White Sand (Black Magic)

[Raszagil]

Hi all, I just went out to Home Depot to check out the white botanical sand for bonzi, mentioned here a while back. I may have struck gold...

It's dolomite sand, white with occasional pinkish grains here and there (just like what you see in the sand at the LFS) and with varying levels of grain size, most of it sugar-sized, some larger grains here and there, and a bit of it's grounded into fine powder. I checked, there don't seem to be any additives at all, just dolomite sand.

It's an aquamarine-colored plastic bag, the name "Black magic" with what looks like a magicion or something in black, below that is the product name "White Sand", in white.

It costs 2.47 for 2 dry quarts (2.20 liters).

The company selling it is called "The Garden Grow Company" and is based in Independance, Oregon.



Sara

[This message has been edited by Raszagil (edited 07-31-2000).]

[Macimage]

The HD sand that has been mentioned in most of the threads is aragonite. It's made by Southdown and is called Tropical Play Sand.

I hope someone that knows more about dolomite will respond. Sounds promising.

Joyce

[Raszagil]

Here's some info about dolomite from a poster over at Aqualink:

I'm aware of 4 type of sands. Information about those sand types is listed below.(For all who are interested)

1. Calcium based sands. These include the dolomite and aragonite family of sand products. Highly reactant with water. Not recommended for freshwater community tanks, but would suffice for marine, brackish water, or freshwater tanks needing a buffer for higher pH (such as African cichlid species tanks).

2. Silica (quartz) based sands. By far the most common type of sand. Basically inert in water because of its resistance to chemical weathering. If these sands are too finely grained, anaerobic areas can form within the substrate. A very good choice for freshwater tanks.

3. Barite based sands. Somewhat reactant with water. Because of the sulfur content in these sands, they are not recommended for aquarium usage.

4. Aluminum based sands. These include the mica family of sands. Not recommended for aquarium usage due to the moderate reaction with water. Aluminum can cause deformity among fry.

I'm going to try it.

Sara

[horge]

The potential problem with dolomite is its immediately-terrestrial origins. Unlike its kin beach sand, dolomite has been part of some dry-land formation for some time, and may suffer from infiltration by other minerals, metals included.

Of course, the dolomite marketed for bonsai soil-adornment is selected for whiteness, and this generally indicates against a lot of metals, so it probably IS safe.

Just try a little at a time and watch closely how it fizzes and watch for any sudden appearance of brown or green in the grains within the first ten minutes.

[Doug1]

Sara you can also run a good sized magnet thru it(an old blown out speaker is great) and see what if anything clings to it. Even aragonite may get a little but if you get a lot you may wanna pass on it. Not really definitive know but may act as crude test for ferrous compounds

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Reef as if your life depended on it, yours might but the sea's does
Doug moderator TheReefTank

[Raszagil]

Doug1 and Horge> Thanks for the heads up... I didn't really have a big magnet on hand but I did run the aquarium algae scrapper (the weak $5.99 ones) over it, and didn't see anything, so....

I rinsed it (very dusty) and it's been in the tank since last night. I watched it and so far no algae growing on it (it's so bright!) and all the inverts are doing great, so I think I may have a winner! Yeyy!

Still going to keep an eye on things, though.

Thanks for the heads up, guys, I apreciate it.

Sara

[MEC]

I would say you had a winner there!! Back in the dark ages of saltwater we used to use dolomite and undergravel filters. The dolomite was a larger size(sort of like crushed shells). Dolomite should also help with the PH,thats the reason we used it many years ago. Looks like you found something everyone else has missed,congrats!!! How much was it? OOps I see, 2.50 for two quarts, still fairly expensive.Darn.....Mike

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[This message has been edited by MEC (edited 08-01-2000).]

[Raszagil]

Originally posted by MEC:
I would say you had a winner there!! Back in the dark ages of saltwater we used to use dolomite and undergravel filters. The dolomite was a larger size(sort of like crushed shells). Dolomite should also help with the PH,thats the reason we used it many years ago. Looks like you found something everyone else has missed,congrats!!! How much was it? OOps I see, 2.50 for two quarts, still fairly expensive.Darn.....Mike

Yep, but if you have a small tank like mine (20L), it beats trying to buy medium-sized bags of sand for $20 - $29 bucks at the LFS.

Raz

[briarhill]

Just look for the Southdown Play Sand at
HD $2.74 /50 bag. It's usually located outside
in the paddock area with the fence and stuff.
The bag is plastic with orange and blue
lettering. It's sterilized argonite sand from
the caribbean.
My thoughts.

Bruce

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Bruce

[Alice]

Bruce;

We West Coasters can't get the Tropical Play Sand out here

~Alice

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Reefkeeping is my life; I can't afford a hobby too!

[briarhill]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. On another
reef board someone just posted the had a skid
of sand coming to Calif. in the next week or
so. Also someone said it's possible to get
another HD to transfer it from one that does.
Hmm the one getting the sand in Calif. said
it would be around 10.00 a bag.
I think it was reef.org board that had
that posted.

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Bruce

[briarhill]

Here's the link for the Calif. delivery
of Southdown Ply Sand.
http://www.reefs.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/009369.html

Hope some of you can get some.


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Bruce

[lilolme]

THX again I shot an email off to her to see how it worked. I noticed that it was dated sept so that ought to give it time to cure etc and begin the SB stuff grin.

Jeff