A Sand Question

[kbaker721]

I have been looking EVERYWHERE for southdown sand. I have been to five Home Depots but all they carry now is OldKastle Tropical PLay Sand. The packaging looks exactly like Southdown and the manager said it was from the same company, but its not Southdown. The bag actually says "not recommended for traction or aquarium use."

So now what do I do, I have a 55 gal tank I want to get running but I can't find Southdown anywhere.

Can I use the OldKastle stuff, or is there anyother brand I can use?

I can't spend tons (i.e. but sand at my lfs), but I want a good dsb. PLease help

[Corax]

Old Castle is Southdown. They label it that way because they learned what the fish people had figured out and now they sell it in bags labeled for tank use. Of course, it's 10x the cost. As long as it is the Old Caslte Tropical Playsand, and it says sterilized or sandbox safe, yer good to go.

[BrianH]

I can't find the link but I read a post on another board that said that southdown is now called Old Kastle. Either they changed their name or were taken over.
I've also read that they put "not for aquarium use" on their bags due to their suppliers demands. Apparently their supplier also sells to the aquarium industry and would'nt want anyone to know that the sand in the lfs @ $20 per bag is the same as the old kastle/southdown you can get for $5 per bag. By the way, the not for aquarium use was only added to the bags in the last year or so.

Brian

[gcvt]

Yep, same stuff.

I still can't believe we can't get this stuff on the left coast! :mad: :mad: