for those of you who want sand

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chicken neck

Guest
Ive seen alot of post for southdown sand. I as many didnt have it here in my area of Alabama so I went to Lowes and bought the play sand offered by quickcrete although quickcrete wasnt on the bag I think it just said play sand that has been washed and treated and all that stuff. So being on a limited budget I bought 100 pounds of it and set up my 55 gal reef. That was about 3 months ago and I havnt had any problems with it. My tank has been doing good ever since. This is my personal expierience..just wanted to share it.
55 gal..40# lr,100# sand..pwrhead..pwr flter..2 24" strip lts..yellow tang..niger trigger..maroon clown..6 line wrasse..firefish..3 striped damsel..flower anenome..brittle star..and some blue leg hermits...oh yea the sand cost me about 5.00$
 
J

jbhumphreys

Guest
I was thinking of doing the same thing. Southdown is not available in South Florida and the Quickrite brand is widly available here. Did you seed your play sand with live sand? I also have a 55 gallon, that currently has crushed coral. How many iches of sand bed did the 100lbs of sand get you?
 
colorado_reef

colorado_reef

Member
I think you are CRAZY!!!!!!
But if its working and you have no poblems then maybe i am CRAZY for spending so much $$$ on sand!!! <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" /> <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" />
 
salty rick

salty rick

Member
I can't see what the problem is with silica sand other than it doesn't have calcium carbonate to help keep your ph and calcium levels up. Silica sand is used to make glass. As I saw in another post, if silica and glass is bad for an aquarium then all of our corals and fish should have been dead by now, except for those who use acrylic.
Chicken Neck, more power to you. If it works for you and you are able to keep your water measurements where they need to be then that is GREAT!.
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
In my 29 gal system I've experimented with using silica based sand.....been about 6 months now and virtually no problems at all....below is a link with some good info from a respected person in the hobby....check it out.
<a href="http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen9.html" target="_blank">silica sand beds</a>
 
madd catt

madd catt

Member
they would send silica sand to use as a subtrate when i buoght dwarf seahorses threw mail order.seemed to work.
 
R

rolltide

Guest
Hey chicken neck, just wanted to see how things are in T town from a Bama alumn. Roll Tide Roll!
 
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chicken neck

Guest
jb the 100# gave me about 3 inches all the way across. I did cover the top of it with sand that I had in my 29 gal but I would say only about 2 # at the most. I have had no problems with slime algea or any thing else. I figured if they make it good enough for kids to play in and occasionally eat then its gotta be good for fish. By the way my brittle star digs deep in it. And as far as Bama goes...ROOOLL TIDE! Believe we might go all the way in bball
 
dwarfs

dwarfs

Member
what i did is got a bag of sand from the store and put it in a 5 gal. bucket with about 2 or 3 cups of sand from my reef tank of 2 and a half yrs. mixed this sand together with some crushed coral and put a air line in i had no heater in the bucket and let it set for 2 to 3 months. then i added it a little at a time to my reef tnak and it turned live quite niceley. i did not add my cucumber till my tank was over 2 an a half yrs. this gave it lots to munch on.
 
volitan

volitan

Member
The Tide better not happen upon the Sooners in the tournament. If they do, you won't be watching them play again for awhile! :D
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
I don't know much about sand but I'm pretty sure that the Tide won't outrank the Sooners when the bball season is over. BOOMER! SOONER! and the girls bball team too! :D
 
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chicken neck

Guest
hey yard rat...sorry to say that lsu lost in the sec tourney..im sure you know. Just watch BAMA win the tourney tommorrow...ROOOOOOOOOOOLLLL TIDE
 
lionpicasso

lionpicasso

Member
Chicken neck how does your tank look!!!
I too have been looking for southdown with out
success. It's gonna cost me Money <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />
to buy carib sea and make a 4" dsb with it for my
75gal.
By the way Roll Tide!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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chicken neck

Guest
my tank looks fine in my opinion lionpicasso, it just looks like sand from the beach kinda light in color. I tried it and have had no problems with it. The good thing is is that its about $2.49 a bag of 50#. I dont see where you could go wrong.
 
bigeyedfish

bigeyedfish

Member
Glad to hear the sand is working well. i primarily posted to show support for the winningst team in college bball, GO Kentucky!! They struggled some this year but will show up for the tourney. Go UK and go SEC!!!! DEATH TO DUKE!!!
 
efrank

efrank

Member
Chicken Neck, are you having any problems with your tank clouding from the sand? If not any clue why this is such an issue for me?
 
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chicken neck

Guest
Efrank..I have had no problems with cloudy water. Maybe the first day when I set my tank up but no problems since. I started with the sand first and then added the water,live rock,ect. I do have a 30/60 power filter that might be helping me but as far as your cloudy water I dont know. What kind of fish and inverts do you have if any? That might be causing it to cloud?
 
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