Substrate - Quartz at LFS?

[Jake]

Figured I'd post this here as well!

For the life of me, I can't figure out why some LFS are not stocking this stuff!

Anyone know where you can get some of this? I'm more of a drop in and buy it kind of person . . . and wondering how long the search may take! LOL

http://www.estesco.com/pdf/aqua.pdf

Check it out though, very cool stuff!

:confused:

[Erniec]

Someone has also posted this place ,

http://www.nptgonline.com/nptg_national/finishes_main.html

there is a lcoal dealer right around harry Hines in Dallas

SCP Distributors
Dallas, TX2819 Blystone LaneDallasTX75220(214) 366-4009

[chuckles1299]

NPT has ColorScapes colored quartz. I bought some this week. With tax it is around $18/50lb bag. They are only open Mon-Fri. 9-4:30 or something like that so if you are planning to "drop in and buy" its not recommended on a saturday. (found this out the hard way). Hope you find what you are looking for.

[Jake]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh . . . . I better get there before Friday at 4:30 . . . dang it! *LOL*

They have a large selection??

[chuckles1299]

It seemed they had just about any color you would want, both Grade S and Grade T. If you want to make sure they have the color you are interested in call them up, they are real nice, and know everyone uses their stuff for aquariums. I got a red color, they have black, blue, green, i didn't see it but im sure they have brown/tan, white.

[Jake]

Absolute awesomeness! We should get a moderator to put this up on a sticky, as the subject seems to come up a lot!

*LOL*

Thank you for the help!!!

[chuckles1299]

Yea, I looked around a lot for colored quartz. All places led me to NPT most people used 3M but it is no longer made. Several people make colored quartz but NPT carries the ColorScapes. I plan on putting up pics of my change that I did to the sand. I rinsed about 15-20 gal. of water down through my sand and I am not sure if that was enough. I kicked on the air strips and got some odd bubbles at the top and after about 12 hours still there and had a bit of an oily sheen, but it hasnt hurt anything. Many people talk about the stuff being somewhat oily, maybe I should have rinsed better, but everything is fine.

[Jake]

Awesome information!

I actually wrote the company that produces it, Estes, and asked where I could purchase it. Wait until you hear his response!


"Hi Jake,
The nearest independent pet store that carries our gravel is Fish & Chirps, 1701 W. University in Denton.
Our gravel is also sold at all Petco and Petsmart stores, just in their private label bags.
Thanks,

Rick Dunnahoo"

Thanks major pet chains for screwing us on the price! Dang it!

Anyways, I'm gonna try and get mine tomorrow!!!

[chuckles1299]

Just to clarify at NPT it is more of a sand Grade S and Grade T not the pebble.

[chuckles1299]

Figured out how to put a photo in- this is what the red looks like. Not done with arrangement yet, and might add the rest of the sand.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee408/chuckles1299/Substrate%20Change/SDC12450.jpg

[Plano_Jeff]

I love the look Chuckles - is that the S or the T grade? I've got both grades of the old 3M stuff in various tanks, thinking of getting exactly that color for a shrimp tank with blue tigers and yellows.

The 3M stuff was so oily that I still found the stuff in my filters weeks after I had rinsed it an insane number of times. The most recent batch I rinsed I actually put in a bucket and used dish soap to help get all the oil out, then rinsed all of the soap out. Worked much better than just the plain water rinse and went much faster.

[alta678]

The 3M stuff was so oily that I still found the stuff in my filters weeks after I had rinsed it an insane number of times. The most recent batch I rinsed I actually put in a bucket and used dish soap to help get all the oil out, then rinsed all of the soap out. Worked much better than just the plain water rinse and went much faster.

Good to know!

[Jake]

Wow! Nice color!!

I just got some today. I got the T grade black. I'm planning on setting up the tank this weekend and will drop a pick to show what it looks like!

I spoke with the guy there and told him that they really should do some advertisement as they are totally missing a segment of the population and that their substrate was getting some talk on the boards . . . and he gave me a $2 dollar discount per bag! So, 100 lbs. or black, grade T sand for $32!!! Yay me!!!

[chuckles1299]

Jeff-- thanks- it is Grade T and I definately didnt rinse it enough. It is kinda cloudy and will do water changes until it clears up, luckily the fish dont seem to ming. I am definately rinsing the last 25 lbs more before I add it in. Blues and yellows definately look good with the red. It washes my red jewels out a bit, but all the other fish look good. I have the whole process of photos loaded up on photobucket. I was pleased with the change.

http://s1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee408/chuckles1299/Substrate%20Change/ (http://s1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee408/chuckles1299/Substrate%20Change/)

Thumbs up jake on getting a discount even w/out it it is still a decent price for the amt. you get.

