What is southdown sand?

[b_julien]

I have been reading about this sand from Home Depot that people are using in their tanks. Could someone help me by telling me what this is and if it has any benefits over other sand types.

I am starting a ten gallon nano and need suggestions for the sand. I am going to use some live sand from my 45 gallon but also need to add something else. I was planning on aragonite but I don't know if this is good or not. Please help!

[Guy]

Southdown Tropical Play Sand IS aragonite. It has a decent consistency and it's $4.00 for 50 pounds. I think it's only available in the N.E. US. Here's a pic of what the bag looks like:
http://home.eznet.net/~terry10/equipment/southdown.jpg

[b_julien]

Thanks Guy,
That stinks that it's only available in N.E. areas.

Can anyone make a suggestion as to what type of sand is best for nano's? I've heard the oolitic sand might work.

Brett Julien

[Timbo]

Aragonite oolitic sand is the best type of sand to use for any reef tank. It has the ideal sand grain size and is made of calcium carbonate derived material. South Down Tropical Play Sand is great because not only is it aragonite, it is oolitic and costs only four bucks for 50 pounds. I have SD as well as ESV sand and can honestly say that they are the exact same thing, probably from the same source. If you can't find SD sand, just pick up some ESV oolitic from you LFS or something, in the quantity needed for a nano, the cost certainly shouldn't set you back too much.

Tim

[Christopher Marks]

This thread should help: http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=26193

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Christopher Marks :P

[mr9iron]

If you want to purchase some aquacultured south down go to www.reefland.com they are selling it for 90 cents a pound. Shipping is a little high but for your nano it wouldnt cost you that much. HTH

[b_julien]

Thanks for all the help! This board is full of knowledgable people willing to help someone new. I LOVE IT!

Can someone tell me how much dry/live sand I would need for a standard ten gallon?

Brett Julien

[Guy]

20 pounds would be plenty for a nice DSB

[kennerd]

I've posted this before, but it is a great tool. Inland Aquatics has a freeware program to calculate how much sand you will need for you tank: just input your dimensions, or pick a standard tank size, and it will tell you how much of several types of sand you need to purchase:

Inland Reef Sand Calculator (http://www.inlandreef.com/Files/sandcalc.exe)