sand

Goby1kenobe

Goby1kenobe

New member
Hello, I am setting up a 150 with a dsb and a refuge. I was wondering where the best deal for sand is around orlando? I really do not want to pay the high prices for the Argonite sold in the pet stores. Any help is appreciated.
 
I bought pure white silicate sand from lowes. It's the quikcrete play sand. Just make sure it is a nice white color and get the fine particles. It works really well and is cheap.. 5 bucks for 50 pounds.
 
Whats up Dan. Finally setting that tank up?

Keep an eye out with local reefers there is usually someone around selling sand or rock. Look in the tampa bay reefer clubs too.
 
How is it going Charlie. Ya I will be ready to test it out with water tonight. I ended up doing a t5 vho combo like yours for the lights, I really liked the way your tank looked. I didn't think of checking the tampa clubs, thats a good idea.
 
Silica sand is not as good as aragonite because aragonitenot only provides bio filter, but also acts as a buffer as it is made of calcium carbonate. There have been stories of silica leaching into the water, but I wouldn't be as worried about that as the stability of your water...a lot less chance of leaching than messed up params
 
yes craig is right. I found a paver sand at lowes that is aragonite based, if you go to the stores bring vinegar and pour it on a small amount of it, if it fizzles alot then its aragonite otherwise its silica. good luck in your search.
 
As long as you have good quality live rock, silica sand will become populated with worms etc. and function just like a sandbed of aragonite.

Aragonite sands' use as a buffer is overstated, and is redundant if you have live-rock or dose with liquid buffers like Kalk (or run an efficient Ca reactor).

Silica sand does not leach anything into the water and does not promote the growth of cyano or any type of algae. Those are just old wives' tales, I've never seen any solid science to back it up.

The only drawback to silica sand as far as I know is the color,, even the white-ish stuff is not as white as aragonite.

I think the most important thing is to ensure the sand is populated with the 'bugs' that one gets with good quality Live Rock,,,, without that fauna, you can get serious 'clumping' problems.
 
Use the playsand from walmart... its not silica based usually, works well, and if you want it more white, just add a bag of argonite on top to get the pink or white look you want.
 
Thanks for all the input, thor32766 do you know what brand sand you bought or what the bag looked like? Andy, I saw that sand when we unloaded your tank, are you going to use it?
 
Rumor has it that some of the playsand at random Wal-Mart is aragonite. I have not seen any, but Kolorscape is packaged by "OldCastle," which is the company that also brought us the legendary Southdown aragonite.

My Wal-Mart only had silica Kolorscape, but it was a pretty white color - the whitest silica sand I think I've ever seen. I specifically wanted aragonite, but also had a bunch of sand I was moving over from my old tank so I didn't need much.

FWIW, the Kolorscape also comes in blue, orange... :)
 
Silica sand will leach silicates as easy as glass will if that tells you anything :) Aragonite sand does buffer but it is very minimal. Articles have suggested that silicate sand (That is what is in the ocean) actually has the ability to have a much higher diverse life. Many have used silicate sand and so do I.

It's up to you whether you want to or not but imo, there is zero difference and it's been in articles on reefkeeping.
 
was curious
i am going to upgrade tank sizes.
will prob. need a 50lb bag.
should i put the new 50lb bag in first then put my
live sand on top or vise versa.
 
Bought mine at lows. Quikcrete ultra fine sand. Just make sure you find the ultra white unless you like the pink sand look.
 
I have used both silica and aragonite and all the usual stuff has already been convered in this thread. I have had success with both. An additional thing to consider about silicai is that it is as hard as your glass and if you get a particle stuck in a cleaning magnet it will scratch the glass. Not the case with aragonite.

The original question was where to buy locally. Can't help you with that, but there is a source just outside of Ft. Lauderdale if you don't mind a trip to the beach it is worth it. My thinking is that for what you save by driving down there you can get a hotel and spend the day on the beaches down there and still come out ahead.
 
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