It's Playsand season. Shout out when you find some!

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Time to make the yearly track to HD and Wally world myself. I swear folks look and point when I pour this stuff on the ground into a pile of excess sand. One of these days an FBI agent it going to jump out and think I'm a terrorist or something.
 
I'm new here, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I found fantasy play sand by Coastal Supply at NH Home Depots. This sand was mentioned a few pages back, but no one confirmed if it fizzes or not. I will be picking up some bags for my reef tank soon, and I will confirm whether it is the right stuff.

I also wanted to post something that may be of help for all of you with Home Depots near you that you can never find what you're looking for at. They have a searchable contractor website that shows you your local stores' inventories (maybe not what they have on hand at that moment, but what they carry). Here it is. http://contractorservices.homedepot.com/Default.aspx

And here is the sand I was talking about. http://contractorservices.homedepot...2504&pid=67431475-f011-418d-8ad5-e0e4e7cb0754

And I wanted to apologize for continuing to dredge up a very old topic, but this is an important one. The archived version is one of the first things that comes up in most Google searches related to play sand and aquariums (that's how I found it). A lot of people benefit from this thread.

OK, I'll be back later to report on that sand. Wish me luck! :D
 
I was unable to find the fantasy sand at my local HD, but they did have something called "High Desert" play sand, and I got a little sample from a ripped bag. It is pure white, graded, fairly fine grained (but not as fine as your typical marine sand), and has a somewhat rough texture (like aragonite sand...it has that irregularly shaped grain with a shiny side). But the good news is, it fizzles like alka seltzer in vinegar. I put it in 20 minutes ago, and I think some of the smaller particles are visibly dissolving now. It does have a warning on the bag that it contains "small amounts" of silica, whatever that means, but it appears to be mainly carbonate based.

Does this sound like a decent sand for a reef? I may pick up a few bags of it. It does seem a little rough for burrowers (not like the soft, powdery marine sands), but I don't have (or plan to have) any sand sifting fish (just nassarius snails and the various pods and worms common in sand beds).
 
Hailey said:
they did have something called "High Desert" play sand,... has a somewhat rough texture (like aragonite sand...). But the good news is, it fizzles like alka seltzer in vinegar. ...

Does this sound like a decent sand for a reef?
Sounds perfect! You going to get a small amount of live sand or a detrivore pack to add to it?
 
The good stuff is not available anymore. It was TROPICAL play sand and came from the same place Carib-Sea gets their aragonite sand.
 
No. There is no problem using regualar play sand. I used Kolorscope playsand from HD in the past and had no problems with it. I just didn't like it because it has lots of small sharp pieces.
 
Not true for all play sand.

in short, yes. Its good stuff and feel free to mix :wink:

It says on the bag "not recomended" because of a contractual non-compete agreement between the supplier of the sand and another aquarium products company. This play sand is the exact same sand that you see in the LFS for $20 for a 25 pound bag


I went to my local Home Depot and brought some of the brand KolorScape Play Sand. It is a very Nice White/Grey color. Distributed by OldCastle Lawn & Garden.

I gave it the vinegar test and it failed miserably. It looked like I was holding a cup of alka-seltzer.

Oh well I guess that is why we test for ourselves...lol
 
OldCastle no longer distributes TROPICAL play sand. KolorScape is silica sand. Aragonite based sand is now only availble in the retail market from the aquarium trade.
 
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