Yardright AKA South Down

[PUMA]

Hello all at MAAST
I am trying to find out some info on buying South Down for a Group order for MARSH members. Can someone hook me up with a supplier.
Thanks

[GaryP]

You might try to contact Yardright to find the nearest dealer. They have a webpage for that. Just don't say anything about it being for aquarium use. From what I heard they won't sell to the aquarium hobby. I think they may be the supplier for other aqaurium sand companies and don't want to undercut the pricing of those suppliers.

http://www.yardright.com/dealers.htm

Their website even says, "Not suitable for aquarium systems"

[sunvsat]

I contacted them about the "not for aquarium use" on their sand bags and they declined to answer. As was said, they evidently do sell sand for aquarium use too............

[GaryP]

Wanna bet me where folks like CaribSea get their sand, or at least some of it?

[matt]

One of our members, Joshua, spent a large amount of time working on getting SD brought to a home depot here; he was going to buy the entire pallet. It still did not happen.

Two suggestions; there's a place here that sells all kinds of sand, rock, fill, etc by the truckload called Keller materials. They're advertising aquarium sand; if what they have is sugar sized araganite, this would be the cheapest and easiest solution. One other is see about a big order from "pure caribbean" if that guy is still in business. To be honest, I thought that sand was much nicer than SD; less dusty and a more uniform grain size.

[PUMA]

thanks for all of your help guys. I am still waiting on a reply from Yardright. What a micky mouse company. Makes me wonder if they are a front for money laundering or something like that. Maybe the smuggle illegals in bags of sand.

[falcondob]

Pardon my ignorance. How do you distinguish sugar-sized aragonite from just plain-ole mixed mineral sand??

[GaryP]

By picking up the phone and calling. :) I did that. The stuff at Keller is silica sand. I have a feeling someone like that could be talked into carrying it in stock if they knew what kind of local market was available for it.

[falcondob]

Did they say how much would have to be ordered for them to order from their wholesaler?

[PUMA]

This search is futile. I have tried every course to order this stuff and have had not success. You would think in a capitalist system we could find a product we are looking for. I am giving up. :angry

[ou812pezz]

don't give up. I've been corresponding with Keller Materials. It seems I'm not the only one who has inquired. Two of us have sparked an interest in them to carry the sand. This is what they replied
"I spoke with our manager today regarding the sand and he said he had
spoken with another gentleman earlier in the week. He is looking in to
carrying this sand and says he should have more details within a week
to ten days. Hopefully, we can get some in - it sounds like it is hard
to find around this area. I would recommend checking back with us
around the end of the month to see if/when we will be receiving a
shipment. Please let us know if we can be of any more assistance."

It would be a lot quicker if more people would inquire so they understand the demand. I would suggest everyone interested in sand send an email to customerservice@kellermaterial.com. Even if you don't need sand now, you know you will later on when you upgrade. Plus it's a handy item to trade.

[ou812pezz]

a little help getting cheap sand please.

[brewercm]

Pardon my ignorance. How do you distinguish sugar-sized aragonite from just plain-ole mixed mineral sand??

I'm not sure I understand the question you asked and maybe was just taking for granted you know. If not and here is a lesson for other newbies that don't know what we are talking about.

The sugar-sized aragonite sand when looked under a microscope is much smoother in surface material then silica based. Whether that makes a difference in sifters or not, who really knows. As far as telling the difference you can mix aragonite in with vinegar and it will start to bubble up and disolve, silica will just sit there.

[captexas]

For a capital based system to work and for a company to bring in a new product like you want, there has to be enough profit in it for them and enough demand to justify bringing in a large amount like what they would have to do. I can't see that big a profit for them on sand or enough demand to keep it in supply, especially when silica sand is so easy to come by in this area with all the quarries we have here. Why sell something that costs them over $5 a bag when they can get sand locally for probably $0.50 a bag? Why sell a product that only a limited number of people will want? I mean, when you set up an aquarium you need sand 1 time, not every week on a regular basis. There are only so many people setting up aquariums throughout the year. If there was a big enough demand, don't you think a LFS would order in a pallet or two of the Carrib-sea sand?

Just saying be a bit more realisting instead of getting upset about not finding someone to order it in for you. If you feel so strongly about it, open up your own business or order in 8 to 16 pallets of the sand yourself as is required by the distributors. Good luck with it, again, numerous people have tried this in the past with little to no luck. Josh got lucky I think and even then it took a long time and a lot of persistant phone calls for that to actually happen.

[tgray]

Exactly how did you do it Josh????

[PUMA]

Thanks Josh
I will use the new knowledge to go deeper towards the dark side.

[tgray]

hey puma, if you get a new order I'll go for at least 10 bags.
Tim

[Brett Wilson]

A former maast member (hammer-moved to CA) and I were able to split a full semi truck load with dallas a year and a half ago.
They got the full semi load of it from yardright directly.
We had to drive to dallas and haul 6 pallets down here (you need a massive trailer and a truck with some balls to do this - 16000lbs of sand) ourselves but it paid off well.
I don't remember the guys name, but some searching on the DFWMAS site should turn up something... or at least some asking around should.

If you get enough people to put money into it it's pretty easy....

[PUMA]

My contact called the vendor and found out that it is a discontinued product. The vendor said they will be removing it from their web site. It seems that they lost the quarry where the stuff is mined.
Sorry guys the trail is over. Please place your trays in the up right and locked position.

[GaryP]

Someone is still making the stuff.

[PUMA]

If someone is still makeing the stuff it is not Yardright. My contact called them and they no longer make and sell tropical play sand. There may be dealers with inventory, but the company no longer carries the product.

[brewercm]

Didn't they change names/brands again to Old Castle or something like that, or maybe that was an old name.

[PUMA]

Old Castle is the Umbrella company that owns and distributes the sand. My contact owns a hardware store and called the vendor directly. They came right out and said they have to discontinue the product because they can no longer get it from the quarry. I wonder if Carrib Sea bought the quarry?