Southdown shipped is going to cost you more with shipping, than you can get a 40# bag of CaribSea Araginite sand for at a
LFS... If you cannot find SD, YR, or OC anywhere, then Silica sand is ok to use....
The fears of silicates leaching really need to be squashed from being spread now, since many studies have been made to show that it is not a major contributor to doing this... The main thing
IMO, is the way that the grains of sand are sharp instead of rounded.. This can cause irritation to the fauna and gobies, sifters that inhabit it...
You stand to get more silicates out of 10 gals of your tap water than 100 lbs of silica sand would leach in a year or two....
CaribSea Aragonite, aka Southdown, is sold at the
LFS here for $29 per 40# bag...
One bag of Southdown shipped from Idaho was $11.99 for the bag of sand and $47 for shipping per bag...Highway robbery if you ask me...