# Silver Sand?



## Aqua sobriquet (6 Aug 2019)

I have this in one of my aquariums at the moment and it looks great but it’s a bit too fine. Are there any other sands I can buy mail order with a similar colour but slightly larger grain size? Links would be good if any of you have them. TIA.


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## zozo (8 Aug 2019)

What you have now likely is named Play Sand in common terms. This usualy is very fine grained sand in a variety of colors.
https://mitchellturf.co.uk/white-play-sand/

Search for Pool Filter sand, this is larger grained and comes in different or mixed sizes

In most LFS they also sell Washed River Sand that's also a bit larger grained than Play Sand.

But still with common names Sand will be Sand and you still have to ask or look for the grain sizes. Any grain size <2mm falls under the category Sand.
Grain size >2mm is categorized as Gravel.


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## foxfish (8 Aug 2019)

Well in my local horticulture store, there are many grades available.
I normally go for the lime free fine sand as silver sand is very fine but where I live, pool filter sand is sharp edge, mixed grain size and multi coloured.


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## Aqua sobriquet (8 Aug 2019)

The sand I’m using at the moment is packaged and sold by Unipac as Aquarium Silver sand. I’ve got the Aquarium Silica sand in another tank but it seems a bit dark in comparison.


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## zozo (8 Aug 2019)

I always have to smile reading Silver Sand..  Because i live all my live right next door from the worlds largest Silver Sand digging site. Delivering the best quality silver sand world wide. Yours most likely came from this place and it indeed is very fine sand.

I live at the red dot.. It was always there for as long as i remember, i only see it grow bigger.. Used to go swimming, diving and fishing in the lake they created. I remember teh lake shallows where heavily planted with aqautic plants for a few years. But that is dug out again.. And the site is nowadays no longer accessible by the public it closed up with a large fence and gaurded 24/7 due to some dear devils having a fatal Jet ski accident a few decades ago.




Their mining permit stops in 2025, than they are obliged to return the site replanted as a wildlife park. Everybody around it is waiting and hoping for it, but the permit experied already 3 times in the past and got extended again of course.  Economic injection for the region i guess, after all Silver sand is a rarety on the planet.. Best chance it will not be a wildlife park in the future at all, most likely a (sun) bading facility with restaurant etc. Wildlife doesn't bring money in the draw. But a wildlife park with such large ponds, next door would be very nice.


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## Andrew Butler (8 Aug 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> sold by Unipac as Aquarium Silver sand


Maui, Fiji and Samoa all come in 2 different grain sizes.
I've some Fiji in an aquarium which is quite white in colour and do also have a bag and a bit of Samoa if that's of interest to you?
It's impossible unless you look in person to see what it's like though.


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## Aqua sobriquet (8 Aug 2019)

Thanks Andrew, I’m off to a couple of my LFS to see what they’ve got. As you say you need to see it in person.


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## Aqua sobriquet (8 Aug 2019)

Zozo, what will they fill the hole with? Over here they often just leave the hole, let it fill up with water and call it a “wetland wildlife site”. Fishermen then get charged for fishing there.


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## zozo (8 Aug 2019)

Aqua sobriquet said:


> Zozo, what will they fill the hole with? Over here they often just leave the hole, let it fill up with water and call it a “wetland wildlife site”. Fishermen then get charged for fishing there.



The far left and oldest side of the dig site is no longer in use and already refurbished back to nature, some what. They do not intent to refill the initire site back to it's orioginal level. It once was a hill and now its a hole.


 
They will only cap the sand gradualy sloped down towards the water with a (few) metre thick clean dirt soil and replant it with trees and give it back to nature. The lake they created is grounwater level, they created it with sucking up the water and sift the finest sand out of it. It's pretty deep as well, back in the days i probed it over 12 metre deep and its a few acres in size. I guess there aint dirt enough to refill it completely. They started diggin out sand since the 1930's till supposedly 2025.

That small area that is back to nature already, looks more like a future walking park. It's crearly to see the gave a Park Architect a wildcard.. It has a few channels now and some wooden bridges. But those shallow channels are a peferct spawning place for the fish in it.


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