i went and did it guys *giggle*

[TimH07]

my new RR 75 gallon!!!!!

the stand has a removable bottom so my 55 gallon tank can/will/and is going to be its sump so this will be a max capacity of 120 gallon system, but the sump will probably be 30 or 40 in the tank.


p.s.

[Ninong]

Good luck!

[TimH07]

luck h*ll lol this is all going by your advice sir

seriously this website has been so informative to me over the last year or so
i couldnt do it without you guys

[TimH07]

whats a good return pump that anyone would suggest?

[charlie]

Great find Tim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much flow do you want for your tank? Are you going to have a sand bed. What other flow do you have besides the return pump?

[Future]

Awesome!
Can't wait to watch this build.

[TimH07]

hey charlie/future, i'd like as much flow as possible my current 26 nano has lots of dead spots.

i looked up the tank on marinelands site and it says "up to 700 gph" im looking at magdrive for the return but they have them at 500 gph and 700 gph so i'd like closer to 650 if i can, mostly just a quiet reliable one.

im planning on a few korilia's probably 3's aswell, this tank has 2 drilled holes one for the stand pipe and one for the return with the nifty black dual return nozzles.

i'm an open door for any suggestions.

charlie your sig is my philosophy, i bought this tank and stand in mind of not having it set up for perhaps as much as 6 months

take my time.

[charlie]

Depending on how far your pump is, the Mag 7 would probably fit. You could probably try a mag 9 with a ball valve on it to throttle it back, but the 7 is probably the better fit.

I appreciate it that someone besides me reads that, thank you!!!!

So are you going to be transferring everything that is in the smaller tank to your new one? That might make the whole process a bit easier for you if you plan it out right. You could do weekly water changes when you start getting things set up. Add a little sand from the old tank each time and your cycle may be a little shorter too.

[TimH07]

So are you going to be transferring everything that is in the smaller tank to your new one? That might make the whole process a bit easier for you if you plan it out right. You could do weekly water changes when you start getting things set up. Add a little sand from the old tank each time and your cycle may be a little shorter too.

not sure charlie, part of me wants to transfer things, but at this point, with a new tank and only a few $$ from a whole new system, why leave the established nano bare and forgotten? its doing fine, so i'll have a nano and a large. the nano may become a hospital tank in the future but who knows.

i'll post the progress of this tank, perhaps in a seperate "Tims 75 setup" because this title is off giving.

[charlie]

You want me to try and change the title on this thread. I think I can do it without blowing it off the face of the earth.:eek3:

[charlie]

You can still get a start for your sandbed from there.

[TimH07]

im looking at next week getting the magdrive return pump (unless anyone protests) and some tubing... should i do pvc or just some hose with hoseclamps??

the 55 is getting gutted and im going to baffle it with some walmart white plastic cutting boards and silicone.

bye bye 55 sniff

i'll take my time making sure it runs well and start adding aragonite sand. i will need advice on a drip system for kalkwasser soon ive not even grasped that concept but its a minute from need so far.

[charlie]

If you do the flex tube, make sure you get something that isn't clear, algae tends to collect in the clear stuff. I am still thinking about the return pump, tossing in between the 7 and the 9. You could always build a line back into the sump with the mag 9 if there is too much flow for the system. I have my 80 gallon return pump built that way and it seems to work OK.

[TimH07]

where can i get aragonite sand for less than caribsea? is there a bulk supply of it?

[Ninong]

where can i get aragonite sand for less than caribsea? is there a bulk supply of it?

Sure, there's a bulk supply of it. We just can't get it. We used to be able to buy it cheap (if we lived in certain parts of the East Coast), but not anymore.

Sorry.

P.S. -- We used to have dozens of threads on this board and all the other boards several years back on this topic. All you have to do is run a search on the board using "Southdown" as your search term.

[TimH07]

i read a forum that said a guy in 2006 got 2000 lbs for 39 dollars *sigh*

how much should i use in the 75 gallon tank?

in posidons 2005 post here
Documenting my 90 Gallon Tank! he states he uses old castle play sand which is aragonite

they have since changed to southdown and still have the white play sand but the bag says not to use in the aquarium... did they change the material or did caribsea sue them over pricing?

Southdown/ Old Castle #655140-RDC06 .4CUFT White Play Sand - Stone & Sand Product - Soils Conditioners & Landscaping Materials

[charlie]

Here, try this.

Reef Central Online Community

Don't be fooled by the name of the link, it is a sand bed calculator.

