Southdown Play Sand

[Max125g]

I have heard both sides of the story.

at the end of the day, is it safe to use white southdown play sand? I have heard it is silica free and great for aquariums yet it said not to use for aquariums on the package.

i could buy live sand for $200 or southdown play sand for $25

 

[yote]

I've heard of people using that in their tanks.Cant get it around here,so I dont know how safe it really is.
But you should be able to dry aragonite sand for close to the same price.

 

[ccCapt]

Southdown (Old Castle) is aragonite sand and is fine to use. The only problem is you can't buy it anywhere. Someone may have some old bags available they bought years ago, but there is none to be had at any store.

This is about a 10 yr old bag of Old Castle and it's what's in my tank.

This is the silica sand you can buy at Lowes or HD. It IS NOT aragonite.

The silica based playsand will release silicates...which in turn can fuel a diatom outbreak.
SILICA IN REEF AQUARIUMS by RANDY HOLMES-FARLEY, Ph.D.

 

[reeffreak]

Max,why does it have to be live sand.Why not buy dry aragonite sand.

 

[Max125g]

cause i can buy live sand for just as cheap :)

Living on the coast of south florida with they Keys in driving distance i can work out special prices with the normal shops like marco rocks, live rock usa, just live rock, and tampa bay saltwater that don't incur any shipping which saves me a ton. Plus if i show up with my own buckets/containers it saves them on materials cost and i get teh sand cheaper.

Or i could just got it while scuba diving.

i have no problem with dry aragonite, if i can find it cheap.

 

[Bifferwine]

That's what we're saying. Dry aragonite is way cheaper than the price of bagged live sand.