Need a chemist or science person's help on a projecct

[BucEyedPea]

Okay, this seems gay for a male dominated sports forum but I know there's science people here. So what the hell!

My daughter has a roomate, who is still a student, getting married this August. She loved my seashell tall cylinder vases and asked if I would design her wedding centerpieces like that. She's having a beach-themed wedding.

I can can come up with an idea, sketch it out well and quickly enough...but what if it won't work in the real world? That's where I am having a problem. I don't normally do this kind of project but she's low on funds. So I thought I'd help her out. I am off work for June and most of July.

She wants her sea shells under water, with those floating candles on top. It's a great idea and I've seen them. However, I have taken three of my glass bowls and tested nice white beach sand from my beach here and two kinds of decor sand from the craft store which is made from crushed rocks--one like coast sand with specks in it and the other deeper.

You see these things all over the net BUT the water is clear-- mine is cloudy though.

Now the cloudiness settles and it looks better after a day...but it's still not clear enough to look good. I just did a second rinse to see, after watching a You Tube video on cleaning aquarium sand so that wouldn't look cloudy.

I have researched some aquarium sand/items and but haven't completed it. So is there anything about any other substrate or type of water where it will remain clear? Anything about the chemistry of the water that would help? We have hard water here but I have a water softener which also cleans it too. It's just not reverse osmosis though.
I have some distilled water too.

Funny thing is the beach sand I used remains the clearest. I have some pictures below to show you what I am trying to do. If someone else has done it, then it can be done. There just has to be some missing technology that I don't know to pull it off. S

Some of the pages for these photos make it sound so easy....just fill with water. Voilà! It's done!

Here's samples of what I am doing. Only I am using a 12 inch bubble vase which is round like a half of balloon.







This one doesn't have sand at the bottom. I guess I could skip the sand altogether but it doesn't look as nice and the girl liked the sand.

[BucEyedPea]

I see. Any particular sealant you know of that would work?

[BucEyedPea]

Backwashing both the beach and decor sand did it. In fact, it did a beautiful job. (lost some sand tho')

Then I refilled, added shells, using one with tap water and one with distilled. Both were clear and the shells could be seen. The distilled was even a bit clearer.

Test ran some floating tea lights, turned down lights and they looked beautiful. I'm excited now.

Thanks! Much appreciated.

Still, gonna check out the other sands mentioned, mainly to see what they look like and pricing. That's for design reasons though.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

It's the same water coming out of your sink faucet.

Another reason I asked was because we use re-claimed water for the outside on the lawn which is a different pipe from the county. Now I just found out this weekend, that our hose has a by-pass valve that switches the water into my home from filtered that comes into my sink's faucet to non-filtered which comes out of my hose so our pool can be filled. That was my concern. I don't have anything to do with the outside maintenance of my home—except for how it looks.

[BucEyedPea]

Just came back from Ace Hardware to check out that pool filter sand.

My gawd! It's the exact same thing as the decor sand, at least in looks, which I brought in to compare. Got a little to take home and lying it side by side, you can't tell the difference. So even at Big Lots for $3 you only get 2lbs of sand.Turns out I ned 6lbs per bubble vase. With this filter sand you get, a 50 lb bag. Perfect for a wedding on a tight budget. Saves a ton and I don't have to go back to the beach for more natural sand--although that does have a nice but different look.

Found out, aquarium hobbyists use it because it doesn't cloud their water. Still gonna test if first tho'.

Thanks silock. Also cdcox and prhom.

[Silock]

NP

[Stewie]

Your pH is too high. Try adding a bit of acid to the mix to clear things up. A few drops of vinegar might work. The free H+ scavenge all sorts of murky things.

[BucEyedPea]

Won't that smell? Don't want a centerpiece to smell like pickles.

[BucEyedPea]

Pool filter sand pours clear immediately. Doesn't even stir-up dust, like you said silock, when drizzling water down the side into the bowl.

[BucEyedPea]

It's even getting clearer, with just a short amount of time passing. This bowl is even clearer than the other two, even with tap water.
Didn't think it would get clearer. So this will save me a lot of time too.