Southdown Alternative @ HD - Pulverized Limestone
- Thread starter captbunzo
- Start date
Russ Braaten
New member
I went to the Lowes and Home Depot near I240 near S. 74 ST and they both had what they called Pulverized Limestone. The stuff at Lowes was brown and ugly. It said it had around 87% Calcium type stuffs. It didn't say what the rest of it was. HD has the Pavestone produc t. It was $4.38 If I remember right. There were only about 9 bags left. I got 4 of them for my contribution the UCO tank. They also had another white product that was pulverised limestone but it was like talcum powder. Way too fine for what we need. I wonder if it would work for some type of high output Ca reactor.
Youngsilver
C'est un touche-Ã -tout
haha Im bringing back 20 bags, gonna go by tommorrow and try to preorder it! 
captbunzo
GET YOUR OWN STORE ! mwah hahaha
captbunzo
GET YOUR OWN STORE ! mwah hahaha
Russ Braaten
New member
Every type of credit card takes out fees. It is just that you have not been the one who has had to pay the fees before.
But when you consider what Paypal offers it is not a bad way to go at all. Before Paypal, unless you also had a brick and morter store there was almost no way for an online business to be able to accept credit cards.Russ
Travis L. Stevens
New member
I haven't dug my hands into my 200 lbs, but what little bit that leaked out from a hole seems to be really good. I was actually expecting it to be coarser, but so far, it's about as fine as a medium grit aragonite that you can find at a LFS. Of course, like I said it's only from a tiny whole. This weekend I should be putting the braces back on my stand, sealing it, and then I'm going to dump all of it in the aquarium. I'm eager to see how my 75g looks with sand in it.
we used it on the UCO tank...It was pretty good. It is a soft grey in coloration, but looks nice as a sand bed.
The particle size was mostly sugar range and smaller.
The dust was incredible. Phillip, Kevin and ray can attest to that.
What we did was dump each bag in approx 20g water and stir. We then pulled it out in nets to let the water and dust drain out. Then dumped into a nother 20g, and repeated 3x.
When we came to add it to the tank we let it drain in the nets first to remove as much of the last dust as possible.
The tank was no too cloudy to work on as we filled with water and we could see to aquascape etc.
It was clear the next day.
P.
The particle size was mostly sugar range and smaller.
The dust was incredible. Phillip, Kevin and ray can attest to that.
What we did was dump each bag in approx 20g water and stir. We then pulled it out in nets to let the water and dust drain out. Then dumped into a nother 20g, and repeated 3x.
When we came to add it to the tank we let it drain in the nets first to remove as much of the last dust as possible.
The tank was no too cloudy to work on as we filled with water and we could see to aquascape etc.
It was clear the next day.
P.
Travis L. Stevens
New member
That's great information. Thank you, Paul. When I get to add sand to my tank, I'm going to take pictures of it next to southdown so people can compare. I'll see if someone can lend a handful of name brand aragonite as well (aragamax, etc).
Travis L. Stevens
New member
Just kidding. We'll see it on Aug 12th.
Travis L. Stevens
New member
I'll remember that when I check my sand. Thanks for the advice (it slipped my mind)
Travis L. Stevens
New member
As well as a decent dosing supplement for algal growth. While probably not a good idea to add Iron to a reef tank that is currently plagued with hair algae, it would be good to add to tanks that need a boost in the refugium. I've been tossing the idea of adding Iron to my 29g.
Russ Braaten
New member
I stopped into the HD on Reno near Rockwell and they had a lot of Pavestone.
I grabbed a handfull since I don't need a bag right now and it was too hot to carry a whole bag to my truck. I did a little testing that some have asked for.
There were no large bits in it. It was all pretty much sugar sized. It is almost all light tan with occasional dark specks.
I took a strong magnet to it and there seems to be no iron in it.
I took a teaspoonful and dissolved it in vinegar. It all dissolved but a few specks of the darker stuff. Even most of the dark specks dissolved but some of it didn't all the light tan sand dissolved.
It should work just fine and seems perfectly safe.
I will use it on my next tank. I think I will use it on the bottom (Yeah, I know sand is always on the bottom) and wet it and then put the usual aragonite on top. This should keep the pulverized stuff below the aragonite. Then fill it carefully.
I like the idea of the smaller bits on the bottom so it acts a little more like a plenum to create anaerobic bacteria.
Russ
I grabbed a handfull since I don't need a bag right now and it was too hot to carry a whole bag to my truck. I did a little testing that some have asked for.
There were no large bits in it. It was all pretty much sugar sized. It is almost all light tan with occasional dark specks.
I took a strong magnet to it and there seems to be no iron in it.
