Quickcrete Play Sand?

wally

wally

Member
Hello everyone,
I have been trying in vain to find South Down Sand and I live in PA and have a Home Depot. They had TONS of other South Down products but no playsand. Anyway they do have the Quickcrete brand. Has anyone ever tried that? I don't think that it has any silica in it because it did not have a warning label on it saying it did, and all of the other types of quickcrete sand, gravel, and readymix did. I have also heard that silica in sand really is not a problem anyway as it doesn't disolve in water all that much and the glass in aquariums is made out of silcia sand anyway. Any thoughts? :confused:
 
johnnysalt

johnnysalt

Member
Some ppl on here have used that exact brand of sand....with no probs except an algae bloom for a few weeks! I too would like to hear more responses as Southdown is n/a here!
Let's here 'em!
 
wally

wally

Member
I did a search for the quickcrete sand here on this board and found other positive responses. I am going to go ahead and use it. This tank is going to be a big experimental tank anyway. I will also be growing/making my own "live" rocks and using an experimental DIY biofilter.
 
johnnysalt

johnnysalt

Member
and PLEASE post the results....good or bad....from the Quikrete sand!
also, if you still have questions about it, call the mfr. of that sand and ask....I called them and the "guy" said it DID have silicates in it. Not sure how much knowledge the guy had of it, but give it a try! (Maybe this thread will open another silicate debate!)
:cool:
 
@knight

@knight

Member
the quickrete sand is a silica based sand, the southdown sand is aragonite sand mined from the ocean. Buth can be used. The quickrete sand will not give you the ph buffering, trace elements, calcium and the bacterial ability that the aragonite will. The tank will be less stable because of this, but it can be done sucessfully. Its just not optimal. Also, even though the sand is glass like the sides of a tank, the particle size might ;eech silicates and metals into the water. The quickrete will not give you a beneficial DSB as the particle size is too big.
I really recommend getting some dry aragonite of some sort. either way, i wish you luck and let us know how it turns out.
[ October 27, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]
 
sweetjesus

sweetjesus

Member
If your running a deep sand bed, using silica sand, well the particle size would be bigger, which would mean overall less surface area per square inch in the bed, however, lets say you compensated with an addition one inch of bed, I think you would be about right. What do you guys think? I am about to start thinking about quick crete silica sand, DARN HD says they cannot find a truck to ship my sand here from the east coast, but assure me it is ordered and in a warehouse with my name on it! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!
 
wally

wally

Member
While I have never seen "real" Southdown sand I have seen the Carib sand that is supposed to be the same thing. The grains in the quickcrete sand actually seem smaller not bigger. There was a bag that was broken open in my Home Depot and I stuck my hand in the bag and rummaged through it. I was actually woried about it being to fine. I will also have 50-75 lbs (dry weight)of argonite rocks in the tank (which I am going to "farm" into liverocks)and I will be running my "oyster shell filter" so I am not all that worried about getting buffering or calcium from the sand.
I am still in the planning stages for this tank as it is a Christmas gift from my wife so it will be a while before I can post results but I will post them as soon as I have them. What my goal is here is to make a very nice but very inexpensive 55 gallon reef tank.
 
mal

mal

Member
I recently read an article stating that silica based sand is not bad for tanks, especially reef tanks. The short theory is that it does grow more algae than non-silica / low silica sands, but, When you scrape the algae you are feeding the tank phyto at the same time. I will look for the link of the article. IRONREEF sent it to me. I did my new 40g FO tank with 100# of washed, screened and dried playsand, and 20# of natures ocean. Then i took some gunk, LR, macro algae and water from my reef to kick start it.
I can't figure out the link, hook us up IRONREEF, it's from the Aquarium Frontiers Article Index you sent me. The article is called "Silicon - Foe or Friend" it is by Craig Bingman, Ph.D.
[ October 27, 2001: Message edited by: mal ]
[ October 27, 2001: Message edited by: mal ]
 
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