Sand question

[bravenewworld]

Why is it i paid 18 dollars for 5 gallons of living sand?

I live in the tampa bay area ( 5 minutes and i could be in the gulf) why is it i cannot simply take the sand for free (from the gulf) and simply filter it?

 

[1979camaro]

its illegal

why did you buy live sand? wasn't there any local reefer willing to donate you a little cup to seed a dead sandbed with?

 

[S.Reef]

Because its illegal.

 

[yamahaguy06]

no, way so you can take stuff from the ocean and it will work in your tank?? who cares about the illegal part sand could work strate from the ocean? what about other stuff??..... *PEACE!*

 

[1979camaro]

illegal and unethical

and where you are at most stuff is from the wrong temp. range

 

[bravenewworld]

Why is taking some sand illegal and unethical? No one would have a problem if i dug a hole in my back yard and used the dirt, what the hells the difference? And why exactly is it illegal?

 

[aresgod]

because you need a collection liscence to take anything from the beach or ocean, infact there are a few groups in California that patrol the beaches to prevent unauthorized collection, its for many reasons, the collection process, many people are un experienced and will damage what they collect, also many people dont know what they are collecting and often take things that wont survive in their tanks, also the whole point of this hobby is to recreate and preserve natural oceans and reefs, and unathorized collection is a serious detriment to this goal, please do not go out and take stuff, go the LFS drop the cash and buy what you want, if you are cheap and not willing to spend money then this is the wrong hobby for you...

 

[S.Reef]

Pretty big fines if you dont have a license. Beaches could be protected under certain guidelines...and if you take sand, why cant every aquarist? WOnt be much left if everyone just takes stuff out of the ocean.

 

[zanoshano]

the same reason you cant just grab fish out of the sea and throw them in your tank.

 

[DustinKeating]

I think this comes down to a personal ethics lesson. And i personally, would not feel one ounce of shame for taking 5lbs of sand from the beach. Seriously, you carry that much on yourself in one or two trips, and that just gets dragged into the car TO DIE!!!!

So i say, as long as it wont hinder your sleep at night...grab 5lbs.

 

[zanoshano]

i agree with D.K. We're just trying to explain why it is illegal. But i would not feel bad if i grabbed something out of the beach, as long as i knew that i could support it in my tank....which i cant, the waters are way too cold around here. But my dad says the same thing to me, he thinks its rediculous that i spend money on LR (rocks he calls them ) and sand...but im also too lazy to pick it off the beach. I would say, do whatever you want.

 

[bravenewworld]

I dont have a huge problem with it being illegal simply because we have alot of stupid laws, stupid contridicting laws thats what america is based on. This is why we focus on gays and marrage but my car can be broken into every week, my house can attempted to be burglerized and i fear driving down my street because of 5 year olds on a little goddamn mini motocycle riding in the street not looking or not caring and if i hit them, im screwed because they are bad parents and i dont have 20 eyes looking in all directions. It all boils down to, who can pay the government their license money. Its not about who knows more, or who is doing it properly (just like everything else in america that requires a lic.).

But to say that me taking a bucket of sand from the local beach and using it on my own is unethical? If you have a problem with that you must have a problem with sticking a fish (that is used to a basicly unlimited amount of space to roam) in a small tank for your own personal enjoyment.