Play sand Question

[1460sun]

I went to Home Depot today looking for sand for my new 120g. Only thing I could find was "Quickrete Premium Play Sand". Is this ok for a reef tank?

[::pete::]

Where was it packaged at? There was a thread on RC and the person inquired of the different packaging on the sand ... Ill try to find it .... and basically there is no difference if it comes from ??? I think its Old Castle in PA. Walmart gets one .. HomeDepot gets another ... ect. its all in their contract.

Here it is (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=601389&highlight=old+ca stle)

[::pete::]

^edit link

[Richard]

It's got silicate in it, but it won't leach any silica into your tank.


Are you sure about that? I was going to use it to make some plugs but was wondering about that. I think I read that it won't somewhere but my memory sucks lately and I can't remember what I remember or what I forgot.

[captexas]

Yes, some of it has to just do with different brand names, but he is referring to the Quickrete sand which is silica based and is obtained locally from different quarries. The issue of silica leaching or affecting tanks is debatable.

As far as Southdown goes, they either changed their name or got taken over by Yardright (I have 20 bags in the garage!). I have heard of the Old Castle name, think it was sand from Wal-Mart somewhere on the east coast though. The packaging should say Carribean sand somewhere on it.

[::pete::]

Chris look at the bar code and you will see the name there. Its on all the white playsand and just packaged differently for different companies ... marketing.

[captexas]

Yeah, but that doesn't apply to the Quickcrete sand, it's a more local product. They aren't going to buy sand shipped from the Caribean and then trucked to S.A. when they can get it right here locally for less. Wal-Mart maybe, but not Home Depot or Lowe's, they buy too much else from Quickrete (concrete, morter, etc.) to buy sand from elsewhere. Packaged sand from the Carribean is usually only found on the markets on or near the east coast. Or it's packaged for aquarium use and at least tripled in price.

[Dozer]

I agree with Joshua. I used it in a reef for over a year and it seemed to work fine. In fact, I still have some in my fuge/sump in my tank. When I upgraded I just simply liked the way the white aragonite based sand looked better and went that route instead. In the end the substrate is such an extremely minimal cost of the overall environment.

[::pete::]

The difference in the silica sand is color (brownish) and then you have the silica free which is white.

Chris
I hear you, but was trying to help with the old castle, yardright, southdown ect ;)

[shellback]

Give a call out to Keller Building materials they carry a sugar sand for aquariums also they have lace rock super porous and light. Prices are realy cheap. http://www.kellermaterial.com

[Mr_Cool]

Check out this site:

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

It's and article by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD. Apparenly he knows EVERYTHING about marine invertibrates. I think a reference book that he wrote just came out recently.

Anyway, here's my synopsis of the article...

The only thing that really matters, when it comes to the sand, is the particle size. Most play sands will have a particle size that is pretty close to that found in nature. But, most play sands are silica based. (Whether silicate leaching happens or not is still up for debate, and you can read all about that if you keep looking under "deep sand beds" in a search engine.) The only real problem with silica sand is that the particles DO have some sharp edges that can damage the sand inhabitants. He says it's not a big deal, though.

Of course, the best sand to use would be an aragonite sand. This is due to its PH buffering capabilities. Here's where the whole Southdown/YardRight/OldCastle deal comes into play. You can read all about that, too, in a search for "Play sand." The way I understand it is that OldCastle bought out Southdown, who also packaged under the name YardRight. The aragonite sand is called "Caribean Play Sand" and it's mined down there and then shipped on barges to PA and FL. So, it's hard to find it here in TX or really anywhere but the east coast. Since the buy out, if you by OldCastle play sand, you really don't know if you're getting the aragonite sand, or if its silica sand.

[1460sun]

Thanks, now that I know I can, not sure I want to....hmm