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I FOUND SOME!!!!!!!! Winchester, VA. Getting some tonight!! Hopefully they know what they are talking about!! She said she put her eyes on it! Old castle. U guys sure this is the old SOUTH DOWN??
 
the pictures are what you're looking for. Be forewarned, the bag WILL SAY something along the lines of "NOT recommended for Aquarium or ________ Use" don't let the scare you. The manufacturer is contractually obligated to put it there. It won't cause any harm to your tank.
 
Just got the word from someone else that OLD Castle is alot more brown. Do you guys know if there is anything to this?
 
The Elk Grove store is right where I live. Damn, what luck.
I Juuuuuust moved my tank 2 days ago to my new house.
I ditched all my sand completely because it was a lil nasty.
I am in desperate need of new sand and lo and behold I check the
good ol forums and sweeeeeet!!!

Anyone know if leaving my tank with no sand at all for a few days is bad for my fish. I have a few books but I don't see it being bad in any of them. I'm just worried though because I did a 50% water change, and no sand yet, and my fish are all breathing heavy it seems. Anything I really need to know here ??

Should I check certain levels ?? I'm going to check everything again tonight.....after I pick up 5 bags of sand. Even the HD guy I talked to was a hobbyist and he didn't know this either. He kept buying Live Sand at those high rates. Thanks alot all.
 
Yeah I went to my local home depot. they do have real sand there but it is a very dark brown. I will probibly have to go to my local fish store to get the beautiful light stuff. Good thing I only have a 37 gallon tank!
 
Once you've seen the calcium carbonate sand the difference is obvious. silica sand is 'sharp edged' and has the a crystal or diamond like appearence. You'll notice it reflect light as you roll it around in your hand. The calcium based sand I think comes from finely crushed seashells... just a guess though. But when you look at it it 'looks' softer that silica sand. It has a chalky feel to it.

"Silicate free" means nothing. "Silicates" are toxic to humans and there used to be a problem with them like there was with asbestose. You'd inhale them and over time get sick. So people that sell sand like to put that on the lable so you know what you're getting isn't toxic.

I've read several articals about it written by marine biologists and they all said that there was little to no benifit in using Calcium carbonate sand. But they admitted that the small crustaitions living in the sand may benifit due to the lack of sharp edges in the calcium based sand. There is a myth that the silica sand leaches silicate into your tank water. But the glass your tank is made out of is nearly 100% silica... if leaching were a problem the sand would be the least of your worries.

I use calcium based because it's a hell of a lot cooler looking than regular sand.

I've also read an artical that said that you can colonise Dead sand with live rocks, but you wouldn't get the bio-diversity that seeding it with true live sand would. Basically, there are some animals that live in Live sand, some that live in live rock, and some that live in both sand and rock. If you seed the sand with live rock you'll only have the kind that live in both live rock and live sand. The creatures that only live in the sand wouldn't come from the rock. But I only read that in 1 artical and haven't seen it confirmed elsewhere.

Personally, I got some of that "Agra-alive" stuff and live rock. Despite the agra-alive sand being questionable, it worked well. I have so many little critters running around its nuts. The sand practically undulates with life.

By the way, if you bring a cute girl over to your house, don't point this out to her. Trust me, cute girls do not appretiate bio-diversity and all the cutesy baybe talk she was directing twords "little Nemo" soon vanishes. I learned the hard way. (I really should call her...)
 
I found sand at my Walmart called "white beach sand". It sure looks real, (full of little discolored particals.) Its by a company named Gulf Coast, or something like that. I dont know. Ill have to check when I get home. Anyone familiar with this type?

Its amazing when you think about it, I spent 6 dollars for 100 lbs. If I bought the same amount at my local fish store it would have cost me 125 dollars! thats a savings of 119 dollars!
 
I called a bunch of Home Depots in Maryland and pennsylvania yesterday and finally tracked some down near Harrisburg. Drove up there last evening and picked some up. I tried to get the Home Depot near me to get it shipped to them but they wouldn't even consider it. But when I talked to the guys at the Harrisburg store they acted kind of mad that my local store wouldn't order it in. They took my name and number and said they would contact my Home Depot and see what they could do. We'll see...

This is the store that I got it from. They had a full pallet as of last night.

Home Depot
Lower Paxton
5101 Jonestown Rd
Harrisburg, PA 17112
(717)651-9699
 
Greensboro, North Carolina

I bought some good stuff in Greensboro North carolina in the lowes.

play sand for like 2.97 for 50lbs.

playsand with the orange label with a kid illustrated on it. Clear bag.

Lowes off of Stanley, which is off of Wendover
 
play sand for like 2.97 for 50lbs.

playsand with the orange label with a kid illustrated on it. Clear bag.
Click to expand...


That's sicila sand. :roll: I almost bought some of that also. My local lowes claimed to have "tropical" play sand and when I got there it was that.
 
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