Southdown/YardRight/Old Castle sand

[DocB]

I am trying to locate the (in)famous Southdown sand. Based on conversations with HomeDepot "associates", I am left with the impression that they no longer carry this product. The guy I talked to said he contacted stores across the country and this sand was in "discontinue/buy-back" mode, whatever that means. It has changed names from Southdown to YardRight to Old Castle Stone Products. I called the latter and they said that no one is currently mining this sand. Does anyone know if there are currently any souces of this (or similar) inexpensive aragonite sand.
Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Yah don't go crazy trying to find the stuff, trust me the money you'll save is not worth the agony of trying to find it

 

[DocB]

I hear you. This post was my last "hurrah" before I pony up the cash and wait for the "you paid HOW MUCH for SAND" from my wife. :roll:
Cheers...(and thanks for the reply)

 

[Anonymous]

There is another option. I use regular silica based play sand but supply the calcium carbonate by circulating 5x water through crushed oyster shells. ca is 400-425ppm alk 2 meg/l. Just an idea.

 

[Ben1]

Bob, please include how many animals you keep that use any significant amount of CA in your tank with this type of post or your info is useless. Also what type of test kits you are using. P04 levels from the shells?

In anycase most people dont depend on their sand beds for CA additions.

 

[Anonymous]

Then I guess there is no reason at all to use aragonite sand. And all the advertising on the live sand about how it buffers ph is just hype.

 

[Anonymous]

And all the advertising on the live sand about how it buffers ph is just hype.

Yep, it's buffering ability is so insignificant as to be undetectable in a healthy reef tank.

 

[Ben1]

I wasnt saying anything about buffering.

I was talking about your claims that oyster shells provide your tank with plenty of CA. That is all great if you have no CA loving animals. Try putting my huge derasa in their or even better my gigas and your CA would be very low very fast.

If you want to advice people to use certain methods be sure that you provide all the information not just tidbits that help no one.

but supply the calcium carbonate by circulating 5x water through crushed oyster shells. ca is 400-425ppm alk 2 meg/l. Just an idea.

If you added to the end of this that your tank has no clams, SPS, or any other animals that use up a high level of CA I wouldnt have said a thing.
:roll:

 

[Anonymous]

AND the silicates can lead to an ever-present diatom problem as far as my experience is.

I can get some yardright for you I think. Let me see what the spring inventories bring. We have Chase-Pitkin's here that carry it by the pallet. (At least they did last year) and they charge about $4-$5 per bag too.

I'll keep my eye's open

 

[Anonymous]

yah somehow I think just running water over oyster shells (what ever the hell 5x means) will break down the calcium components, now maybe if you soaked them in acid or something maybe.. but then again I wouldn't want to have acid constantly running through my tank.

 

[RobertoVespucci]

You decide whether aragonite sand is worth it.


Silica sand and base rock

Calcium based sand and live rock

Which do you think is going to piss your wife off more?

 

[coastal]

well wether you want it or not I have two pallets of the stuff I dont personaly use it never have but had the chance to buy it so I did

 

[DocB]

Thanks everybody for your replies. Gives me some options to think about.
Best wishes,

 

[rabagley]

Silica sand and base rock

A few observations:

• Diatoms are not bad for aquariums.
• The dissolution rates of silica sand in seawater are so low as to be undetectable by the Hatch kit (< 0.05ppm)
• Levels of silica sufficient to cause a diatom bloom are almost always from unfiltered tap water.
• The problem with that tank isn't silica because that's not a diatom bloom, that's hair algae.
• I would suspect a serious nitrate or phosphate problem, possibly from using unfiltered water or just a complete lack of attention.
• A small amount of soluble silica might actually help that tank.

I dose silica in my aquarium to a level of 1ppm to encourage balanced diatom growth (see my post in this month's "hot tips" thread for more info). That level is more than 20 times the possible concentration that silica sand could create in an aquarium with a pH in the normal range.

If you want to figure out the effect of silica sand vs. aragonite sand in the small aquarium, you'll need to conduct an experiment where you isolate other variables (two similar tanks where the only difference is the sand). However, you don't need to bother, in 2000 I did exactly such an experiment with two nano-reefs in 20H tanks. The difference? No substantial difference over a 26 month period (at which point I had to move and break down the tanks). Neither tank had blooms after cycling, neither tank had significant mortality (the SiO2 tank lost a small clam, the CaCO3 tank lost some xenia and a firefish).

Regards,
Ross

 

[Anonymous]

Diatoms use Silicates (Silica & metal), not insoluable Silica like pure Silica sand or aquarium glass.

 

[Tbrennan]

I have used both and after studying both this what I came up with argronite sand does not disolve in a reef tank due to the high ph value this why they lower the ph in the calcium reactor. I have used play sand in my big tank with no problems and have never had a problem with algae other than the initial diatom when I first started. The grain size is or more importance. JMO. The south down was nice becuase of the price and availibility but the play sand from Toys U US works just as well and is a nice white color. Hope this helps