Southdown Sand good or bad?

[IcantTHINKofONE]

I thought I was decided tat I was gonna use the Souhdown san from Home Depot for my new tank bu nw I've heard that it is an annoyance. I've heard that the slightest water movement sends the sand into the overflow box and all over the corals. Does anyone have any opinion on this? Thanx.

 

[Tcook]

This only occurs for the first week or so. After that there is enough bacterial growth on the grains that they just don't move around as much.

 

[esmithiii]

You have been misinformed. SD is great. It will cloud the first week, as any substrate for a DSB would but after that it is great.

Ernie

 

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind though, if you just dump the sand directly into a tank full of water it will take quite a while to settle out. Try to do it in some way that doesn't involve a lot of mixing, like pour it down a tube with a funnel.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

there isnt even water in the tank yet so im going to put the and down first and then add water gently. Thanks for the info, I think I will go with SD afterall.

 

[danmhippo]

If your tank is still dry, Go grab a bag or 2 of the CaribSea "Live Aragonite". This stuff is simply packaged aragonite sand after it has been sitting in a barrel waiting for bacteria to coat their surfaces. Spread a thin (1/2") layer of arag-live sand on top of southdown. This does 2 purpose. 1. weight down the dry southdown layer so your water clear up very fast. and 2. seed bacteria to your sand faster then normal. Make sure when you are filling your tank up, water do not directly pour down at the sand bed. water should be poured into a large bucket on the sand first to minimize the impact.

 

[reef newbie]

I've recently converted my cc 1" to a 4" DSB with only SD sand. It took a few days before the sand storm settled but once it did, I had no problems with it. I've rearranged my rocks alot and have not had any problems with additional sand storms.

HTH,
Tucker

 

[Reefguide]

WHAT ?? 8O You guys are adding Home Depot Sand to your aqauriums? I was today going to pick up a few bags of sand the LFS can I just add this Home Depot Southdown sand to raise my 2" to about 4" ??

So I know where to look what is it used for. Concreate mixing? Paver setting?

Learn something new everyday I guess...

 

[danmhippo]

Play sand. Most likely are placed together in the concrete mixing section. It's called SouthDown Playsand. Not all states carry them.

 

[Reefguide]

Sweet thanks... I have seen the play sand there before... Do I need to rinse it or anything or just streight out of the bag?

 

[danmhippo]

Many people rinse off the fine dust particles, but I was told it's those silty sized dust that makes Southdown valuable. I don't rinse, I dump the whole enchilada into the tank and fill up. The dust took about a week and a half to settle though. If you are doing this in a existing setup, you can also dump the sand into a clean trashcan, fill with saltwater, throw in a powerhead, add a couple scoops of your existing sand and a small piece of raw shrimp, and wait. Mix the sands every other day to make sure all sand are being seeded. Do this for a few weeks till the sand don't cloud water anymore when you disturb the sand bed in the trash can. Your sand is now officially "live".

 

[Reefguide]

Thanks for the input... The trashcan technique sound good, but frankly I'm too lay and impatient for that... I'll just use a 3/4 pvc pipe to try to get it on the sand bed without too much of a mess.... Thanks again folks....

 

[MattM]

Sweet thanks... I have seen the play sand there before... Do I need to rinse it or anything or just streight out of the bag?

Make sure you get the "Southdown Tropical Play Sand" - it's oolitic aragonite. It is very different from "Quickcrete Play Sand", which is just silica sand. All HD's carry the latter, so that may be what you remember seeing.

 

[ChrisRD]

Not sure about other locations, but the Home Depot near me carries the Southdown in the Garden Center. They carry the Quickcrete product in their masonry area. When I called and asked about Southdown Play Sand they told me they carry Quickcrete play sand. When I went to the place to check and asked where they keep their play sand they pointed me to the masonry area and, again, I found the Quickcrete product. They did, in fact, have the Southdown in the store, but nobody seemed to be aware of this. Just FYI...

 

[SPC]

Reefguide, the sand that is being dicussed here is not offered in South Fla.
Steve

 

[Reefguide]

Doh, I got a pumped up !! I'll check just to make sure.... Thanks!

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

I just got back from the Home Depot in Staten Island, NY and i broughtback 500 lbs of this stuff. It's true, no one in the store knows the even have it because it is in gardening section not where other sands are.

 

[Anonymous]

You can also look for Yard Right Select Tropical Play Sand (also made by Southdown but packaged differently). You most likely won't find it in a HD, but may be able to find at some local nurseries. Actually, being in Florida, you may be able to get it right from the source. Look at this link for details Southdown