Tropical Play Sand - to be discontinued

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petersolson

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
12
Location
Bethel, Connecticut
In my apparently fruitless quest to find tropical play sand in Connecticut in December, I telephoned Old Castle in Easton, PA to ask about local dealers. Although the woman was very helpful and gave me some good leads, she indicated that the island where they mine the sand is being converted into a natural gas mining operation. So, they will be discontinuing the tropical sand product. Bummer.
 
Home Depot discontinued it as well. I've contacted about 15 stores within 100 miles of me and all say the item number and product has been discontined. Does not sound good. I was hoping to get my hands on some this spring.
 
Rumers where that TPS and the coralife sand started at the same quary. So its quite possible that another location will be or has already been found. Although there might be a lapse in time for production to ramp up...
 
That wasn't a rumor. I posted an edited version of a thread from another forum. I think it was titled All you ever wanted to know about Southdown...

"This sand is shipped to southdown from Marcona Ocean Industries which is out of Ft. Pierce Florida. They sell to both Southdown, AND Carib-Sea. (they also sell to Martin Marrieta in jacksonville, among others). Marcona Ocean Industries, the company that mines the stuff, does so in the carribean, and has a special agreement with carib-sea. They have a sort of "noncompete" agreement that says that they will not sell sand to anyone doing reefs. Kinda like panasonic selling its 36" pc bulbs only to custom sealife. Same type deal. anyways, marcona sells to Southdown, Inc. and I am sure that they have told Southdown what the scoop is. (and Southdown probably told HD). . .

All of this comes from a cay in the bahamas where Marcona has a 24/7 mining operation and fills a boat that has a 3000ton/hr conveyer! (big boat) anyways, they WILL NOT SELL IT TO YOU if you even mention the words: fish, aquarium, tank, reef, saltwater, etc. They WILL sell it to you if you tell them its for your shrubs in your front yard and that you have used it before lots of times and that you are sure that this what you want. The key here is that you have to make a trip to either Ft. Pierce or Jacksonville, FL Monday - Friday 7am-4pm. Thats it, no alternatives. I am thinking about doing it soon, but have to take time off work... i will try and post here if i do get it, just to fill everyone in.

Give them a call - tell them you want it for your bushes. They will sell it to you.. but you have to shovel it yourself.. (the smallest front end loader they have carries 5 yards )

Marcona Ocean Industries
20 Avenue M
Fort Pierce, FL 34952
561-464-1836

4018 Retford Dr
Jacksonville, FL 32225
904-646-3595 "


I gues it's time to call Marcona and get the real scoop
 
To bad about the sand I would like sand in my tank but started with crush coral so why go through the hastle to convert.
 
Sorry for reviving an old post, but...
Here are some details on the Marcona Ocean Industries operation:

http://www.dredge.com/casestudies/dred2-08.htm

An interesting quote:
"The maximum transport distance for [aragonite sand] to be competitive with traditional onshore sources is about 150 km. Silica sand and carbonate aggregates have a higher unit value and can be transported farther distances."

Which explains why you only see it in East coast markets and they won't ship it anywhere else.
 
petersolson said:
In my apparently fruitless quest to find tropical play sand in Connecticut in December, I telephoned Old Castle in Easton, PA to ask about local dealers. Although the woman was very helpful and gave me some good leads, she indicated that the island where they mine the sand is being converted into a natural gas mining operation. So, they will be discontinuing the tropical sand product. Bummer.

I just picked some up from Home Depot in Bloomfield, New Jersey. They had an entire skid full of it. Try them.
 
I have not seen a shortage in NJ. HD continues to carry it and I expect they will have more arriving in a month or two.
 
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