adding sand from St. Petersburg Beach

I am tired of paying out the butt for live sand! I live near St. Petersburg Fl and would like to collect sand and live rock from there. I have checked red tide conditions and that is not a problem. I also know to rinse the LR and LS I collect very well. I have some coral and fish in a 125 gallon tank. Will this hurt my tank? P.S. I filter with a wet to dry, UV light, and Protein skimmer.

Petersburg Fl and would like to collect sand and live rock from there. I have checked red tide conditions and that is not a problem. I also know to rinse the LR and LS I collect very well. I have some coral and fish in a 125 gallon tank. Will this hurt my tank? P.S. I filter with a wet to dry, UV light, and Protein skimmer.

I would quarantine tha sand for a while myself due to the risk of introducing nasties. Also, unless the temperature of the water is somewhat close to that of your tank, many of the microbes and bacteria will die off anyway. (never been to Florida, and not sure of the NSW stats) As far as the wetdry, most reefers agree that wetdrys with bio-balls or similar are a poor choice due to their nitrate production tendancies. If you get enough LS and LR, you won't need any 'artificial' biological filtration anyway. Also, I'd lose the UV, it's counterproductive in a reef tank. The UV will kill critters you want to encourage.

What kind of skimmer? I just got a new Euro-Reef, had to brag

Just be careful collecting anything. The fine is outrageous if you get caught collecting more than 5 lbs of sand.

I collected 200 lbs of sand throughout 4 - 5 gallon buckets from a friends house on Reddington Beach. I live in Largo. The sand on the whole peninsula of St. Pete throughout the coast is CA based sand. If you want premium white CA sand go to Indian Shores beach, just stay away from the turtle markings and only take sand mid-morning or late evening if you don't want the cops called on you. People in that area are very rude.

As for collecting liverock. I am a diver and I go out nearly 4 times per week. I bring back 5 to 10lbs per trip when needed by myself or friends, but I never take more than that. Most of the coast guard will over look 5 lbs here and there. Now fish caught spearfishing in Federal waters vs. State waters -that's another situation. Overall, I have never had a problem with liverock, but that doesn't mean I hoard 50lbs at a time.

The best thing for liverock is to go see Dale at TB Saltwater. He will do you right.

Thanks for all of your help! it is greatly appreciated. I was hoping to find some condy anemone, my clown fish love it.... go figure?

You dont like the UV light ? what do you find it kills? www.reeftanksonline.com