[TimH07]

eh in minutes i found the reasoning


"Southdown Manufacturer Warning - Here is what the representative from Southdown made a point to say that he has been hearing that people have been adding there sand in salt water aquarium and that we should be informed to how the sand is collected and transported and stored. Southdown will scoop the sand with machinery and dump tons and tons in dump trucks then transport and dump the sand in large outside storage bins. Warning!!!!!! As we all know how fine this sand is he told me that as they dump the sand in the bins they will spray a liquid oily lubricant on the sand to keep the dust (sand) from flying which can be very hazardous if the sand is not washed prior to adding any animal life. Another reason to wash your sand thoroughly is Southdown is not only a sand manufacture they also manufacture different typed of gravel and rocks like slate, marble, lava rock, etc. The rock is stored in the same bins as the Southdown sand which means that other rubble is packaged with Southdown sand. "

so i keep reading and reading and so many people say they use this sand, and its dirt "no pun intended" cheap rather than 25 a bag of caribsea

so i ask, if it were you setting up a tank today, would any of you use the southdown sand?

[Ninong]

i read a forum that said a guy in 2006 got 2000 lbs for 39 dollars *sigh*

how much should i use in the 75 gallon tank?

in posidons 2005 post here
Documenting my 90 Gallon Tank! he states he uses old castle play sand which is aragonite

they have since changed to southdown and still have the white play sand but the bag says not to use in the aquarium... did they change the material or did caribsea sue them over pricing?

Southdown/ Old Castle #655140-RDC06 .4CUFT White Play Sand - Stone & Sand Product - Soils Conditioners & Landscaping Materials

Let me try to explain things for you so that you don't have to search all day.

Scubadude (Rocky) actually did buy 2 tons!!! of Southdown aragonite sand for less than $50 but that was several years ago and it took a lot of trickery on his part to do it.

Also, he had to shovel it himself into the back of his pickup truck. I'm amazed he didn't mess up his suspension. Anyway, that's a long story. I tried to find the thread here on Reefland but I gave up. It's on here somewhere. It used to include pics of the loaded down white pickup truck with the shovel still stuck in the sand in the back of the truck. All of those pice were lost during one of our "upgrades."

Southdown is the brand name that used to be used by a company called -- wait for it -- Southdown! They also sold the same aragonite sand under the brand name Yardright. Then they sold out to the giant Mexican company CEMEX, headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico.

You always had to be careful that the sand you were buying was actually aragonite sand and not regular quartz sand. Both were sold as "play sand." If the bag said "Tropical Play Sand From The Caribbean," then you had it made. That was the good stuff.

Then CEMEX sold their Southdown operation to a gigantic EU company called OldCastle. For some time after that you could still buy cheapy aragonite sand but the bags now said "OldCastle." Same nice aragonite sand just a new brand name.

Back when we used to be able to buy it in bags like that, it was usually $3.95/50-lb bag. It was sold in the Garden Department at Home Depot. At the end of the summer, they used to cut the price in half and sell it for $1.99/50-lb bag.

ALL of the aragonite sand comes from the same location in the Bahamas and all of it is mined by Marcona Ocean Industries. Scubadude got his in bulk from Southdown's location in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Southdown sand used to move up the East Coast in barges and get unloaded in Easton, Pennsylvania. From there it was distributed to Home Depot stores along the East Coast from Boston down to Virginia and inland as far as Cleveland, OH. It was rare that you could find it in Cleveland but you sometimes could.

Whenever Southdown showed up in Home Depot stores outside that area, it was a mistake on somebody's part. Usually because some hobbyist convinced some unknowing Home Depot manager to transfer it to their local store. That never lasted long. The cost of transportation (in bags) exceeded the value of the product when it's sold for that cheap. That's why Home Depot didn't carry it all over the country.

Anyway, it wasn't long after OldCastle acquired the brand from CEMEX that this cheap aragonite sand stopped being sold in Home Depot stores. At first they tried putting so-called "warning" notices on the bags that it wasn't for use in aquariums but that didn't work because we all knew better. So finally they just stopped selling it cheap in bags. It's a long store but it involves certain agreements between the guys who sell it for much, much higher prices and the people who buy it in bulk for other purposes. I forgot the legal term but you can find it in one of my threads from years ago.

Carib-Sea's products are graded by size, etc., and supposedly cleaner than the bulk product. Dr. Rob Toonen did a particle size distribution analysis on the cheapy Southdown sand nine years ago and found that it was ideal for use in a Reef Aquarium. That was back in the good old days. Those days are long gone.

As far as I know, there are no sources of cheapy aragonite sand anymore.

[TimH07]

thanks for the reply ninong, sounds like im stuck with the expensive stuff ugh.