I read a post a week or two ago Garden Basics play sand from Walmart. Its supposed to be the same crap as Old Kastle and South Down? I finally got a bag of it but it is pretty brown sand. It comes in a 50lb orange/clear bag. Is this the right crap? I dont want to put it in if its bad stuff. If I had a camera I would take a picture for ya but unfortunately I cant.
Garden Basics Play Sand
- Thread starter Turbo
- Start date
It's not the same, it seems even walmart has regional distributions. As far as being safe I am wondering that also, because it is what my walmart sells too. If it is safe I am considering mixing it with the argonite I already have.
Anyone one know?
Anyone one know?
If you mix vinegar with sand and it bubbles then it is good. At least I am pretty sure. I did try that with the garden basic from walmart last yr. and it didn't bubble. Your best bet is to look for Southdown. also goes by new kastle and yardright. Try calling a few reef shops. That's where I found mine.
My Basic Garden sand has Old Castle and their PA address as the distributor in small print. At least, I think it was the Old Castle (it goes by several names). I know it has the right PA address because I had looked it up the day before on-line.
I used the old kastle sand from walmart and mine is doing fine... i mixed it with the aragalive i had bought from lfs and everything is thriving and beautiful. But walmart does have regional distribution centers so all may not be the same... if in doubt punt...
Well Im gonna punt. I am mixing it with arag-alive so hopefully once this darn storm settles down so I can start the cylce nothing will die. Im actually transfering what is in my 10 gallon into the one that I just set up right now. I put the sand from that tank on top of this new stuff. Lets just hope everything lives.....for Walmarts sake. 
I ended up using the Garden Basics sand, and have had good luck with it so far. The only thing is that it takes a while for the dust to clear up, but as stated in other posts on this board, once the bacteria start clinging onto the dust, they weigh it down some, and future stir-ups don't cloud the tank up. I am about halfway through the cycle in my tank, and the sand I got is pretty close to white under the actinic light I have and the normal flourescent bulb. I found the arag-alive to be a darker color. In my tank I have one bag of garden basics, (50 lbs.), and 60 pounds of arag-alive.
Yeah, i through up a heck of a storm....but im gonna put my HOT on the back and clean it out in no time.
I took the recommendation of other users on this board, and turned off all powerheads and filters. There are cretain bacteria that like the smaller dust particles, so I would let them settle naturally. I worked out very well in my tank, and even now when I move a rock or something, it stirs up very little dust, and the dust that is stirred up settles very quickly.
