DSB... Finally

wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Jonhthefb - do a search on here on southdown, a few months ago there was a lot of posting of the HD sku etc. I had to telephone around everywhere, including Southdown company itself and ended up getting my HD to ship some in from Saugaus Mass. store. It was a BIG hassle. I literally had to track everything down myself and give names and phone numbers etc to my store. some carry it in building materials and some in garden. If your store is like mine the sku and/or upc won't even show up as southdown, just playsand, whichever brand your regional delivery area carries. Good luck! I'm also the one that started the Ace Hardware thing because the Southdown company rep in PA told me they were getting a national contract with them this summer. HTH
Guy - talk about rubbing it in!!! I'm surprised your blood sucking bug wasn't perched atop those bags of sand:D
 
javatech

javatech

Member

Originally posted by overanalyzer
would you please! WE have some quick-crete play sand out here ... but I would prefer something that was whiter and lush....
hey overanalyzer i found some sand i think it's silica sand but it's white looks like fine salt i got it at lowes in olathe

.
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
thanks guys very much, i work today at ten, and am like best buds with the guy that does all the ordering for the garden dept, so i am gonna talk to him and check outht ecomputer, and see what it says about getting the sily stuff in. maybe i cna bring it to colorado wahooo!
jon
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
I am a little confused on the subject of sand. I use "Industrial Quartz" which is a fine silica sand in all of my freshwater tanks, works fantastic. I thought that silicates were a bad thing in saltwater (diatoms, etc.) If you rinse the dust and smaller particles out of the silica sand, is the remaining sand inert in saltwater, or can it disolve to some extent and cause a problem with high silicate levels? You can go to any True Value and get a 94 lb bag of industrial quartz for about 8 bucks and a hernia. You can also find it at pool supply stores, it's what they use in pool filters.
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
silica can and does work, just not as preferred as aragonite(south down playsand is arag), i would pay the extra nd get arag if it is available form any name(just not the large cc sized)
arag is generally whiter and more powdery than silica sand.
and also if you can do a test using vinegar, put some vinegar onto a little sand and if it bubles and starts to dissolve, then it is aragonite, silicate wont break down in vinegar like arag will
HTH
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
Fshhub, do you or anyone else know if silica sand that has been thoroughly rinsed of all dust will contribute to silicates in saltwater? The only other drawback I see other than the silicate possibility is that silica sand will not buffer the tank like aragonite will. This could be dealt with rather easily I suppose. Then again that could also be a solution to the problem of aragonite "fusing" or clumping as it disolves. The clumping of the aragonite sounds like it could be why so many people have a problem with DSB's. If you could use silica sand, it would never fuse or clump and you would maintain circulation through the sand bed. I'm curious about what everyone thinks about that idea. Just a thought, been wrong before. Anyway, I can't find aragonite for less than a dollar a pound, and silica sand costs about 8.5 cents per pound. I will try home depot for the Southdown stuff, I would prefer that, but if I can't get it, I may try the silica sand. Is this doable or would I have constant problems (disolved silicates) with it?
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
look for tropical or carribean play sand, if you cannot get SD, it is more than likely the same stuff
as for the clumping, we have had no problems, but conchs snails starfish and worms help with that
as for the buffering, it is minimal, IMO, jsut as with cc, but it does help some
and i doubt it contrributes a lot to silicates, but may(i have no actual facts or experience to comment on), i do however know of several others who have used it with success
the aragonite is definitely more $$ but worth it to me, it is also finer and brighter looking, and finer is definitely bettter in this category
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
I found the answer to my question about silicates here: http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html . According to the article, silica sand is totally insoluable so there are no problems using it in saltwater. I'm still curious about what everyone thinks about the idea of using silica sand to avoid the eventual fusing of the sand bed when using aragonite. You would of course need to watch the pH and calcium levels of the tank more closely, but if you could avoid the fusing issue wouldn't it be worth it?
 
jonthefb

jonthefb

Active Member
i would think it would be. your gonna have to be the pioneer on this one surf. it would make sense to use it as a substrate because it doesnt clump, and like you said would allow it to be a fluidized bed meaning that water could freeley flow through it. while were onthe subject of clumping, the product known as miracle mud, htat is often used in ecosystem refugiums says that after so many years half of it should be pulled ou tand thrown away and replaced with new mud. have any of you seen this, or have done this beofre? i am just curious as to why you would want to uproot the denitrifyign qualities, of a sand bed. For the fuge in my 135 i didnt use miracle mud, but a very fine oolitic aragonite sand. i think some oen said one time that it binds with calcium and becomes unproductive or somethign like that. any comments?
jon
 
surfnturf

surfnturf

Member
Sorry Fshhub, didn't see your response before I posted. Are you saying that fusing is a non issue, or that you haven't seen problems yourself? I'm just wondering why so many people are against DSB's, to me it seems like a good system.
 
javatech

javatech

Member

Originally posted by overanalyzer
OK Javatech - what was the brand name of that stuff????? I will be heading over there tomorrow :D :D :D :D
Got my stores mixed up it was at the home depot @ I35 & 119th st. sorry about that:( :eek: :rolleyes: :eek:
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
saying i have not seen any problems with it personally, if you have the crew to clean and turn the upper layers(NOT sifters to taht eat the crew, just the crew)
 
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