Help End the Aragonite Sand Goose Chase!

ezee

Member
Updated locations thus far
NJ – South Jersey, Moorestown/Maple Shade
PA – Frazer, PA near the intersection of rt. 30 and 202
Hi all,
This thread is for all of the folks that are new to SW and are looking for decently priced aragonite sand. A lot of us, myself included, did not get in early enough to catch the southdown sand when it was more commonly stocked. Can folks post where they were able to recently obtain inexpensive aragonite play sand?
In case you are not familiar with Southdown/Oldcastle. There is aragonite sand that is packaged for SW use as a substrate, it is usually priced anywhere between $20 and $30 for a 20 pound bag. Many people have found other sources of aragonite sand that are as little as $5 for 50 lbs, most of it being sold under the Southdown/Oldcastle brand. Just asking to share location so all of us noobs can share in the wealth (or lack of
).
In case you are not familiar with Aragonite sand. Aragonite sand has many qualities that make it preferable to standard silica based sands (regular sand). Some of these things include appearance, ability to assist in the management of PH, etc. That doesn't mean that regular (silica) sand is bad but it may contribute to algae and lacks some of the great qualities of aragonite.
So if those of you that have found it recently could share the locations in one post for the rest of us THAT WOULD BE GREAT!!!
Thanks in advance.
 

bill f

Member
Home Depot is where I found it. In the northeast thats to place to look. I did notice that during to winter months its a little tougher to find (not much need for playground sand then). You just have to keep looking or call your local store to see if in stock.
 

kevtheiris

Member
wait so i dont have to pay $35 for sand (non live 30# bag) - the local LFS, i can pick up aragonite sand from Home Depot and use that? Has anyone here done that? If so is there any differnece? Any thing i have to do to prep it before use?
 

airforceb2

Active Member
Originally Posted by KevtheIris
wait so i dont have to pay $35 for sand (non live 30# bag) - the local LFS, i can pick up aragonite sand from Home Depot and use that? Has anyone here done that? If so is there any differnece? Any thing i have to do to prep it before use?
You sure can. Aragonite is aragonite. It is hard to find now. Oldcastle has since got out of the carib sand business but Southdown is still holding strong. Just make sure you get the white play sand.
 

ezee

Member
From Jimnlee in the Fish Discussion Forum.
I don't know if this is the right forum or not, but I thought I'd mention hat I found a Home Depot with Southdown sand today. It is in Frazer, PA near the intersection of rt. 30 and 202. They had over a pallet in stock.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by airforceb2
You sure can. Aragonite is aragonite. It is hard to find now. Oldcastle has since got out of the carib sand business but Southdown is still holding strong. Just make sure you get the white play sand.
Actually, I think Yardright bought them out.
If you go to Yardright's webpage they show where they have dealers. You might try that.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by KevtheIris
wait so i dont have to pay $35 for sand (non live 30# bag) - the local LFS, i can pick up aragonite sand from Home Depot and use that? Has anyone here done that? If so is there any differnece? Any thing i have to do to prep it before use?
MANY of us have done this.
 

ezee

Member
Journeyman,
Thanks!! Unfortunately I don't know that they are responsive. I have personally e-mailed them twice about suppliers and am going on week three with no response.
E
 

cushen123

Member
I too have emailed yardright without any reply. I also called the Home Depot in Frazer PA and they have tons of the stuff, but they refuse to ship it to my area(Auburn, Alabama). Does anyone know a location around alabama that I could get this stuff(Yardright/Southdown/OldCastle) or have is shipped?
 

1journeyman

Active Member
That's weird. I just went to their webpage. They used to have a map that showed you all of their distributors.
I emailed them too. We'll see how long it takes them to respond. We're going to build a couple of sand volleyball courts at the church. I'm hoping to stockpile left over sand while they are at it, hehe.
 

ryan115

Member
at my local HD or Lowe's (I cant remember which) i found a sand made by Pavestone. It is crushed limestone, which is just CaCO3, would this be the same stuff? It passes the vinegar test but has alot of dust to wash out.
It says that it is 95% CaCO3 and 1%silica
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Ryan115
.
It says that it is 95% CaCO3 and 1%silica
My luck and the remaining 4% would be copper...
 

ryan115

Member
talked to my lfs about this sand and he brought up a very good point that i had not thought about. He was saying that being that it is limestone and not aragonite, that it will not act as a buffer at the same pH. The limestone works at aroung 5-6 pH while the aragonite buffers at around 8pH
 

murph

Active Member
Very little of your buffering capacity comes from the substrate. Most of it comes from your water changes and the fresh salt mix that is added in the process.
 
Top