South Down Sand> How good is it?

[leoskee]

Im going to set up a new tank and realized that I will need a lot of sand. I went BB with my 75 and will be upgrading to either a 120 or a 180.

How good is South Down Sand? Ive heard about it being used in tanks but do not know if it is worth it.

 

[RichConley]

Its great.

Good luck getting any though, it stopped being produced a year or two ago.

 

[leoskee]

Really?! I didnt know that. Any other substitute?

 

[elliotklinger]

White kolorscape, sold at wal-mart. They're from old castle, same company for southdown.

 

[doox00]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7809263#post7809263 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by elliotklinger
White kolorscape, sold at wal-mart. They're from old castle, same company for southdown.

but most of it is silcia, I have tested a few this spring/summer with the vinegar test, no fizzles... might get lucky though and score some southdown.. I was lucky and found a local reefer with 5 bags for sale.

 

[leoskee]

Im not familiar with the vinegar test. What does it indicate?

 

[MeuserReef]

The vinegar test indicates weather or not the sand is Calcium carbonate based. The low pH of the vinegar causes the Calcuim Carbonate to breakdown. Its the same chemistry that occurs in a Calcium reactor.
HTH

 

[easttn]

SD sucks. It is extremely fine. Yea it looks great, but it creates sandstorms all the time. Here is a pic of the drifts I had once I put in 2 Tunze's 3 years ago. I ended up getting rid of it (the sand). The body of one tunze wore out due to the sand as did most impellor type pumps.

 

[itstheantitang]

I don't see how the tunze could possibly suck in sand and wear out when placed that high in your tank.

 

[elliotklinger]

Maybe SD sand are suitable for high tanks otherwise the pumps will cause sandstorm. It only take a few grains to get trapped and gradually damage the impeller. The key is to be careful and not cause any particular stir then the powerheads and filters will be fine.

 

[leoskee]

Im trying to save some money. What do you guys suggest then for sand? I had a mix of 3/4 aragonite and 1/4 crushed coral in my tank for a number of years. Then I went BB after a crash in the system. I like the dsb look better.

 

[kclewis]

call me crazy but isnt glass made from silica?

 

[dngspot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7810142#post7810142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by easttn
SD sucks. It is extremely fine. Yea it looks great, but it creates sandstorms all the time. Here is a pic of the drifts I had once I put in 2 Tunze's 3 years ago. I ended up getting rid of it (the sand). The body of one tunze wore out due to the sand as did most impellor type pumps.

I have a 150 with 300 lbs of Old Castle sand. It has been vinegar tested and has passed. I have seen sand from LFS and have not been able to tell the difference. I have made about 300 lbs of concrete rock with about 20% Old Castle sand, again with no problem. I would never say that it sucks. The tank turns about 20 times its volume and I do not have a snow storm. The sand remains on the floor of the aquarium.

 

[Eric Boerner]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7811070#post7811070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kclewis
call me crazy but isnt glass made from silica?

Yeah but its superheated, which keeps its molecular structure from breaking down and becoming soluble again.

 

[Eric Boerner]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7811006#post7811006 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leoskee
Im trying to save some money. What do you guys suggest then for sand? I had a mix of 3/4 aragonite and 1/4 crushed coral in my tank for a number of years. Then I went BB after a crash in the system. I like the dsb look better.

Seachem has 5 products that are nice, but a little pricey. Their Meridian has a perfect chemistry content for reefs and is oolitic, but heavy enough not to blow around too much in a high flow system.

 

[DHyslop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7812467#post7812467 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Eric Boerner
Yeah but its superheated, which keeps its molecular structure from breaking down and becoming soluble again.

The glass oven doesn't hold a candle to the heat of the pluton that the quartz of the sand came from.

Quartz sand is very, very insoluble. The glass is weaker than the sand.

 

[pistol]

Check out Yardright sand. It is the company that now sells Southdown.

 

[pistol]

Oh! and dont tell them it is for an aquarium, they wont sell it to you. They sell this stuff to the same company's that we buy our aquarium sand from.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7810142#post7810142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by easttn
SD sucks. It is extremely fine. Yea it looks great, but it creates sandstorms all the time. Here is a pic of the drifts I had once I put in 2 Tunze's 3 years ago. I ended up getting rid of it (the sand). The body of one tunze wore out due to the sand as did most impellor type pumps.

It wore out your tunzes? The tunzes have NO gap between the impellar magnet and the body. Theres no way for the sand to get in there.


I ran southdown in a 58 with 6000gph of flow. If you do it right, its easy to keep it down.

 

[Daemonfly]

I have 5 bags of original southdown and it is not fine, not even close in size to oolitic (which I consider fine).

And, when you have 2 points of large flow like that, I can see how any sand will get blown around.