow reefs, mangrove forests, etc. It is OK if you get it a bit dirty. It will not rot in bags for months or years like bagged sand will.
I have heard of people taking junk from the ocean like bottles, plastic, etc. and letting them sit in their tanks for a few weeks/months so that the life on them spreads to their dry/other rock. Sponges, pods, starfish, etc.
I have heard of people taking junk from the ocean like bottles, plastic, etc. and letting them sit in their tanks for a few weeks/months so that the life on them spreads to their dry/other rock. Sponges, pods, starfish, etc.
GlassMunky
2500 Club Member
I bet @LiverockRocks would know all the pertinent laws around collecting as that's their entire business and they are also in FL and in close contact with FWC.
Tired
2500 Club Member
Oh, that's a good idea. You could even try to find a nice, encrusted glass bottle, and just leave it in there for good. Glass won't hurt anything. Plastic probably wouldn't either, but doesn't exactly look very nice, whereas I've seen some pretty bottles.
There's a thread on here from @Paul B that talks about putting a bottle in a reef tank. He posts often about collecting mud too.
Put a bottle in your tank
Yes, I realize most people don't like putting phony looking stuff in their tank and I also hate things like sunken shops, sunken planes, sunken chests etc, but I do like putting natural stuff in my tank. In the 45 years since I have been diving...
www.reef2reef.com
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AquaLogic
Active Member
You would only need a small amount to add a good bit of biodiversity to your tank. I probably wouldn't hesitate to grab a little, like what could fit in a water bottle. You wouldn't need more than that to seed other sand anyway. I would likely just take a collapsible water bottle down, like a platypus or something, and not worry much about it. I agree that deeper is better from a pollution standpoint likely. If you're worried about pests, you can "cook it" for a bit. Grab a 5 gallon bucket, put the sand in it with a power head and heater and run it in the dark for a few months. You could also make "live" rock by throwing in some dry marco rock...
Honestly if I lived near the ocean I'd probably do that just to sell clean live rock to other hobbyists, I'm surprised that isn't a more common hustle down there.
Honestly if I lived near the ocean I'd probably do that just to sell clean live rock to other hobbyists, I'm surprised that isn't a more common hustle down there.
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HandsyLobster
Active Member
That’s a great idea! I’m going to snag a few cups of live sand to mix with my dry sand. I’m also thinking about grabbing a 5 gallon bucket of water from the ocean to start my cycle in my tank quicker. What’s your thoughts on that?
AquaLogic
Active Member
A bucket of ocean water probably can't hurt and might help. I would try it. I'd probably collect it well away from shore to minimize pollutants. I know some hobbyists rely solely on collected ocean water, when they live somewhere with clean water. I haven't ever tried it though, because I don't live anywhere near a coast. I did used to dive though, both in inland lakes and in the ocean when I traveled, and if I were in your shoes I would give the sand and water a shot. I highly doubt anyone is going to fuss you about a small bottle with some sand in it.
I’m not versed in these types of laws but I’m pretty sure the rock idea you have to have a lease and/or aqua culture license or similar otherwise if your stopped by FWC how are they to know where the rock came from or if it’s legal/illegal.
Highly recommend the OP uses a lid on the bucket during transportation.
A little sand and rock from the shoreline will jumpstart the system.
I'm fortunate to have access to fresh seawater from a marine research facility and have used it for my reef tanks for a couple of decades. The water is collected 1500 yards offshore well below the surface, run through a sand filter and then stored in an underground vat. Isolating it from light.
I do 'quarantine' the water in a holding tank and run a skimmer on it for at least 24 hours before using it for a water change. I've never had an issue. However others I know who didn't take the same precautions had tanks decimated by algae blooms, tiny worms and other fun predators that had the best lunch of their lives consuming hundreds of dollars worth of fish and coral.
Proceed with caution and think through how you might condition what you bring in from the wild before you introduce to your reef tank.
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