Play sand anywhere in Ohio??
- Thread starter vietcu
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Jim_Leyland
In Memoriam
some people have used sand from Home Depot in their tank ive heard.. i had some in my 75 when it was set up and it was fine, actually i think i got mine from wal-mart
Silica sand is safe for an aquarium: just get the kind that says washed and strained (and then wash it and strain it yourself before using: I've found this at every Lowes and HD I've been to here). Of course, it also provides virtually no benefits compared with other sands: no buffering, no anti-packing shapes, etc. Being dirt cheap is pretty much its only selling point.
If you are looking for the famous true aragonite "playsand" then you are almost certainly out of luck. As far as anyone I've heard can tell, the company that used to sell that super cheap for industrial purposes caught on to the fact that so many aquarium folk were buying it, and decided to jack up the price and make a premium on it selling it straight from pet stores instead. It's been at least two years since then, and finding any remaining supply is really unlikely at this point. It was around under various names: Southdown, Homecastle, etc. and even Walmart's "special blend sandbox sand" at one point. Good luck finding some, but if you drive out to HD, I can almost guarantee that you won't find any there, or any HD in our area. Unfortunately this is one area where we can no longer get a bargain.
I wonder though: has anyone ever looked into the sand you can get free in Utah?
Oolitic calcium carbonate, apparently free to collect from around the Great Salt Lake. Of course, I have no idea if its usable in aquariums... but I'm intrigued...
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/rockmineral/collecting/oolitic.htm
If you are looking for the famous true aragonite "playsand" then you are almost certainly out of luck. As far as anyone I've heard can tell, the company that used to sell that super cheap for industrial purposes caught on to the fact that so many aquarium folk were buying it, and decided to jack up the price and make a premium on it selling it straight from pet stores instead. It's been at least two years since then, and finding any remaining supply is really unlikely at this point. It was around under various names: Southdown, Homecastle, etc. and even Walmart's "special blend sandbox sand" at one point. Good luck finding some, but if you drive out to HD, I can almost guarantee that you won't find any there, or any HD in our area. Unfortunately this is one area where we can no longer get a bargain.
I wonder though: has anyone ever looked into the sand you can get free in Utah?
Oolitic calcium carbonate, apparently free to collect from around the Great Salt Lake. Of course, I have no idea if its usable in aquariums... but I'm intrigued...
http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/rockmineral/collecting/oolitic.htm
o0xerog0o
Member
Thanks for the info on Home Depot not being worth the trip. I planned on stopping at the store near the swap on Sunday, but forgot all about it until I got almost all the way home... Our Lowe's has the Quikrete Premium Play Sand available, http://www.quikrete.com/ProductLines/SandPremiumPlay.asp , would you have any ideas about this brand? It's pretty cheap, $5.08 for 50 lbs....
Or would I be better off just getting another brand? If the Quikrete is a bad choice, do you have any suggestions for Lowe's or Wal-Mart sand?
Or would I be better off just getting another brand? If the Quikrete is a bad choice, do you have any suggestions for Lowe's or Wal-Mart sand?
