Holy Grail of sand ...Southdown

[inkblue]

...i LO Ked everywhere for Southdown sand here in Houston and couldn't find it. Looked in like 3 Home Depots, Loews, even a pool place, Toys R Us... no g0 :dead1:

 

[bad coffee]

look for oldcastle also, there was a brand at wallymart that was the same thing.

BC

 

[DEEPWATER]

why is everyone going nuts over this sand ?

 

[DEEPWATER]

BC ,,whats up ,,,how is work going ,,i think you should have a beta fish to tag along with ya ,,JKING ,,just not he same ,,lol
hope things are going great for ya ,

 

[ctxmonitor]

Price and how it could be used in reef setup.

 

[inkblue]

from what i read in the scrolls.. it is white and pure as the goddess Athena.

here are the scrolls from the red seas... :afro:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/2/short

(not to mention it's like $4 for 50lbs)

 

[marrone]

Because for 50lbs of sand it cost $5-$10 compare to what you pay for live sand or regular sand. Big savings.

I thought that they change the name of the product.

 

[DEEPWATER]

Is Southdown the name of the sand or the company that make the sand ?

 

[bad coffee]

I believe it was the company that made it. It's in a blue and red bag called 'tropical play sand'

there used to be a link on either Reefs.org or RC called "everything you wanted to know about southdown"

It's the same exact sand as caribsea. But as it was mentioned, it's a LOT cheaper. ($4 for 50#, rather than $1 a pound)

There are a few araganite based brands floating around. SOme at wallmart, target, HD, Lowes, ect. I bet most are the same sand just repackaged for each store.

The company that packages southdown had a shady environmental record if I remember. (DON"T QUOTE ME ON THIS. I just remember being turned off after reading the article I mentioned above.)

Take a small bottle of vinegar with you when shopping for sand. Put a bit of sand in your hand and add a bit of vinegar. If the sand starts bubbling, it's probably araganite based. If it doesn't do anything, it's probably silicate based. (and people have had problems with silicate based sands in aquarium use.)

I'll do a little more searching and see if I can find that article.

B

 

[marrone]

http://www.justphish.com/drygoods/southdownsand.htm

 

[marrone]

[

 

[jhale]

why are you looking for sand in TX ?

 

[cali_reef]

So he can hand carry it back to NY.


I don't think you will find Tropical Play Sand in none-fish retail stores west of Mississippi. I had paid $15 for a bag when someone did a group buy in Los Angeles a few years back.
Someone had found them in Walmart on LI, look for a post on RC's LIRA forum for details.