Quickcrete Sand Update "The fist month"

wally

wally

Member
Hello,
As some of you may remember I set up a new 55 gallon the day after Christmas with a DSB of about 4-5 inches of Quickcrete playsand and 50# of "dead" dry aragonite base rock. Many of you asked me to let you know how it was going so here goes.
So far so good! I have had no problems with it. It did cloud the water a little for the first day, but since then the water has been very clear. The tank is now fully cycled due to the fact I did add 1 pound of LS, 3 pounds of LR and a used bio-wheel from another tank. This seeded the tank quite nicely with all the bacteria needed to get things going. I got a small diatom bloom at day 20-21 but no big deal. Its going away now and was really no problem at all. I do not think the silica sand had anything to do with it and I have read on this board about many people having worse blooms with other substrates. It started when I added a small piece of live rock. It grew from the rock onto the sand and up the back glass.
Ammonia is now 0, nitrites 0, and nitrate is now 10 and dropping. Nitrates peaked at about 30 and have been falling for the past week. I decided to post this today because I am now seeing bubbles coming up from the sand and I can see then in the sand about 1-2 inches down so I know all is working well.
I stocked the tank heavy right from the start. I added 3 mollies on the 27th of December and about a week later I added 6 yellow tail damsels. All of them are still alive and doing well. The damsels really seem to like to dig in the sand. I have not added any clean up crew yet as I have no algae and very little diatoms for them to eat.
Filtration is provided by 2 Emperor 400s.
Again all is growing great! I HIGHLY reccomend this sand and with Southdown being so hard to find this is a great alternative. And is available nationwide.
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
have you done a phosphate test? that was another concern w/ that type of sand;also, what color is the sand, WHITE or tan???
 
ksujason

ksujason

Member
I think the playsand is tan. I am going to try it as well. When I went to Homedepot to ask about Southdown Tropical Playsand they looked at me like I was from another planet. Any other clues on where to get it?
 
wally

wally

Member
The sand I have is for the mostpart white. Some might call it very,very light pink or very, very light yellow. Its not the tan color of other sands like mason sand for instance. It looks very natural to me and to everyone else who has seen it. I got it at Lowes for 2.50 for a 50# bag but you can also easily find it at Home Depot and just about every hardware store in America since most of them carry the complete line of Quickcrete products year round.
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
have you been able to test for phosphates yet though comparatively to tap water you use to fill the tank (if you use tap water)
 
wally

wally

Member
Originally posted by jakob4001:
<strong>have you done a phosphate test? that was another concern w/ that type of sand;also, what color is the sand, WHITE or tan???</strong><hr></blockquote>
Why would phosphate be a problem with this sand? I have never heard that anywhere? Its made from quartz which is very inert even in sea water? My phosphate levels are very low but I do run phos-zorb all the time.
Here is a pic of the tank from December 27

As you can see the sand is lighter and brighter than all of the aragonite rock in the tank. I like the color of it much better than the grey color that makes up aragonite sand. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />
 
justinl

justinl

Member
I think that quikcrete playsand must vary in type depending on geographic location because I bought the exact same thing at my local Lowes and when fresh salt water was added to it, it turned into a baby poop brown/tan color which was disgusting. It looked fine dry but not so when it was wet. <img src="graemlins//uhuh.gif" border="0" alt="[U-Huh]" />
So just be careful.
 
B

bt_1999_66

Guest
MODERATORS....!
There seems to be a huge demand for Caribbean Argonite....!
Would it be OK to post a LFS's name and Phone No. on the board for those interested in getting it.
Let me know, thus I understand that posting contacts other than the Saltwater.com store could create a problem....
If interested e-mail me at bt_1999_66@yahoo.com
Y'all let me know....
 
fishymissy

fishymissy

Member
When we moved, I took the opportunity to switch substrates in my 2 salt tanks. They both had cc before moving, they now both have Quickcrete sand.
The tanks have now been set up for about 3 weeks with the new substrate and even though I am experiencing a mild diatom bloom, it is no worse than when the tanks were first set up with cc.
:D
 
wally

wally

Member
Originally posted by ksujason:
<strong>Do you rinse the playsand prior to putting it in?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes I did.
 
spankr

spankr

Member
In MN i think that sand is sold as silica sand. I used it when I had freshwater stingrays, and it was great. I too am interested in putting it in a 75G reef tank. This sand is very, very fine and can be stirred up easily in my experience. Is there any other names this sand is sold as? :D
 
jakob4001

jakob4001

Member
because sand types like that usually have high silicate & some phosphates in them;but if you use the phosphate remover media; phosphates should not be a problem; high silcates can contribute to algae blooms though; yes, QUICKCRETE varies in content; they have pits all over based around certain cities; it DOES NOT come from the same source location so may or may not be ideal for your area;results will therefor vary from location to location
 
miner

miner

Member
I used quicrite 3 weeks ago. Everything is great !! Light diatom bloom, but other then that I like it a lot. Mine is white/creamy in color. Not stark white. Sugar fine :D
 
coraltrapper5020

coraltrapper5020

Member
I used a silca sand in my tank and it looked great for about two months, Then every thing started to turn brown. A slim brown covered my tank and bubles stated to grow in the algae. My water was fine but my calacium dropped from 350 ppm a day after i dosed with kal to 100. and no coraline algae has grown in my tank. My live rock has lost all color, Just a gray and brown. Last week I took out the sand and put in just Bio live sand. And for the last week I've had no slim algae, Just hair. I'm getting more sand this weekend to make my base deeper, but should I get New live rock to get the Purple coral line back?
 
reefkeeper1

reefkeeper1

Member
This is a bit of the subject but i spoke with a sales rep and he explained to me that southdown sand was going to put a disclamer on there bags no to use in aquariums because they get it trucked in and dumped where it gets bagged they also bag othere products like fertilizer and gypsom. What ever is left on the ground when the next truck pulls in is baged with the othere stuff. They said they had had some complaints about the sand in peoples tanks because it was causing problems. I would think that quick create would follow the same practice when loading there bags.
 
flamehawk

flamehawk

Active Member
Reefkeeper--Interesting fact. Makes sense. I guess there is a chance that this could happen and can be the unfortunate one who gets the bags with the left over sand. It must be a very minute chance since I haven't heard of anyone having problems w/ southdown. I've had it in my tanks and it's great. Lucky I guess.
Has anyone had any problems as discribed w/ southdown?
 
wally

wally

Member
I don't know about Southdown but Quickcrete does wash their sand before they bag it.
Also for those of you who can't find Southdown and who may not like the color of Quickcrete Toy's R US sells a SNOW WHITE quartz playsand that looks very nice. I almost got that but it costs 4.99 a bag instead of 2.50 The manager at my Local Toys R Us said that every Toys R Us in the country carries the same brand so it maybe worth while to look into for some of you. It looks just like sugar.
 
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