Southdown sustitutes

[Goldie]

I cannot find southdown sand at any of the home depots, thus another reason I hate living in the south. The only thing stopping me from finishing my reef setup is I cannot find a good sand substitute for the southdown without paying a fortune for it. Can someone please suggest a good cheap substitute for the southdown? I have seen different sands at lowes and home depot by quickcrete but was afraid to use them for fear of some kind of contamination in the sand or it being the wrong kind ect. Someone please help. What are people from the south using in their aquariums?

 

[ReefRaff]

the other name to look for would be Yardright. hth

 

[fishfreek]

Old Castle I belive is another name for the sand.

When looking in home depot look in the gardening section as the sand is sold for the purpose of landscaping/play box's vs the other sand that can be found over in the contruction/lumber side that is used more for concrete mixing.

 

[GrndHog]

Goldie; Thats the same problem I'm having right now, I'm in Fl and I have found two types, one @ HD and the other @ Lowes. They both say nothing on the bag except, playsand. No ingredence or if you can use it for aquariums. At my local stores they are in the lumber section, I havent checked the gardening section.

 

[Goldie]

Old castle = Yardright = Southdown If I am not mistaken all three of these are and were made by the same company. I have checked at all the home depots and lowes in my area and they carry none of the three. They do however carry some just labeled playsand that is silica based and also the quickcrete brand which I know nothing about. From what I have read on here silica based is ok to use but it will irritate the inhabitants of the DSB because it supposably has sharp edges where aragonite does not. Apparently Old castle, yardright, southdown are all three hard to find in the south for some reason so I would like some input from people in the southern states as to what they are using for a DSB, (brand, type, where it was bought).

I dont mean to rant and rave its just I have bought all my equipment and everything and was going to buy the sand for the DSB (the last thing I needed before the live rock) and now I have been stuck in the great sand debate for weeks now and am ready to sell everything just because I cant find the "right sand". I know I can buy aquarium sand at the LFS but at $1.00 a lb when I know people have bought the "right" playsand for $10.00 or less for a 50lb bag It just seems useless to me. Thanks...

 

[dustybrannum]

I just got in 1000 lbs of southdown that i had to order from pennsylvania through home depot. ended up costing about $13 a 50 lb bag after shipping and taxes, so still well worth it to me. hth

 

[GrndHog]

Are you saying you have some for sale or just stating the way you obtained the sand?

Thank you in either case

 

[dustybrannum]

Well I was just proposing a way to get it. Perhaps if you lived closer i could spare a few bags. You have to badger your local Home Depot to do a store transfer. The guy that ordered mine switched stores before my sand came in and so i just had to randomly call the home depot to see if it had came in. big mess but i am very happy that it came in with no busted bags.
Goldie how close to clarksville are you? i have a friend coming down oct 3 from there and depending on how many bags you want i could send you some.

 

[roblikesfish]

You might check into your LFS. They will some times bulk order southdown/substitue in bulk to sell.

 

[Goldie]

Goldie how close to clarksville are you? i have a friend coming down oct 3 from there and depending on how many bags you want i could send you some.

I live next to the North Carolina border so Clarksville is a pretty good drive. Thanks for the offer though.

 

[fishlips12]

Could not find it here in California either. But did have some local guy buy a pallet of the stuff and was able to sell all of it..

amazing

 

[ReefRaff]

It's not uncommon for people to drive many miles to get it. so might be worth the trip.