# Aragamax Sand for Freshwater



## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

That sand is really going to buffer your water up. In fact you will end up with a natural pH of around 8.3 and a kH and gH so high it's not even funny.


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## malkore (Nov 3, 2003)

Yeah argamax is really a saltwater/reef sand, and will add lots of Kh and some Gh as well.
Safe for corys...absolutely...it's nice soft stuff. Good for a FW planted tank....eh, not so much.


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## yolie (Sep 10, 2004)

*is it true I shouldn't use the ehiem filter if I'm using this fine reef sand?

http://www.reeftalk.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/561/Main/555

*can I dose the tank or are there other options to keeping the kh, etc. stable?

I have swarts corys, julii corys, some platies, a suckermouth, & black moons. Everybody seems very happy.


Thanks.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Yolie, what I think "Omegatron" is saying is that a reef tank should not have a filter of any kind on it, not an Eheim in particular. "Omegatron" is trying to tell the conversant that a functioning reef environment does the filtration work on it's own. The live rock and the sand does the job.

If you are wondering if you can run an Eheim on a freshwater planted aquarium with a sand substrate, the answer would be yes.

Mike


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## yolie (Sep 10, 2004)

:icon_idea


yolie said:


> *can I dose the tank or are there other options to keeping the kh, etc. stable?


Use peat to soften, darken and acidify aquarium water?


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

You can give it a shot, but then, you're really not gonna get much use out of it. The oolitic sand has a very high buffering capacity. Using RO water along with using peat would probably be your best chance, althouth at the end, it may be useless.

You're making a lot more work than it's naturally worth. The sand does look great (I know, I used to run a 5" deep layer of it in my reef tanks), but you're left with a high pH and hardness. I'd opt out of the sand, consider it a sunk cost and, pull all of it out. You don't have to worry about keeping the kH stable, since it has such a high buffering capacity.

It really should be left in the saltwater arena...


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## gnatster (Mar 12, 2004)

My thoughts are with peat you will be forever chasing your tail if you try to lower the pH from where the substrate is going to force it to be. At this point yuo may want to think of keeping africans and plants appropriate to the conditions.


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## malkore (Nov 3, 2003)

pull the sand, and try to sell it to a reef keeper to recoup your lost $$
then go buy appropriate sand...Onyx isn't bad for plants and won't buffer nearly like argonite sand.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Maybe you can save it or just setup an African cichlid tank, this stuff is IDEAL for it...no need to waste money selling it. And you can even use Anubias sp. and Java ferns if you want a planted tank along with the cichlids... roud:


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