Bulk Aragonite

[herpchat]

OK where do I find this in bulk cheap quantities.

I have set up 2 in aragonite and 2 in play sand and I am beginning to think the play sand compacts too much even with the substrate stirrers.

 

[pwhitby]

Gerald, in general the silica content of play sand can lead to a lot of downstream issues, not the least of which is diatome bloom. the other issue is the porosity of the grains. Silica sand is not porous, so all of the surface are is actually the physical surface area of the grain. Aragonite comes from living tissue and has more surface area since it is essentially porous.

I would always go with aragonite when possible...

Now to answer your question...

Thats a tough one. In the past we have been able to organize bulk buys of aragonite sand called southdown. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to get a hold of.

The best bet are the 40lb bags or aragonite select that Caribsea sells. They run just under $1/lb.

A bulk supplier would be the dream of local marine aquarists.

P.

 

[herpchat]

I am switching everything over to aragonite or something similar

 

[herpchat]

I just looked at my last bag and that is what it is, the Caribisea, this was the finest grain I could find of the stuff.

It was on Clearance at a Petsmart in Tulsa so I bought it.

 

[pwhitby]

Geerald, you may know this already but petsmart have a price match in store that matches their online prioce, makes it a little cheaper. Not much...but a little

 

[herpchat]

If they have the item;

I found it online at Petsolutions.com cheap enough that paying for it with the shipping still makes it reasonable.

I guess showing them the price at Petsolutions would not work.

 

[Russ Braaten]

If Petsmart carries the same brand and size of the Petsolutions, they will honor their online price.

 

[herpchat]

That works for me,

Its a good thing I don't have a lot of SW fish or switching out the tanks would cause a major problem.

Now any ideas how to get my sand sifters out of the sand when I switch over?

I should have about 50 or so microstars, spaghetti worms, and all sorts of cool critters.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Gerald, my thread here is well worth the read. Though I stand corrected in it, it has a few articles that deal with Silica in reef tanks as well as other information about where to find decent sources.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=875880

FWIW, if you are willing to deal with some potentially serious issues with Silica Sand, it is well worth it. Your patience will be tested. But, because we do not add silica back in the tank, it is a limited resource.

 

[herpchat]

I will be saving some of the sand as seed material for the new substrate, my problem right now is how to fish out the microstars and spaghetti worms and other critters out of my ex sand.