where to buy dry sand?

[reefnewbie54321]

I guess home depot only has silica sand ... so where can i get cheap dry sand?

 

[anabolic_1]

Home Depot down here carries the southdown, it comes in a red and blue bag and says play sand. Try searching for southdown sand here and you will find pics of the bag.
GL
Mike.

 

[slothguy]

Wal-Mart sells it as Kolorscape Play Sand. It is manufactured by Old Castle. Good luck.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

thanks

 

[drunktank]

how big of a tank
ur LFS should sell dry sand in 20lbs bags

 

[reefnewbie54321]

yeah but for a jacked up price

 

[blakeoe]

whatever sand you buy be careful about the grain size. I used some white sand from petsmart (moonglow) and it was more of a powder than a sand. It caused nothing but trouble in my tank!! It got into my impellers and caused tons of problems even with prefilters. I would suggest a larger grained sand. I have seen people say they used 3M sandblasting sand. It comes in different grains and colors. Check an industial supply store.

 

[hllywd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7732293#post7732293 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slothguy
Wal-Mart sells it as Kolorscape Play Sand. It is manufactured by Old Castle. Good luck.

$1.76 / bag, looks good and disolves given the "vinegar test".
It does have a lot of fines that I rinse out before using it to avoid clouding the water. Nearest thing I've found to the mythical "Southdown Tropical Play Sand", the grains are of various size and may not be suitable for everyone.

Tim

 

[mikeatjac]

I test the Wal-Mart, Kolorscape and it did not pass the vinegar test.

 

[thor32766]

i used paver sand from lowes, passed the vinger test multiple times. Had to sift through it but got a great deal.

 

[Sohal11]

How do you determine whether the sand pass the vinegar test? What kind of a result do you get?

 

[scumonkey]

I feel ignorant...what IS the vinegar test? NEVER even heard of it!?!

 

[MrZ]

The "vinegar test" attempts to determine if sand is made of silica or calcium carbonate (aragonite). In an acidic solution, calcium carbonate will dissolve releasing carbon dioxide. Vinegar is an acid.

So supposedly adding vinegar to plain old silica sand will result in wet sand while adding it to aragonite sand will result in wet sand plus bubbles.

 

[kraze3]

I use kolorscape with no problems. When i frist posted about it a while ago a got alot of responses from hobbiests who used it with no ill effects. So far so good for me, id recommend it.

 

[mikeatjac]

kolorscape does not pass the vinegar test but I am not saying not to use it.

 

[hllywd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7782635#post7782635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikeatjac
kolorscape does not pass the vinegar test but I am not saying not to use it.

My Kolorscape passed with flying colors. Like I said previously I changed the vinegar several times to see how much would actually disolve and it ended up nearly completely gone. Bubbled like I was making homebrew in the process. You must have gotten something different.

As for silica sand it works fine, a buddy of mine around the corner has it in a cube with no ill effects whatever.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

What size bags does kolorscape come in? And what section of walmart is it in?

 

[hllywd]

.4 cu ft bags. I found mine stored outdoors near the garden center.

Tim