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Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:28 am
by TrapsAndDews
@thepitchergrower did you rinse your silica sand before you used it?

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:50 am
by TrapsAndDews
The sand looks a bit funny to me. It looks much like regular sand. I want to use the sand for my pygmies. If it isn't good, I can just crush some perlite.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:54 am
by thepitchergrower
Sorry for the late reply. The @ thing does not seem to work. At least not on this forum.
Yes, just pour vinegar on the sand. If it fizzes it's NOT CP safe. If it doesn't It is CP safe.
Yes, I wast the sand. There is a lot of dust in it. Its a good way to get silicosis. WEAR A DUST MASK.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:06 am
by TrapsAndDews
The sand just has lots of large grains. It has a grey color. It won’t kill my pygmies if I rinse it, will it?

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:30 am
by thepitchergrower
No, you rinse soil before you plant your pygmies. I hose it, and wash it until the water runs pretty clear.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:31 am
by TrapsAndDews
So I use a hose until the sand the water is clear, and then I wash it with distilled water?

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:42 am
by thepitchergrower
If you guys are getting as much rain as we are getting in CA, just let the rain do its thing :lol:
No, I don't actually flush it with distilled water. But then again, we only have 159 ppm water.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:51 am
by TrapsAndDews
Is that the TDS for the water coming out of the hose? I don't know the TDS of our water. We don't get much rain. The climate here is cold-semiarid (similar to a desert, except sagebrush instead of cacti).

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 3:43 am
by thepitchergrower
Yeah, its the PPm of the tapwater. I think you should just google the ppm of your town's water. We also don't get much rain, just during the winter. And we are having a drought.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 5:35 am
by TrapsAndDews
I assume you're talking about the hardness of the water. The hardness is between 54-90 ppm. We get our water from wells. Each well has a different ppm. The hardness can also change based on the water level in the water towers.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:09 pm
by IoanAdam
Can silica sand be used without any onther soil (peat for example)? Also, is compost bad for CP's beacuse I saw a forum on FB (for CP growers) where someone said that a soil with compost in it was good for CP's.

*sorry I said "CP" so many times in one sentence*

Thank you,
Adam

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 3:51 pm
by thepitchergrower
See this thread, its about growing CPs in pure silica sand. growing-carnivorous-plants-in-pure-sili ... 50889.html

In the UK "compost" refers to any soil. So I could say I grow CPs in compost. But in the US compost refers to soil that is made via composting, and is not safe for CPs.

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 5:33 pm
by IoanAdam
Thank you very much!

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 11:56 pm
by TrapsAndDews
@thepitchergrower I finished rinsing the sand with a hose. (I couldn’t find a good mask to use, so I had to use a gas mask. :? I wonder what the neighbors thought.)

Does the sand look good?
Sand After Being Rinsed
Sand After Being Rinsed
19886DCD-8208-4F8B-BAE5-469BC07365E3.jpeg (1.44 MiB) Viewed 3392 times

Re: Silica Sand

Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2021 2:09 am
by thepitchergrower
It looks good! Now just mix it with peat moss. :D