can i use playsand ? newbee question sorry

[neonnight]

i am looking to use playsand its made by quickcrete the bag says "cleaned-screened-dryed" i wanna use this and seed it with 2-3 lbs of live sand from diffrent lfs.this would save me a ton of money if i can use this i was looking for southdown sand but i cant find it local

[luminary]

If you're talking about the Quickcrete playsand that the local Home Depot's sell, then I wouldn't use it. When I replaced my sand bed I looked at it and decided there was too much I didn't like. Couple of things:

- The grain size is way too big for a DSB.
- It looks really ugly IMO when wet.
- It's a silica based sand, but it is not pure silica. This increases the likelyhood of feldspars and other contaminants being in it.

My solution was to use 70-125 grit sandblasting sand. This is also a silica sand, but it's pure so there are no contaminants in it. Bought it from a construction supplier for about $6/50 lb bag.

Some other options are...

- Drive to Ft Pierce and buy a truckload from the Southdown supplier. Just don't tell them its for an aquarium. Costs about $20 for a truckload or something ridiculously cheap like that.
- Use beach sand. Personally, I'm against this but others have done so with success. You also risk getting a fine if caught.
- Try and convince a Home Depot to transfer some Southdown from another store. This won't be easy.
- Maybe find someone local who has went over to Ft Pierce and has some sand left. Seems like about once a year I hear about someone doing it.

[bgdiving]

I don't think it looks as nice when wet, it looks a little brownish, but I don't feel it's a problem to use it. I have 400 pounds of it in one of my 170 gallon tanks and I have 25 to 150 pounds of it in several other tanks.

I do have a 180 gallon tank that has 150 pounds of the silica home depot sand and on top of that 400 pounds of live sand -fine arraganite sand transferred from another system. In this system, the water has turned green and stayed very green but I don't really think it has much to do with the silica sand although it was a dirtier batch than normal.

If you have a chance to get a truck load of the "good" stuff from Ft. Pierce GO for it. I'll even pay for all of the sand and all your gas if I get to keep all the rest that you don't need for your tank. JUST don't tell them your getting it for an AQARIUM or REEF TANK or they will not sell it to you.

[Navymedic]

Where in Ft. Pierce ? is there a minimum purchase? i might take a trip out there, also they have any LFS? so i dont just go for sand
thanks

[KingTut]

I'm interested too. If anyone goes, you'll have another local buyer!

[luminary]

'bout halfway down in this (http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26193&perpage=25&highlight=southdown%20florida&pagenumber=2) thread there is a post from Grumpy, quoting Goby about the Ft. Pierce supplier. Might want to ask some of the guys over in the ORCA forum about it as Goby is an ORCA member.

[pinkxenia]

I checked out some Quicrete at Lowes. It was full of metals. I had a magnet and checked it. Be very careful and carry a magnet when looking for a good deal on sand