Vinegar test on sand

[degbowl]

I have been looking for tropical play sand at HD. I went to one place and found white play sand. I forget the brand name, but it wasn't Yardright, Old Castle,Southdown, or Quikrete. I took a small sample in my hand and took it home. I poured some white vinegar in a cup and dropped the sand in. The vinegar was bubbling alot. It took about a minute for it to start bubbling. Did I do the test right? I think this is the right sand. I am going to go back and buy it on sunday. It was $3.99 for a 50lb bag. If anyone thinks I did something wrong then please let me know. Thanks!
Jim

[cmor1701d]

Sounds right to me. Please post back exactly what sand it is. A pic of a bag would help too.
I'm assuming you found it in the garden section of HD.
Congrats on the find.
How much is it per bag?

[fishfreek]

Indeed if you could post a photo of the bag as well as what the barcode digits are. This might help others locate stores with the product.

If it reacts to the vinegar than you have the right stuff. If it was not the right stuff the viengar would just make the sand wet.

[degbowl]

I am picking it up on sunday. I will take a picture and post the barcode digits. I did find it in HD garden section. $3.99 for 50lb bag. Thanks for everyones replies!
Jim

[degbowl]

False alarm with the sand. I went to HD to look for a brand name so I could do more research. Before I even found a brand name, I found a warning label. The label said sand contains a small amount of silica. I'm not going to take a chance. I am only doing a 30 gal tank. I will just buy from LFS. If I had found Old Castle, Yardright, or Southdown then I would have bought some.

[fishfreek]

silica and silicates are totally different. The sand you found would have been fine. Even old castle, yardright and southdown have warnings on them about not to use them in aquariums.

[ColdFish]

I just picked up a bag of Quickrete sand at Lowes today. Haven't seen this one before. It's not labelled as play sand. It says medium sand and is pure white and very fine. Probably just silica but I'm going to give it a try. The quickrete play sand is kinda ugly IMO, but this stuff looks nice. Not too worried about it since I'll be running with plenty of LR and a fuge with miracle mud. Is this a safe assumption? Could always mix some better sand with it I guess and still have saved money

[ColdFish]

Here's a pic of what I got. I'll post another pic after I get some in the tank. Should look pretty nice.

[Dr.Nate]

I just spent the weekend washing and adding the quikrete playsand to my aquarium. It passed the vinegar test but it's not the prettiest stuff (just not as white as I would like).

I'm curious if the medium quikrete sand pictured above is whiter? and does it pass the vinegar test????

[cmor1701d]

Playsand should be fine. Other sands may or may not be. You don't know what else may be mixed in. Most of the others are sold for mixing concrete so other particles are not troubling. Sand sold as Playsand for a childs sandbox must meet some Federal regs for safety. You know the particle size is not hazardous and that there noting bad mixed in with the sand (hopefully).

Silica sand is what most beaches (non-tropical) are made up of.

[Brenden]

That is weird I have never seen or heard of any quikrete sand being aragonite. Did it foam like alka setzer?

[Dr.Nate]

sure did.....but I got the play sand one, not the one pictured above. It's aragonite based alright, it's just not the whitest sand around (more tan colored)