Expensive Southdown???

[Dolf]

I posted on the Calgary reefing club section that I was going to get hold of Southdown and see if they would ship West for us. When I got hold of them they told me that they do not sell to the public anymore and asked if it was for construction or for aquarium use. When I responded aquarium they told me that they would get hold of the distributor and they would get back to me.

I received a call from Jim today and though he was going to be out of town for a couple of days he left his website. Purearagonite.com!!!

What this suggests to me is that they buy it for 3.00 a bag, repackage it and sell it a a couple of hundred percent profit.

On a side note, maybe those of you who posted on the Dolomite thread about not buying SD because it may be contaminated and is not made for aquarium use will re-think your positions on refusing any product not PACKAGED for aquarium use? It seems that this product while not made for aquariums has found wide enough acceptance at 5 or 6X the price when bagged in an package for aquarium products.

-Danny

Oh, yeah. I am going to try Southdown again and see if I tell them it is for construction if the distributor for construction products is cheaper. I will let you know the results.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Yah...you shouldn't say that it is for aquariums. Southdown can't sell it to you if it is for aquariums (there is actually a legal agreement between the sand source and southdown). Just say it is for my kid's play sand....she/he wants it to look like the caribean. images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

The problem with southdown is that there is no guarantee that it is safe for aquariums (like Domolite). Like many things...the guarantee (or waranty) can sometimes justify the price.

- Victor.

[powerreef]

Hey boys. Dan150 if you are really set on getting Southdown your best bet is to go through Home Depot Back east in the US. I live in Washington State and they gave me a price to deliver it to my door. As per the Pure carribean dist. I have dealt with them many time and they are very good folks and will take care of you. You have to remember that all dolomite sand comes from one place in the world in which Southdown has the monopoly on. The difference between the home depot playsand product and the aquarium products (pure argonite & caribsea) is that the playsand is sent to 2 main packaging plants in mexico where it is packaged in the same location as other outdoor Hardware store type products. Carib sea and Pure argonite people have it shipped bulk to them where they say they re sterilize it, run magnets and a few othe processes prior to shipping it to the aquarium industry.


I my search for sand for my reef and friends needs i did a bunch of running around looking for the best price on this product. For delivery to my door for the pure argonite foks it was $.44 per pound delivered, to get the playsand from depot delivered from thier back east store to my door was $.36 per pound. For me I went with the Pure Argonite company for the extra precedures they said that they did.

I know they are looking for distributors in canada maybe you could hook them up with a LFS and get a deal on your sand.


Mike