All you EVER wanted to know about Southdown

[this is me]

yup thats the same bag i got.

 

[TurboFish]

Yep, that's the stuff I saw at HD. BTW, should this sand be washed before placing in a tank? And if so, how would you go about doing that??

Brian

 

[cmiannay]

That is the question we have (dmiannay & cmiannay). SHOULD SOUTHDOWN SAND BE RINSED FIRST?

 

[firemouth4416]

no washing read this thread. Particle size helps the little critters live That is what makes SD so good

 

[this is me]

I washed mine really good to avoid the milky looking but its unavoidable. But it helps!

 

[ShagMan]

Definitely don't wash it! You need the fine stuff.

 

[firemouth4416]

The milk clears and if you add sand first its not bad at all. It also helps to put the live sand on top once the milk clears. This holds the sand down til life takes hold

 

[GS]

Let's keep it going. Since I've posted about southdown, but never saw this link.

Over on the west coast. Looked everywhere for southdown, no dice. Even called Penn to find out the sku and more info. No luck, but thanks to this post have it. HD isn't helping much. They do have Old Castle sand. It is silica based, i think for sandblasting.

Lets say I use this in my tank. 3"DSB, PROS/CONS.


I want agrogate, but if silica works, great.

 

[bshumake]

I live in Cordova, TN Just outside of Memphis and i can't find SD anywhere. If anyone here lives in Memphis let me know if there is a stash somewhere i can get my brubby little hands on please!

 

[firemouth4416]

If anyone has a contact at Home Depo they should be able to move dozens of pallets through there store by shipping them nationwide. The employee responsable for this bussiness should be in for a bonus from their manager.

Any HOME DEPO people out there? What is your commentary?

 

[GS]

Well, found out alot. Old Castle owns a quary out here. Went and talked with a guy and said he may be able to get Southdown out here (since Old Castle bought southdown out). But I have to buy bulk, i think.

On another note, I grabbed alot of samples of sand from the hard ware stores around town. Tested them all Nothing. Except one. One of the play sands that I tested started bubbling, still is, 5 minutes later. It's not white, its multi-colored mostly gray. I believe it is from quikrete.

So this should be good? I'm guessing that only part of the sand is causing the reaction, it's not bubbling like crazy, just slightly.

Thoughts?

 

[GS]

did a little experiment, flattened out the sand, only like 1 in every 25 ish rocks are bubbling. Don't know if this is good odds for a fish tank

 

[GS]

anyone?

 

[VanderWaal]

did a little experiment, flattened out the sand, only like 1 in every 25 ish rocks are bubbling. Don't know if this is good odds for a fish tank

Hi;
Try another sample of the same stuff. Maybe from another store. It could be that there was some contamination of the sand, but the bulk of the product is not aragonite. If they all test positive as you discribed, it may be better than straight silica. Let me know the supplier/discription. I'll be happy to test it also, if its available in my area.
Bob

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Man, what a lot of info. I gleaned some info off of here today and am going down to the local HD to se what I can find out about getting some here in SO Cal. I'll post my findings later. Thanks to evryone who as added info on this subject.

 

[Boxingcrab]

So what can I get at the LFS since I am wanting to go with a DSB as I can't get a hold of SD. There is so much out there that I am confused. I read where there was a bucket of sand not sure what it was now.

 

[Boxingcrab]

Nevermind, I found out what the sand was. http://www.acrotropic.com/
Anyone using this? Now to find a way to buy some.

 

[algaefree]

Potential BAD news everyone...

I've been searching through the rank and file of the Oldcastle corporation and was finally led to a division of theirs called Pennsy Supply in Harrisburg PA. A man by the name of Roy Magee {(717) 233-7016} is the main buyer of the white, silicate free aragonite based sand that was packaged in the 50lb bags distributed around the country. Word is that recently they stopped production/purchase of this sand for distribution.

Please, someone out there tell me they know different!!!

Question... Who is Yardright? Are they a division of Oldcastle? Is Yardright going to be the only supplier left that distributes our precious reef sand at a reasonable price??? Those dang LFS stores charging us $25 for a 40lb bag isn't going to cut it.

 

[bstone]

I had a LONG discussion with a guy at a Home Depot that orders the sand from Old Castle. He was actually on the phone with them while I was there. The reason he had called them is because they ussually get the 50lb bags, but this last shippment was in 40lbs bags (Yardright). According to what he was told on the phone that the same sand is in the 40lbs Yardright bags as the 50lbs bags. If you look on the 40lbs bag it will say "Old Castle Products". Anyway, he got them to ship 50lbs bags instead of the 40's and I got about 26 bags!!! He orders about 2 pallets every month.

 

[GS]

I went into a HD in Washington. Asked them if they could special order it. And they can't, as they say. I gave them the numbers, and nothing, not in the system. So they said if it is not in the system, then they can't get it. Maybe if I call up a PA store, they may be able to ship it? I have called many stores in PA, and haven't talked to anyone who knows what it is.

I did do the oldcastle research (posted above) waiting to hear from them.


VanderWaal:
Went back to the hardware store that I thought had part ag in it, tested again, but nothing. So maybe it was a fluck. But i took so many samples that day, i may have mixed them up, gonna try again and label better.