FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Anyone know a good place to get silica sand? Any brands, stores? I live in southern California but am not sure where to find a reliable source of pure silica sand. I was reading a couple of forums and I read that industrial sand has too many metals and salts in it and that's all I have been able to find.

home depot or lowes. they probably sell some quikrete sand. i forgot which type though

The stuff I use is labeled as industrial quartz. I purchase it from a construction yard type of place called Cascade Block. It is produced by Unimin Corporation. It comes in 100 pound brown paper bags with blue labels in two grits, 20 and 30. I use the 20. If you'd like me to take a photo of the bag, I could do that.

You can try going to aquarium supply stores. Go to the rocks and gravel section and there could be some there. Some people use silica sand for their small fish.

Matt wrote:The stuff I use is labeled as industrial quartz. I purchase it from a construction yard type of place called Cascade Block. It is produced by Unimin Corporation. It comes in 100 pound brown paper bags with blue labels in two grits, 20 and 30. I use the 20. If you'd like me to take a photo of the bag, I could do that.

100lbs? Well, with as many plants as you have, I guess it's a good amount to have. I was annoyed at having to buy 2 cubic feet of perlite.

100 pounds is nothing really. Silica sand is quite heavy. No big deal! Don't freak out! It's only heavier than I am... Well it's pretty heavy, but it's not that much. LOL.

Ah, that makes sense. Perlite and peat are quite light, actually. I am just over 100lbs myself.

I thought silica sand was heavy....................... Is it light or heavy? Confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh why, you're so light? Well, I am too, but add another 20 pounds to me, and I'm as big as you!!!!!!!!!!

lemonlily wrote:I thought silica sand was heavy....................... Is it light or heavy? Confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh why, you're so light? Well, I am too, but add another 20 pounds to me, and I'm as big as you!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know, I haven't used silica sand. But 100lbs seemed like a lot.

And I'm light because I'm petite and skinny. If I curl up, I can fit in a decent sized suitcase.

Yeah, if silica sand is heavy, it probably isn't that much. I bought this pack of graval for my fish, and it was 14 pounds. It was pretty small though. As big as a sack of potatoes. If not, even smaller.

100 pounds of silica sand is quite a bit, but it is very heavy. I'm not sure how many cubic feet it is, but the bag is about 2.5 feet tall x 1 foot long x 4 inches wide (something like that), so maybe 10 cubic feet. I've used three bags of it since moving to Ashland!

That's pretty big. It would really be a lot of I had the sand. I only have a little pot!

Matt wrote:The stuff I use is labeled as industrial quartz. I purchase it from a construction yard type of place called Cascade Block. It is produced by Unimin Corporation. It comes in 100 pound brown paper bags with blue labels in two grits, 20 and 30. I use the 20. If you'd like me to take a photo of the bag, I could do that.

Yes Matt, if you could take a picture that would be great. I had actually bought a 100-lb bag of something labeled "Orange County silica sand" 20 grit. I assume 30 grit is a little bigger? Not sure though. It was also in a brown bag and it had all these warnings about breathing in the dust. Nowhere on it does it state that its quartz though. I tried contacting the company, but I can never speak to anyone, always machine, and the ppl at Home Depot dont know anything about it other than its used in construction. I did transplant some flytraps using this sand and as of now no harm has come to them. I'm just making sure that it wont kill them sometime in the future and that its safe to use on Sarracenia for next year. Another thing Matt, do you wash the sand or just use it straight out of the bag? Thanks man!

Lily and ModeratelyExcessive. I dont know if this is a contest, but i beat both of you, im twice the weight of one of these bags.

doku wrote:Yes Matt, if you could take a picture that would be great.

Your wish is my command!

doku wrote:I had actually bought a 100-lb bag of something labeled "Orange County silica sand" 20 grit. I assume 30 grit is a little bigger?

No, actually the larger the grit number, the smaller the sand...makes perfect sense, right? So 20 is larger than 30.

doku wrote:Another thing Matt, do you wash the sand or just use it straight out of the bag?

No, I don't wash the sand. I actually put some of it in rain water and let it soak for a bit and measured the TDS and it was still below 10. That means it's pretty safe to use.

The sand I use is pool filter sand from a pool supply store. I buy it in 20 lb bags