questions about playsand

[kimberly]

We are setting up a new 190 sw reef with 120 sump/refugium. Husband is working on the plumbing/set up as we speak.

We found Old Castle white playsand at Home Depot. It says "warning, may have small amounts of silica". Is this the right sand? I know that there is a test with vinegar that we can do on the sand, can someone fill me in on the details of how to test? We brought a small sample home.

Thanks.

 

[Hara]

that is the right stuff

 

[nycfatcow]

whats this sand for?

 

[bound_for_obx]

The sand that you have may not be the sand that you are looking for... at least I am not familiar with warnings of silicate content on the Southdown/Oldcastle "Tropical Play Sand". To do the vinegar test simply poor some vinegar onto the sand and see if it foams up. If it does then you probably have the Aragonite sand that you are looking for.

HTH

 

[No_Floaters]

Of course you had to find it in Michigan. We in Texas have to import it by the pallet if we can even find it at all. But, yea, that's the right stuff.

 

[ChosenOne]

Is it the Kolorscape name? I made a thread about that a couple of threads down. Someone else mentioned they were using it for a couple months now too.

 

[Macmommy]

I believe what she has found is NOT the tropical aragonite sand, but Old Castle's new playsand. I saw a pallet of it at the local HD store and asked about the Old Castle Tropical Play Sand, and was told that they no longer carry it, now they just carry plain "Old Castle brand Play Sand." There is a silica warning on it because this is not the same tropical sand they used to carry.

HTH

 

[Hara]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=62865&highlight=castle

this is the thread where it was discussed

 

[Macmommy]

Not all of the HD stores carry the Kolorscape sand. Some of them only have the Play Sand with the Old Castle logo on the bottom of the bag. The Kolorscape sand is different. I believe the OP was referring to the plain play sand and not the Kolorscape sand, but correct me if I am wrong Kimberly...

 

[kimberly]

My husband is the one who found it last night. I chose to not go chase our two toddlers at HD and stayed home. He said it was Old Castle Playsand with a "warning".

We did a vinegar test. No clue as to whether we did it right or not. But he brought home a handful of the sand and we put it in a bowl and poured plain white distilled vinegar on it. Nothing really happened. So I have no clue as to what that means.

Thanks.

 

[cplawrence]

I picked up some of that sand as well thinking I hit the jackpot, but no good. Not to hijack your thread (hoping that this might help), I did find leveling sand at Lowe's. It seemed to have a nice white texture. When I tossed a bit in with vinegar, I got quite a bit of fizzing. That for one seems to confirm that the Old Castle sand we have is no good. However, my question is that in the end, this sand did not completely dissolve even with the addition of more vinegar. In fact, there seemed to be a bit of "dirt" (for lack of a better word) left over? Is that typical? I'm thinking that this is no good either....

 

[Brenden]

I had emailed Old Castle on this several times and finally had to call them for a response. Per Old Castle they no longer produce aragonite sand due to loosing the mining rights where it was mined. I do think this was a generic litigation cop out because I now have a 3000 lb pallet of it in my garage. Keep looking. It is out there.

 

[dianeww]

I now have a 3000 lb pallet of it in my garage

 

[BillyZ]

just for some more info, take a look at this site:
http://www.inlandreef.com/Testing/SandPhotos.html

it will give you a close up view of the $20 a bag sand from the LFS and compare it to the Old Castle "white gold" and typical "play sand".

If you know what you're looking for you can almost tell the difference just in the feel. The vinegar test should disolve the sand.

 

[rickh]

I just don't get it. I realize the LPS overcharges for "aquarium" sand but you are willing to spend thousands of dollars on pumps and lights, then you dump in sand that could contain anything?? At every Home Depot, Lowe's, etc the sand is next to the lawn fertilizer, weed killer, bug killer all kinds of nasty stuff. Who knows--back in the warehouse maybe a box of Roundup leaked on to the pallet of sand. It's not worth it. R

 

[Macmommy]

That's true, but the same goes for any bag of sand. There is no telling how many bags may have been inadvertently sprayed by the exterminator while they were in the back of the LFS. But, surely you know that the pallets of bagged sand are shrinkwrapped and aren't unwrapped until they are out on the floor of the Lowe's and HD. So it seems to me that either bag has just as good of a chance as the other of being contaminated. Of course, even though we rinse the sand before we put it in our tanks, that doesn't mean it's safe. There are always chances some people are willing to take. I would just as soon buy the sand a little cheaper than $30 a bag for plain sand; and spend the extra money on the live sand. It's a chance I am willing to take, especially since lots of other hobbyists have posted successful experiences with it.

 

[rickh]

If you get a bag of sand from the LPS and it kills your tank you probably can get something from the shop. If you buy sand from Home Depot that says right on the bag "Not for aquarium use" and you have a problem. Good Luck. R

 

[BillyZ]

I have yet to hear of a single story of someone having a problem with sand purchased from a non-LFS.

 

[kimberly]

Latest update. Purchased 14 bags of Durascape white play sand. Packaged by OldCastle. Initially did not fizzle in vinegar. Overnight noticed substantially less sand in test tube. After adding new vinegar started noticing some bubbles. After another night, vast majority dissolved.

I guess the sand will work. The next problem was to wait for the milk cloud in my fish tank to settle - took about 4 days.

- The Husband of the Poster -