reccomend Southdown alterative

[House of Laughter]

Eric,

Southdown is no longer being produced (that we can find) by New Castle - PA based company.

They are currently only making the Kolorscape and Durascape (Distributed mainly by Homedepot or the like) products which are all silicate or silicate/southdown blends. Kolorscape will pass the vinegar test with the fizzle, but it won't dissolve all the particles - also, you can tell the grain size difference once it gets wet. I ran this stuff in one of our holding systems without any ill effect - only thing is youcan tell the silicate particles.

somewhere bewteen southdown and kolorscape was New Castle White Play Sand - that was on the market for a very short time - maybe 6-8 months, maybe a year? I am not 100% certain on how long, but it seemed a very short time.

Hope that helped - back to topic

House

 

[Awibrandy]

Hi Jim, my problem is not that the esv is cumpling. I just don't like the way it looks like once it's been in the tank a few weeks.

 

[House of Laughter]

Wilda,

Ah, got it - what, though, about it don't you like? color? texture?

House

Hi Jim, my problem is not that the esv is cumpling. I just don't like the way it looks like once it's been in the tank a few weeks.

 

[Awibrandy]

The color, it turns an ugly dirty tan color. When the GS maroon fans it out comes the white to really make the rest of it nasty.lol
Southdown looked like the sand on the beach.

 

[jejton]

Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread but I am currently trying to decide on the best substrate for my tank. I dont believe in buying live sand and am looking for alternatives to purchasing " reef " products whenever possible. I've found that in this hobby, well pretty much all animal keeping, many products we buy are often just regular things repackaged for marketing to this specialty niche ( reefs, poison dart frogs, snakes, its all the same ) and with some research you can find the same thing for much less ( which is not news to anyone here I'm sure ). I've been playing around with google and found some products that look promising but how can I tell if they are sillica based if it doesnt say on the label? Is there any proven bad side to using silica based products?

 

[House of Laughter]

jejton,

HNY -

There are downsides to using silica based sands - cyanobacteria is one of them - many people on reefcentral have used it - even I have tried it. After the initiall battle with cyano, it works - not as good as other commercialy grade sands, but it works. Also, it looks like poop - it seems white in the bag but when it hits water it' turns brownish tan. YUK!

As for the issues above, again, I stand on the theories put forth that ANY sand will act the way it is above without proper turning and cleansing. If you want empirical results, come see the tanks I have running with it.

I personally like the look of a blend of ESV and caribsea fine grade - I did a 3-1 (200lb) bag mix in my SPS display tank - I love the look, it is white, and it works awesome.

Good luck finding other alternatives, I haven't found any and have been searching for years.

Hope this helps,

House

 

[jejton]

I saw in a post from last year that you tried Kolorscape. How did that go? Any photos I can see of your various tanks ( a trip to Westchester is not in my near future ) with the different substrates?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Carib sea or natures ocean work great for me.

 

[JLAudio]

I was searching like crazy for a good alternative non living substrate. Some people reccommend regular "play sand" but it is silicate based which apparently is problematic. I went with ESV and I find it to be ok SO FAR (3 weeks) because I didnt want to take a risk on another questionable product.

I read a few articles that said by using a vinigar test on the sand to see if its safe is reccommended. I believe if the vinigar makes the sand bubble its safe. Google this and maybe you can find a alternitive

 

[jejton]

I just read an article on RC about silica based sands and diatoms. He didnt delve deeply into whether or not silica based sands are ok for reefs but more on silica compounds as nutrients. He did state, though, after experimenting with silica sand and its effects on soluble silicate levels, that there is a great variety in the different sands that probably accounts for why some people have great success with it while others dont.

 

[jejton]

Would a sand made of feldspathic be ok for use in a reef? If not, why?