Southdown Sand

Jrmass · 05-29-2007, 11:08 PM

Alright guys here's something that I've been thinking about that maybe someone on here can answer for me.

I went and bought roughly 300 lbs of Southdown Sand from someone (had to drive to Racine to get it) but, my question is... This sand is dry, my live rock is dry, could I just grab a good sized handful of my chaetomacro with a bunch of my astera stars, snails, and some of my good 3 year old live rock from my 70 gallon tank to seed my new dry stuff? Or would it be worth my while to buy a 40 lb bag of actual live sand? Only reason I ask is because a 40 lb bag is roughly $50-$60 and I only paid $50 +$40 in gas for 300 lbs lol...

So, if anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them. Right now I am leaning towards getting the extra sand (not that I would need it as I have enough for my DSB) that way I have something to seed the new stuff with. But, like I said I'm open to ideas... This is one of those things where it's better to ask before you do it so you don't have to do it twice type of things lol

Jason

pogodzib · 05-30-2007, 10:40 AM

The bags of (so called) live sand that you can buy from stores contains bacteria that help minimize your cycle time, but it doesn't contain any critters in it. It essentially is a quick means for cycling your tank, but doesn't provide any long term benefits. Seeding your tank with live rock or sand from out of your other tank will do much more for you and provide some benefitial critters. If your looking for a better/bigger variety of critters, you would be better off getting a cup full of sand from a few other people within LARK or from a LFS (as long as you don't get the sand from people that have pests in their tank).

hansmatt · 05-30-2007, 12:35 PM

I agree with Brian, seed with live sand from other's tanks. I may do a full tank cleaning this summer...meaning I'd like to replace my sand bed entirely. I believe mine is argonite now, but I'd like a nice sandbed. I've heard that southdown is great, but have not found where to get it locally, or even why it is better. Any thoughts? I'd like to get some too, and would be happy to share my live sand.

pogodzib · 05-30-2007, 12:52 PM

Southdown got bought out by another comany (Old Castle) and they produced aragonite play sand for a year or two and then switched to a silica based playsand. It has been a few years (about 4-5) since Southdown has been available in stores and it is becoming very hard to find people that have some left over that they are willing to part with. The advantage of the Southdown sand was that it was very cheap, was calcium based (which aids in buffering your water), and was a sugar sized (or finer) sand that was good for deep sand beds. The dissadvantage of Southdown is that it is very fine so it would get blown around easily by current for months after it was installed. Basically, the only advantage of it over the "aquarium grade" sand that is available is that it was about $0.15/Lb rather than $1/Lb so you could save a lot of money. If you replace your sand bed, I'd recommend that you try sticking with a "sugar" sized sand. Larger sands and crushed coral allows detrius to settle into the cracks.

hansmatt · 05-30-2007, 01:31 PM

That's what I've heard, plus the pore size is better for denitrificaiton & fauna. Jason, do you have extra you'd be willing to sell? 300lbs is a lot for your tank....

Matt

Jrmass · 05-30-2007, 08:17 PM

actually 300 isn't that much for a tank of my size... for a sand bed of 4" I figured that I would need between 250-280 lbs... If you are looking for the sand that I have it is from Yardright.com . The person I bought this stuff from came from Dallas TX and she was at the size where to export it and saw their facility in action. She had a 1500 gallon setup up with the stuff and this was leftover (unopened) from her origional setup. This stuff is oolite sized (sugar sized). But, I'm glad that I asked about the LS from caribsea. You just saved me from spending an additional $60-$100 that I can put towards other stuff (for the fish tank) lol. btw... Skimmer just got here muahahahaha... Started plumbing the tank all done with that... Just need to put my baffles in the sump (already glue'd them and just need to aquarium seal them into place). Then in a week when my parents come up (the weekend of Butterfest) I'll have my dad (who just happens to be a plumber) bring me pipe (so I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it) lol... I need to run 1 1/2" piping all the way to the tank then divert it to 3/4" for the inlet. Not that I need to worry about losing too much water pressure as the pump I bought (Dolphin 3600 SP) at 15' of lift still puts out 3300 gph so it's a good pump (probably better than what I need) and seeing I'm coming up from the basement and diverting from 1.5" to .75" I'm going to be losing a fair amount of volume.

