aragonite ok for freshwater tank?

[fishingaddict]

i recently bought a used tank and the guy included some sand in buckets. he mentioned it being live and that he had it in the buckets for a while and was tryin to get rid of it. the sand seem to be like the aragonite substrate, would it be ok to put in as a substrate for a freshwater set up?

thanks

 

[hillbilly]

Aragonite will raise your ph. If it has been in buckets for awhile, it's probably not "live sand" any longer. Probably has a lot of die off in it, as well as some salt residue. Not a good idea IMO to use it for freshwater.

 

[Oddball]

Aragonite sand would be ideal for rift lake cichlids. If it's sugar sand, tanganyikan goby cichlids would love it. Just be sure to thoroughly wash out the sand before using it to remove all the old detritus from the previous set up.

 

[mike dunagan]

I use the stuff in my 120 tang peacock tank, they love it... It is heavier than regular sand and my vac does not pick as much up as sand. It looks great and surprisingly really natural looking... I think better than white or brown sand looks...

 

[fishingaddict]

yea it took me forever to clean.. guess it had lotta crap in it from the previous set up.

 

[benzjamin13]

I think it would be good for African Cichlids if that's what your planning on.

 

[fishingaddict]

hmm.. im not quite sure yet. i have some frontosas in a different tank and some archers aslo in a different tank. will it work with those fish?

 

[hillbilly]

yea it took me forever to clean.. guess it had lotta crap in it from the previous set up.

Yep, I'm sure it did. You are a better man than me! I would just have thrown it out. Anyway, good luck with the tank.