Southdown Question
- Thread starter waltercat
- Start date
i'm a newbie about 30 miles northeast of manhattan who spent a solid 3 weeks trying to find southdown so i could start my tank with the sand everyone was recommending. couldnt find it anywhere. and i scoured the tristate area.
i wound up calling old castle, the national distributor in pennsylvania who had taken over southdown. national sales mgr there told me that southdown was no longer distributed. the company that mined, or manufactured, southdown aragonite sand had gone out of business. he'd heard a rumor that a new company might have taken over the facility but wasnt sure since old castle didnt carry aragonite sand.
i did see some southdown for sale on ebay a few weeks ago, but it looked to be old stock from a guy out in california. he wanted $10/bag plus $40 for shipping. even the most expensive places sell caribsea for less.
so unless you can find a garden center or similar place that has some old inventory, your best bet is a pet warehouse.
i wound up calling old castle, the national distributor in pennsylvania who had taken over southdown. national sales mgr there told me that southdown was no longer distributed. the company that mined, or manufactured, southdown aragonite sand had gone out of business. he'd heard a rumor that a new company might have taken over the facility but wasnt sure since old castle didnt carry aragonite sand.
i did see some southdown for sale on ebay a few weeks ago, but it looked to be old stock from a guy out in california. he wanted $10/bag plus $40 for shipping. even the most expensive places sell caribsea for less.
so unless you can find a garden center or similar place that has some old inventory, your best bet is a pet warehouse.
I just spoke one of the owners at petaqua on the UWS. They used to be affiliated with the Plant Shed, a garden center on the UWS. He said he could get it by Tuesday for me. My guess is that he does not know they went out of business. I'll see if he can pull through for me. I told him if he did, he'd have a ton of reefers in line for the stuff.
In other substrate topics, how is Nature's Ocean dry marine sand? The Petland near me sells it for $16 for 20 lbs. Looks fine to me, but it has tiny pink peices in it which was not appealing to me, although that wouldn't stop me from buying. Anyone have an experience with this?
In other substrate topics, how is Nature's Ocean dry marine sand? The Petland near me sells it for $16 for 20 lbs. Looks fine to me, but it has tiny pink peices in it which was not appealing to me, although that wouldn't stop me from buying. Anyone have an experience with this?
- Location
- Ossining, NY
WC,
if you get it, can you get me 8 bags and I'll reimburse you?
LMK,
House
if you get it, can you get me 8 bags and I'll reimburse you?
LMK,
House
I went to home depot today (yonkers) purchased 1 bag of the white old castle playground sand. I'm going to do the vinegar test tonight or tomorrow, to check for aragonite
BTW: $3.50 for 11 lb bag
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BTW: $3.50 for 11 lb bag
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- Location
- Ossining, NY
Jay, if they have it, and it's the goods, I'll grab a bunch of it.
Used to be $4.95 for 50 lbs :headache:
House
Used to be $4.95 for 50 lbs :headache:
House
I think Walmart in LI had sold some play sand that passed the vinegar test last summer. Maybe Deano can find that post on RC's LIRA forum for you guys.
Play sand is a seasonal item HD and other places carry during the summer, not a winter item for sure.
Deep should be able to get the carib sea stuff pretty easily and cheaper than the LFS, his local distributor carries the stuff.
Play sand is a seasonal item HD and other places carry during the summer, not a winter item for sure.
Deep should be able to get the carib sea stuff pretty easily and cheaper than the LFS, his local distributor carries the stuff.
waltercat: The article was promising, but the reality is... something has changed. The bag I bought is from Old Castle, is in a clear/blue bag, but didn't sizzle with vinegar....
It does have the 'not for aquarium use' on the bag, and the warning label about silica content...
I'm puzzled, perhaps a change in the product line again?
Andre
It does have the 'not for aquarium use' on the bag, and the warning label about silica content...
I'm puzzled, perhaps a change in the product line again?
Andre
if anybody is still looking at this post....u need to understand that old castle is a distributor of many different kinds of sand and gravel products. and that included several different southdown varieties.
i found several of both but couldnt find the old southdown aragonite that was so popular. i did find some old southdown gravel but it was neither aragonite nor fine sand. i wound up buying the home depot stuff in frustration and actually put it in my new tank without doing the vinegar test. (when i suspected the error of my ways, i broke the tank down and restarted with caribsea. look around enuf and you can find it .. i think we finally found it for less than a buck a pound)
old castle still exists and sells lots of different products. it just doesnt sell any of the southdown products anymore. if you can find a retailer with the old stock, you'll be one of the last lucky few.
i found several of both but couldnt find the old southdown aragonite that was so popular. i did find some old southdown gravel but it was neither aragonite nor fine sand. i wound up buying the home depot stuff in frustration and actually put it in my new tank without doing the vinegar test. (when i suspected the error of my ways, i broke the tank down and restarted with caribsea. look around enuf and you can find it .. i think we finally found it for less than a buck a pound)
old castle still exists and sells lots of different products. it just doesnt sell any of the southdown products anymore. if you can find a retailer with the old stock, you'll be one of the last lucky few.
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