I vacuumed for the first time today and I am glad I got the T grade- I dont have to be careful like I was fearful of.

[chuckles1299]

Jake - how is it working out for you? I am not sure if it is my new rock arrangement or what, but I lost a powder blue yesterday and one of my yellow labs looks pretty stressed and has a red battle wound on the top of him. Just curious how you rinsed yours and how it is doing.

[Jake]

My tanks been up for about a week now, fully stocked and going strong! I just moved, so a bit busy. I'm looking to get some pics up tomorrow or tonight. Dang hard to take nice pics though! *LOL*

Actually, everything in my tank is rocking strong! I had three casualties. A red tail shark from my fathers tank and 2 cories from the pet store.

Funny thing is that I have 5 female guppies, 4 male guppies, 9 neon tetras, 1 8' Pleco, 1 algae eater, 2 kuhli loaches, 1 albino cory, 1 strib. cory, 2 bumblebee cats, 5 fruit/other tetras, 1 red tail shark and a bunch of guppy babies (30 - 50) all in the same tank. It's a 75G tank so it is large enough for them all and they are all growing so dang fast!!!

For the first week I did 25 - 50% daily water changes. After adding the fish I have been doing every other day 10 - 15% water changes. All my numbers are good, except for PH. It is running a bit high, about 8.0 - 8.2. It comes that way straight from the tap, bah! I use nothing but API chemicals and Omega One food.

I bought a 5 gallon bucket at HomeDepot (orange in the paint section) for $2.50. I washed half the sand at a time, for about 10 - 15 minutes outside with the hose. It cleaned up great and didn't leave any film anywhere! As a matter of fact, my father is using some now!

So, my substrate is 20lbs on the bottom of Florite, followed by a mix of 10 lbs. light blue gravel and 65lbs of black t grade sand.

I'll try and get some pics up tonight or tomorrow! Oh, did I mention it is also planted with about 12 bunches of various plants? Maybe thats helping?

[Jake]

Here are some pics!

It is a bit light and I have since added some more gravel, but love it otherwise! Added some pics of the guppy babies! Had ANOTHER birthing yesterday! *ROFL*

[chuckles1299]

well that is good- the tank does look good and gla you arent losing any fish- I lost three more over the weekend. I think when I took my rocks out it caused my tank to re-cycle so everything is out of whack, and since i was gone over the weekend I couldnt do water changes. I am taking my water to the LFS today to see what they advise.

[glostik]

Just so you know the "oily" stuff on the colorquartz stuff is actually just carbon (the black stuff). I have seen emails from the 3M engineers describing it

[Jake]

Ya-ouch! Not sure! I think the small water changes are helping tremendously in my tank. As you can see in the pics, I had a guppy birthing at the time, and since the pics I've had another! I've even added more cories, etc. All without issues . . .

:confused:

[limpert]

What's the difference between the grades S and T?

[chuckles1299]

this was a pretty old thread. Grade S is a finer grader- it is made of a small ball as opposed to something small and natural sand shaped.

One thing I will tell you is that after battling tank conditions for quite some time I kept losing fish with this stuff. I dont think it was attributed solely to re-cycling my tank. There were a few fish that did fine with it, but if you have diggers it isnt awesome on them. Mine were getting their mouths chewed up from trying to dig in it. Also, after I removed this stuff I ran polishing pad in my FX5 a couple months after switching back, and I am still picking up red dye/clay substance. I dont know if you can rinse this stuff enough.

A lot of people have used colorquartz of some sort but I dont think I will try it again.

[OliverTheBetta]

this was a pretty old thread. Grade S is a finer grader- it is made of a small ball as opposed to something small and natural sand shaped.

One thing I will tell you is that after battling tank conditions for quite some time I kept losing fish with this stuff. I dont think it was attributed solely to re-cycling my tank. There were a few fish that did fine with it, but if you have diggers it isnt awesome on them. Mine were getting their mouths chewed up from trying to dig in it. Also, after I removed this stuff I ran polishing pad in my FX5 a couple months after switching back, and I am still picking up red dye/clay substance. I dont know if you can rinse this stuff enough.

A lot of people have used colorquartz of some sort but I dont think I will try it again.


You lost fish with the S grade?