Sorry to get off track (just thinking about the tank lol) but, about the sand... The person I bought it from said that her and reefers from her local club back in Dallas all got together and purchased a pallet of the stuff. Might be a good suggestion to bring up either here and find out who all we could get to go in on it. Or to bring up at the next meeting. (just a suggestion)

Thanks again guys,

Jason

Sndwave80 · 06-04-2007, 10:45 PM

I used Southdown for several years when I first started my saltwater career (back in the days of Petco) and it did work great. I found it a Home Dept and Lowes in Madison area. But if they have changed the make up of the sand it may not be in the best??? I the previous Reef Club I belonged to we bought it by the pallet and it came to $3-5 a bag and you can sell it for $20.00 per bag and that is still a good deal. We used the cask to fund our parties. Just a thought. Thanks!

hansmatt · 06-05-2007, 06:11 AM

I'd like to replace my bed with a finer sand, not crushed argonite. Mine is a bit deep and I fear full of the nasties. If anyone has a line on some southdown, or can recommend another good substrate let me know.
Matt

pogodzib · 06-05-2007, 08:53 AM

I'd be interested in a 2-3 bags also if anyone finds a source. Too bad that you can't find it in stores anymore.

Jrmass · 06-05-2007, 09:26 AM

Like I said the stuff that I bought is actually "yardright" sand (yardright.com) ... It's Caribean (sp) sand and other than for a few rocks that I had to pick through seems to be a pretty good substrate. The person I bought the stuff from also had some courser substrate left from her old tank so I took that as well and put a layer over the new stuff. Figure in a short time it will all mix together anyhow.

vote4pedro · 06-05-2007, 11:18 PM

When I set my sand bed up we found some of this at the Wisconsin Dells Home Depot. Rumor has it that once upon a time ago one of the employee's there ordered a pallet of it and used it for his own tank. The left overs have since been bought but once in a while I will stop in and see if they have ordered any, I have yet to see any. If we are interested in ordering a pallet Home Depot would be a good place to start.

Jrmass · 06-06-2007, 09:24 AM

I was thinking the same thing about the Home Depot in Onalaska. Like I said if some of you all can get it closer than Racine like I had to do more power to ya! Still 240 lbs of fresh in the bag sand and 60 lbs of from the persons tank sand and roughly $95 after gas and what I paid is hard to beat lol =)

carym · 06-11-2007, 05:40 PM

Any update on this, has anyone found any? I am thinking about replacing my substrate with all sand. Thought I was being smart saving money when I put it in a little over a year ago and went with a mixture of crushed coral and sand. Now it is more crushed coral on top and a lot less sand. Thinking about going an all sand bed but when I started to price sand, for the depth that I want, 4-6" it was going to be at least $350 if not more.... depends on what type and how much I actually go with. For those of you that don't know my tank, it a 125, so if you figure 1lb per gallon x depth, it would be well over 400 lb's. I like the thought of paying a lot less for just regular play sand if that is really a viable option. I had picked up some regular sand from Walmart for a different project, ended up not using and I just tested it for Argonite and it doesn't appear to have any. They do have white play sand which I think I will stop and pickup a bag tomorrow and test.

If I have a refugium with a DSB of actual argonite would I have to make sure my sand bed in the main tank was also argonite?

Thanks
Cary

Jrmass · 06-12-2007, 09:19 AM

Like I have said in the posts before this just go to http://www.yardright.com/sand.htm#playsand ... and that is the very same sand that I have in my 125 right now... You wont need 400 lbs either... If you want a DSB that is 5-6" 300 will be enough as that is what I got for mine and I'm over the 5.5" mark.

Afish4u · 06-20-2007, 09:48 PM

Brian how does this compare to sugar sand?