oolitic sand help.

[mrbncal]

I am wondering where people are finding oolitic sand in northern Ca. that is affordable? The lfs can get it in 20 pound bags for 26 dollars but that is a lot more than I wanted to spend. A little help please. Anyone seen the southdown sand up here? or a good substitute? Thanks in advance.

[PhilOlsen]

You can test pretty much all play sands easily to see if it is safe to use, just pour some vinegar on it, if it bubbles it is OK to use. As for the silica worries, glass is made of the same product, I have used silica sand in several tanks and never had a issue, you can also get 1 LB of live sand from your LFS to seed the play sand.

[Indermark]

I got some from Petsmart.com and somehow pulled off freeshipping, for some reason it was not listed as a heavy item. The substrate is made by Seachem and called meridian (http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Meridian.html)

Ryan

[petoonia]

Dr Foster Smith is inexpensive to ship sand it's a $9.99 flat ship rate. A 30 lb bag is $22.99. This is what I got.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=7321&N=2004+113554

They also have the meridian oolitic

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8119&N=2004+113554

[Amphiprion]

Any of these suggestions will work, even silica sand. Fracted kinds can raise silica, but that usually subsides with water changes. It really boils down to personal preference.

[mrbncal]

Thanks to all who stopped over to give advice. I have seen some play sands out here but they all are very yellow in color with a lot of dark grains in them. Like decomposed granite almost. A fella at walmart told me that Ace has really white play sand so I'm going there tomorrow. the petsmart site is the cheapest deal I have come across so far thanks for that tip Indermark.

Sure would like to hear from some west coast guys on their ideas....

[Indermark]

You have to call the 1-800 # but Petsmart will also price match, which they did for me I think I got five 20lbs bags @ 12.99 each. Its a very nice white sand when you get it in the water.

Ryan

[mrbncal]

Hey Inder are you saying the store will price match or the site? Also who had the 12.99 price to match to? Thanks

[Indermark]

the site will price match you just have to call the 1800 number to do that. I don't remember the site but I just froogled Meridian substrate or something to that effect and you can compare all the prices. It was a website I had never heard of before. When I ordered from Petsmarts website it was on back order and they told me it would be 4 weeks to get to me but it only took 2 weeks it was fine with me because I wasn't ready to put in the substrate anyway.

Ryan

[kass03]

Not sure about all petsmart stores but ours here price matches any online retailer or local. You just have to print out the product and price and bring it in. Ours don't have alot of saltwater products though but I do get my salt that way. Usually the manager is called up to the front and overides the store price.

kass

[mrbncal]

Right on people thanks for your input. I will check the petsmart deal then. I have exhausted all the playsand options. the playsand is just not clean looking enough. to much brown and black.

[Indermark]

There was a deal going on when I ordered from them that was free shipping on orders over 50 dollars. This excluded heavy items which like I said in another post that this wasn't considered a heavy item. To make sure, I created an account and went all the way through the transaction to the point where you enter in your credit card info, there it was free shipping. The strange thing is they make you pay a tax. I worked for Petsmart about 5 years and they only had a 4 foot or 8 foot section dedicated to saltwater. It is sad. Now that I think about it I really want to say it was only a 4 ft section. Now that I think about it when I worked there I rarely had saltwater related questions, maybe once a month.

Ryan

[NeveSSL]

Froogled it and found it here for $12.99:

http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=16695

Awesome idea! Now I may get aragonite instead of silica. :D

So they match locally, too? Hmmm... I'll have to see if they do here... hopefully they will... I'd rather pay tax than shipping... or worse, shipping AND tax! :)

Brandon

[Indermark]

that was the website!

Ryan

[mrbncal]

Awesome Brandon thanks for the legwork. I will try the pricematch in store this week and let you all know how it goes.

[Indermark]

That type of substrate is not a normal product petsmart carrys, and may only be offered online. You may want to call them before you run up there. At least in the St.Louis area there is none that I could find at any Petsmart store. It could be different in your area. The only Seachem substrate the stores closest to me offered was the "grey coast" by Seachem, its a very dark grey or blackish in color substrate.

Ryan

[reefallen]

FYI - if it even matters anymore... Southdown sand is no longer selling sand anymore anywhere. Sometimes you can find a store or a person who ordered a bunch and you can buy from them. Not sure if that helps, but I thought I'd help you by letting you know you didn't have to look anywhere anymore. I talked with the Southdown company myself in my quest.

[NeveSSL]

It seems as though the days of inexpensive aragonite are over. :(

I think I'm gonna have to do silica in my new tank in May... oh well... I don't think its too bad... We'll see, tho.

Brandon