FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Matt wrote:Nice find Grant! That's a lot of sand for $14...can I borrow some

I was going to ask you, but I didn't know if you would want to haul it all the way to Oregon. But, yeah! I will be down the weekend of June 27th. We should try to meet up. and you wold be more than welcome to a good amount. 20lbs or MORE if you want

AFH928 - I found it at a local lumber / bulding materials yard.

grant wrote:I was going to ask you, but I didn't know if you would want to haul it all the way to Oregon. But, yeah! I will be down the weekend of June 27th. We should try to meet up. and you wold be more than welcome to a good amount. 20lbs or MORE if you want

Awesome! Yeah, I'm debating about hauling stuff out to Oregon as well, but I'm thinking right now that I'm just going to get a huge U-Haul truck (larger than I need) so that it's easy to get everything in it. 20 pounds of sand should fit in there somehow!

I'll PM you my phone number so that you can give me a call when you're in town and we can figure out a place to meet up...or you can swing by our little shanty house if you'd like.

Wow, I never knew the sand we use in the soil is so small. Tiny specks I can't find in my soil. The package says there's sand in there, but I only see perlite. That looks like good sand you have there!

And Matt, I'd love to see your house!

grant wrote:What do you think, Steve?

That's very interesting. Good photo too. It actually looks like crushed quartz, which means that it would be sharp (a little like broken glass) but it is probably virtually pure silica (silicon dioxide or quartz). Mined silica sand (from very large ancient deposits underground) is smoother, with more rounded corners and no sharp points, and tends to look more translucent than clear, like frosted glass from all the scratches and wear on its surface over the centuries. This stuff (what you show in the picture) looks much clearer. It really does look like mechanically crushed quartz crystals, which is pretty neat, and a lot cheaper than what I pay (about $23.00 for 100 lbs.).

Great find!

Here's a photo of the mined silica sand I have been using, bagged and labeled for sandblasting use.



Steve

This may sound silly question, but , how big is that coin??

WORMSS wrote:This may sound silly question, but , how big is that coin??

Not silly at all. When I see photos with UK coins for scale, I have no idea either. This is a US dime, 10 cents, and the coin is small, 18 millimeters (1.8 centimeters) in diameter. Thanks for asking. I should have mentioned that or used something more universal for scale.

Yeah, I tend to use something like a CD its pretty much the only universal constent except for remote places in china and stuff, which lets be honest.. if they dont know how big a CD is, then they would never actually see the photo anyway ..

but I think that may be a little TOO big for these purposes..

OOR.. now dont think im crazy here... "A RULER".. I have a few photos where I used the ruler in the shot before.. but its sometimes hard to get a ruler in... I should think of getting one a spare one, and then just Cutting it up ... that should suffice.

A pen or a pencil might be good.

I ran across some Pavestone Pool Filter Sand at Home Depot. I cant fine anything on it.

It doesn't say anything on the package about being "pure" silica sand. Is it trustworthy
just because it say pool filter sand ?

I have been trying so hard to find clean silica sand locally in New Orleans but just no luck.

i saw that same stuff and i was hoping to find out about it too...it is all they have and it is cheap, like 6 bucks for a huge bag. I will buy some immediately so i can have it on hand for repotting just to make sure i don't have to keep up the "silica sand goose chase" anymore, lol. It LOOKS like pure silica sand, but the bag doesnt say ANYTHING about its composition.

afh928 wrote:i saw that same stuff and i was hoping to find out about it too...it is all they have and it is cheap, like 6 bucks for a huge bag. I will buy some immediately so i can have it on hand for repotting just to make sure i don't have to keep up the "silica sand goose chase" anymore, lol. It LOOKS like pure silica sand, but the bag doesnt say ANYTHING about its composition.

Yeah that is why I think it is kind of sketchy.

Just go to the manufacturer's website and look at the specifications or fact sheet or downloadable PDF information sheet for that particular pool filter sand product. I'll bet it is silica sand, but check first.

Which brand is it? And what can you read on the label?

WOOHOO !!! Finally found some pool filter sand that I can put some trust into. Found a decent
pool supply store (Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies http://www.lesliespool.com/Shop ), and
found some sand that says extremely pure quartz silica sand. I know some of the wording is
kind of gimmicky but it makes me feel better. 7 buck for 50 lbs. sweet.

They have tons of spot all over the US I cant believe it took me this long to find them.

Anyway this still brings up one question. Should I personally rewash this sand even though it says washed ?

Can you post a direct link to that specific page? I went to the site but all i see is some crap called "Zeo Sand". lol.

Well I wish I could but I think that it is such generic item that they dont put it on the website.

But here are the pics of the front and the back of the bag if you are interested.

Sorry for the poor image quality all i have is a camera phone.

*EDIT* Actually the pics did not come out as bad as i expected.

Hope this helps some.