I took a teaspoonful and dissolved it in vinegar. It all dissolved but a few specks of the darker stuff. Even most of the dark specks dissolved but some of it didn't all the light tan sand dissolved.
It should work just fine and seems perfectly safe.
I will use it on my next tank. I think I will use it on the bottom (Yeah, I know sand is always on the bottom) and wet it and then put the usual aragonite on top. This should keep the pulverized stuff below the aragonite. Then fill it carefully.
I like the idea of the smaller bits on the bottom so it acts a little more like a plenum to create anaerobic bacteria.
Russ
captbunzo
Premium Member
I picked up 3 bags of this stuff last night for $14.16. Of course that is Irving, TX tax rate, but anyhow. 2 bags are for a 29g tank I am helping a friend setup. And the 3rd is for Chris Howe's refugium...
I don't know if I REALLY need 100# of sand for the 29g tank, but for $4.72 a bag, who WOULDN'T just have the extra bag, just in case, eh? Perhaps I will try to figure out a measurement of how much by VOLUME a 50 pound bag of this stuff is.
One nice thing I noticed is that on the bag, there is actually a description of the grain size distribution. I took a picture of the chart with my phone and will link to that, eventually.
Anyhow, the stuff looks great, to me. It has a little larger grain then I would prefer and has a little more "non-white", greyish, etc content then I would prefer as well. HOWEVER, I think it will do JUST FINE. And, again, for $4.72 a bag, who can complain.
Lastly, here are some pics I am stealing from Travis's thread.
4 bags of Pavestone Pulverized Limestone
In the tank, how much did you use, Travis?
And with a rock to keep it from getting lonely - how sweet...
I don't know if I REALLY need 100# of sand for the 29g tank, but for $4.72 a bag, who WOULDN'T just have the extra bag, just in case, eh?
Perhaps I will try to figure out a measurement of how much by VOLUME a 50 pound bag of this stuff is.One nice thing I noticed is that on the bag, there is actually a description of the grain size distribution. I took a picture of the chart with my phone and will link to that, eventually.
Anyhow, the stuff looks great, to me. It has a little larger grain then I would prefer and has a little more "non-white", greyish, etc content then I would prefer as well. HOWEVER, I think it will do JUST FINE. And, again, for $4.72 a bag, who can complain.
Lastly, here are some pics I am stealing from Travis's thread.
4 bags of Pavestone Pulverized Limestone
In the tank, how much did you use, Travis?
And with a rock to keep it from getting lonely - how sweet...
Travis L. Stevens
New member
I used two bags. That's supposed to be 100lbs, but according to the Reef Central Sand Bed Depth Calculator, I needed about 180 lbs to get what I have here. The sand is 3-4" deep.
Paul, I would say that 1 bag of this stuff would be a very deep sand bed in a 29g tank. Mind you, this stuff is super dirty. Southdown is clean enough to eat off of in comparisson. I've dumped bags of southdown before with little dust, but this stuff filled the room with dust. I had to put a box fan in the room and open up a window. If you are working with this stuff dry, I highly recommend a dust mask.
I'm going to post a few tests and comparissons when I get the time.
Paul, I would say that 1 bag of this stuff would be a very deep sand bed in a 29g tank. Mind you, this stuff is super dirty. Southdown is clean enough to eat off of in comparisson. I've dumped bags of southdown before with little dust, but this stuff filled the room with dust. I had to put a box fan in the room and open up a window. If you are working with this stuff dry, I highly recommend a dust mask.
I'm going to post a few tests and comparissons when I get the time.
captbunzo
Premium Member
Thank you for the warning, Travis. Sounds like this stuff should definately be added carefully. It also sounds like I will have an extra bag of the stuff on my hands - woot!
Anyhow, here are the numbers about grain size that are on the bag. The first column contains the percentage of material passing through at that size mesh. The second column contains the size of mesh sieve used. And the LAST column contains the size (in mm) of the opening in that size of mesh sieve.
If I do some math and turn that into a easier to follow distribution, we have as follows:
And a chart:
Anyhow, here are the numbers about grain size that are on the bag. The first column contains the percentage of material passing through at that size mesh. The second column contains the size of mesh sieve used. And the LAST column contains the size (in mm) of the opening in that size of mesh sieve.
Code:
99% - 10 - 2.000 mm
80% - 20 - 0.850 mm
60% - 40 - 0.425 mm
50% - 50 - 0.300 mm
45% - 60 - 0.250 mm
40% - 100 - 0.150 mm
Code:
> 2.000 = 1%
2.000 - 0.850 = 19%
0.850 - 0.425 = 20%
0.425 - 0.300 = 10%
0.300 - 0.250 = 5%
0.250 - 0.150 = 5%
0.150 - 0.000 = 40%
