What is southdown???

[stryder]

Sorry to be so neophytey but seriously , what the heck is this stuff and where will I find it? I have always used aragonite.


Thanks!!

[jamal-188]

It's basically the same sand sold at your LFS for 5x as much. It's commonly available at Home Depot for $5 for a 50lb bag. Do a search for it on here, you'll find pages and pages of information on it...more than you'll want to know

[Smonkey15]

whoa, i didn't realize it was that cheap!! i just decided right this second to switch my substrate and do a dsb. awesome.
steve

[Smonkey15]

also, good thing i spent $80 on aragonite substrate too big to be effetive for a dsb. lfs's blow.
steve

[possum]

The worst part about it is that it comes from the same place as the higherpriced carib sea stuff only they charge like 30 bucks for a 20 pound bag 8O

[Smonkey15]

yea, hopefully the southdown people dont catch on and start marketing that sand for aquariums and up the price. they could easily do that and people would still buy it over the stuff at the lfs.
steve

[possum]

I am pretty sure i heard that southdown is actually the suplier for carib sea and has a contract with them which is why they wont even sell it to you if you tell them it is going in an aquarium (home depot probably wouldnt care less but if you try to buy it straight from southdown dont let them know what you plan to do with it

[reefrunner69]

Actually there is a little place in FL, Marcona Industries (or something like that) that supplies both Southdown (now Old Castle) and Caribsea.

[stryder]

All these are brand names correct? What is the actual sand, incase we don't have those brands here?

[stryder]

oh, and what color is it? (white I presume).

[captivereefs]

Yes it is pure white.

[Smonkey15]

so does that mean that southdown sand could go under any of the three names southdown, yardright, or old castle?
steve

[cashman]

Yes, but don't expect to find any at Home Depot unless you are in the Northeast. The Depot-ites here in Middle TN looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked them if they carry it. Quickcrete only around here. I even asked if they could have it sent from a store that carried it. They said not unless I bought an entire pallet, which is about 25x as much as I need. If you have a bunch of people in your area they might go in on it with you, but I don't know anyone close, or any reef groups close by, so I am stuck. Some people are trying to sell it on Ebay for $10 a bag. Kicker is that they are in Idaho and want to charge $30 a bag or more to ship it.

[Smonkey15]

crap, i'm in minnesota. i doubt they will have it then.
steve

[Smonkey15]

alright screw it guys, i have to know. i'm skipping out on my international finance class to go to home depot and see if they have the sand. is that wrong? nah, its for the love of the hobby. i can't wait any longer. i will have an answer to my own question very soon.
steve

[biotoxin]

seriously, someone needs to write an article on southdown, way too many posts that are answering the same question about it over and over. *cough*mods*cough*

[Smonkey15]

alright, turns out my home depot didn't have any kind of sand at all for anything, the lady i talked to was probably a moron. the i continued to spend about an hour staring at pvc fittings trying to figure out how to make a u tube out of pvc but connect it to my mag with clear plastic tubing. it was too hard, my brain couldn't handle it. i think i will be making the whole return tube from my sump out of pvc now.
steve

[biotoxin]

ive stood there with my wife for over 40 mins looking at pvc fittings and she must think im a complete dolt. Sorry but you cant make a good u tube from pvc fittings, trust me ive tried it and i have a new gray hair from it.

Dont let the hype of southdown make you nuts its just aragonite sand and even the quikrete isnt that bad its just silica and i know plenty of ppl that use silica for years and never had any problems with it. Spend the 40$ for 40 lbs of it (i dont know your size of tank but 40lbs usually works ok if you dont need a 3" dsb). Start a new trend and use a bare bottom, just cover it with shrooms and gsp. Make a trend dont follow one

[Smonkey15]

so what is your u tube made of now then? do you have a sump? if so what did you use for the return line?
steve

[reefrunner69]

Southdown is a pure aragonite playsand with a grain size about the size of a sugar grain or smaller.