Hi all.
I thought perhaps I could help everyone out a little bit by consolidating all information on the southdown sand situation w/ Home Depot.
The reason I do this - it keeps popping up - but not the whole story - so after a couple phone calls, a few HD trips and some research here we go:
Southdown tropical play sand is the new thing in reef beds. Why? A study was done and found that this sand has a "perfect" mixture of particulate size for DSBs. Don't ask me - I use CC and am intent on killing my fish. I got some for my seahorse tank and refugium.
Ok - now who can get it? Unfortunately it is only available from Home Depot in the Northeast. Southdown is (was) a regional company from Pennsylvania. Last year in Oct/Nov they were purchased by a company called Cemex. This is a company based in Mexico that "financial investors" believe will be restructuring to concentrate solely on Cement products and may severely decrease or stop the ancillary products of lime and sand Southdown does or did manufacture.
What does this mean? According to Home Depot - they are having more and more problems getting Southdown Sand. My feeling - get it while you can - as it may not be around in the near future. Conjecture solely - but certainly possible.
So - if a company like Home Depot is having problems getting a product - what do they do? They find another source. Home Depot has done that.
Caveat Reefer
The SKU for Southdown play sand is 578-819. This is a universal SKU for 2 different vendors of play sand. The other supplier is NOT Southdown and looks strikingly different. If you read nothing else - read this -
Do Not Order Southdown Playsand w/ this SKU or description and Expect to get Southdown.....The manufacturer will vary and needs to be physically checked by you or the HD guy.
To help things along if you call Home Depot or go there the product is found in one of two places. It is found by the lumber or in the Garden Center. The Garden Center manager is who does the ordering and that is "division" or "section" 28 (Garden).
Some Home Depots will consider doing transfers of this product. I made some calls and found that they will charge a customer $35 for a "stock transfer" regardless of 2 bags or 1 skid. The problem is getting them to make good on this or getting them to actually get it done. I have read several threads where getting HD to actually do the transfer was an exercise in futility. To my knowledge it has not been done successfully yet. This is probably due to the managers getting paid on turn and earn (low inventory) and the lack of profit from a bag of sand.
So that is what I have to report all...If you have any questions - ask away.......and to prove I know of what I speak....I offer up my very significant investment purchased today -
I thought perhaps I could help everyone out a little bit by consolidating all information on the southdown sand situation w/ Home Depot.
The reason I do this - it keeps popping up - but not the whole story - so after a couple phone calls, a few HD trips and some research here we go:
Southdown tropical play sand is the new thing in reef beds. Why? A study was done and found that this sand has a "perfect" mixture of particulate size for DSBs. Don't ask me - I use CC and am intent on killing my fish. I got some for my seahorse tank and refugium.
Ok - now who can get it? Unfortunately it is only available from Home Depot in the Northeast. Southdown is (was) a regional company from Pennsylvania. Last year in Oct/Nov they were purchased by a company called Cemex. This is a company based in Mexico that "financial investors" believe will be restructuring to concentrate solely on Cement products and may severely decrease or stop the ancillary products of lime and sand Southdown does or did manufacture.
What does this mean? According to Home Depot - they are having more and more problems getting Southdown Sand. My feeling - get it while you can - as it may not be around in the near future. Conjecture solely - but certainly possible.
So - if a company like Home Depot is having problems getting a product - what do they do? They find another source. Home Depot has done that.
Caveat Reefer
The SKU for Southdown play sand is 578-819. This is a universal SKU for 2 different vendors of play sand. The other supplier is NOT Southdown and looks strikingly different. If you read nothing else - read this -
Do Not Order Southdown Playsand w/ this SKU or description and Expect to get Southdown.....The manufacturer will vary and needs to be physically checked by you or the HD guy.
To help things along if you call Home Depot or go there the product is found in one of two places. It is found by the lumber or in the Garden Center. The Garden Center manager is who does the ordering and that is "division" or "section" 28 (Garden).
Some Home Depots will consider doing transfers of this product. I made some calls and found that they will charge a customer $35 for a "stock transfer" regardless of 2 bags or 1 skid. The problem is getting them to make good on this or getting them to actually get it done. I have read several threads where getting HD to actually do the transfer was an exercise in futility. To my knowledge it has not been done successfully yet. This is probably due to the managers getting paid on turn and earn (low inventory) and the lack of profit from a bag of sand.
So that is what I have to report all...If you have any questions - ask away.......and to prove I know of what I speak....I offer up my very significant investment purchased today -
