All you EVER wanted to know about Southdown

[jarhed]

Sorry bout that.

Anyhoo, I've searched high and low for Southdown, Yardright, and any kind of play sand and can find nothing for the west coast. I know many have tried this before but I guess I had to learn that lesson on my own.

Funny thing is that Yardright still has the tropical play sand listed on their site, but there is no way to buy it direct apparently.

http://www.yardright.com/sand.htm#playsand

 

[DgenR8]

Many times, a club will get together and bring in an entire pallet. This makes shipping cheaper per bag. Check with your local clubs, there should be a few of them near you.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&forumid=80

 

[jarhed]

Good idea, dont know why I didnt ask there.

 

[Konadog]

jarhead, check this out Southdown for sale

 

[Whaledriver]

They unload barges in New Jersey, heat it, screen it as they unload it. Any bulk material place should have it with a little searching. They use it in cement and gardening. You have to buy it by the ton. The trick is finding the end user and buying what you need from him. Never tell anyone it is for aquariums. Say it is to modify your sil in your garden. I would try cement/ sand yards and test with viniger to confirm. This is the exact sand off the same barge as the "BRAND NAMES" sell. Somewhere there is a chemical analysis, I think Advanced Aquarist had an article

Good luck on the East coast I was all set to buy it bulk by the ton but the shipping was prohibitive and I found it at Home Depo

 

[jarhed]

jarhead, check this out Southdown for sale

:eek2:

Thanks!!!

 

[Bula Bula!]

Jarhead:

At the risk of offending Larry's delicate sensitivities, we were too busy beating people off the choppers to "pop" anyone.

In terms of the sand, it's definately worth the effort to procure.
Aside from the low cost, it is a perfect pure white, and fine grained sand.

Good luck and Semper FI!

Chuck

 

[jarhed]

I understand the problems with bodies clinging to the Hueys, I saw a LOT of pics when I did independent study on Vietnam. What a mess!! My dad wouldnt talk about Nam, so I learned about it on my own.

I just asked the person selling that southdown for 5 bags. Wonder if I should ask for more?

:bum: <-------- greedy sumbVt**

 

[Bula Bula!]

Jarhead:

At $2.50 a bag, I bought more than I needed. I ended up sanding my driveway with it during the last snow storm.

I would think that 150 lbs of the sand should be plenty.

Chuck

 

[jarhed]

haha!!!

Sanding your driveway? ROFL!!! I feel for ya!! I remember the years of buying huge bags of salt to destroy my mom's driveway. And shoveling all of that "global warming" that was waist deep away from her car, only to have the damn township plow truck come by and re-bury it with dirty snow and gravel. Did wonders for my car finish.

Well, I figure it'd be good to have some extra around because I'm going to keep my sandbed stirred and vacuumed (like Oregon Reef). It's not going to be there for filtration. I want it to look pristine.

 

[jmack]

You would think with so much interest here on RC and other sites that SOMEONE would take up the torch and manufacture the sand just for reef enthusiasts..they would make a fortune!

 

[AJP]

You would think with so much interest here on RC and other sites that SOMEONE would take up the torch and manufacture the sand just for reef enthusiasts..they would make a fortune!

Someone has Carib-Sea, and they are making a fortune, at $30 a bag.

 

[jmack]

true but i meant selling it at $4/bag..they could still clean up!

 

[mecold]

Does anyone know of any alternatives... Yardright still has a web site but doesn't answer email.. Oh well..

 

[armygreen11]

Ok, so what's all this bad press I've been hearing about DSB's now. For a while there they were the new hotness, but now everywhere I turn people are yanking them in favor of shallow CC beds again. I have 200# of southdown sitting in my garage that I was going to put in the 30x30 cube I'm building this weekend. Now I'm having second thoughts.

 

[Radicaljbr]

It is because people are not doing research on how to keep a DSB. Most think that you can just dump the sand in and hope for the best. you have to reprime it every year or twice a year like I do. You need to keep reintroducing sand critters into the sand. I would bet that most do not do this and the ones complaining about DSBs never do this or do it wrong.

This is only my opinion so please be kind in the responses.

 

[superlazy]

I agree with Radicaljbr, it's all about making shure there is critters to stir the sand.

 

[dmbrown]

Wow, great thread everybody.....I'm smarter now.

 

[armygreen11]

New critters like cukes, hermits, urchins and starfish? Or new critters like bristle worms and bugs? Or both? I think I may just put a DSB in the fuge where it's less likely to be overly disturbed and bristle worms and other little critters will have a much better chance of survival away from my six-line wrasse.

 

[jarhed]

Ya know, I talked to a dude at Coral Oasis (a friend of the owner). I was telling him that I was supposed to get a few bags of Southdown (never got it, not sure why, seller never called or pm'd).

He has a 180 as well and said, with great emphasis, "Stay away!!!". I asked him why, and he said that he put it in his tank and eight months later he still got huge clouds of silt when ANYthing disturbed the sandbed. He said he skimmed it for three days when he put it in and thought it was good to go.

He said for the trouble I've been going through trying to score some, I should just spend a couple extra bucks at MarineDepot and pick up the sand that I want.