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Post by daniello on Nov 3, 2007 20:46:18 GMT -5
i tested the original playsand with vinegar like you said, lloyd, and lo and behold, it fizzed no wonder those plants died so hard. i don't suppose there's any way to remove lime from sand, is there? oh well, not important, i will soon get my hands on some good-quality sandblasting silica stuff. my plans to get some today fell through maybe on tuesday i'll be able to go. i'd really like to start over with peat/sand + trich instead of peat/perlite. nothing is in super dire need of transplanting, though, so it can wait i guess.
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Post by lloyd on Nov 4, 2007 12:49:42 GMT -5
You could wash the sand with a dilute acid till it stops fizzing but it's certainly not worth it. When you buy the "silica" sand find out what it really is. As far as I know it's illegal to sell silica sand as it is carcinogenic. I want to try the glass spheres they use for sandblasting.
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Post by curlingguy on Nov 4, 2007 13:00:47 GMT -5
I was at my local "Lordco" store looking into getting a bigger grit sand. I have used up a bag of sand i bought at a hot-tub place (It was silica sand they use in filters). Nothing wrong with it, just seems to me a bigger grit is better and "12" seems to be the size to shoot for.
Anyway, I asked about the glass bead sandblasting material and the guy there poked a hole in a bag. Its very fine and I don't think it would work well. Because of the name I thought it would be a much bigger grit size- if what I saw was standard "glass bead" size- its very fine.
They are going to see if can find 12 grit sand. If not, I'll go with 16 as they know they can get that.
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Post by brian on Nov 4, 2007 13:50:34 GMT -5
Silica is "carcinogenic" by inhalation only, not by skin contact. The stuff I got is crystalline and powder free. Its more of a problem if you are blasting it against a hard surface where it could be pulverized into inhalable dust, which is why sandblasters wear protective face masks (also the lead, cadmium, chrome, barium, PCBs etc in paint are a concern). When handling it be cautious but it can be safely used. Once it is wetted of course there should be no risk of dust.
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Post by lloyd on Nov 4, 2007 22:13:02 GMT -5
I found a place in Toronto on the internet that sells various grades sandblasting material. No silica sand but they said they have glass spheres of various grit size. Grit or mesh #20 is around 0.8 mm which is pretty good for CP's.
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Post by barvinok on Nov 4, 2007 22:30:54 GMT -5
Curligguy: Lordco has glass beads?! Are they less heavy then silica? Question is out of topic but at local Lordco they don't know answer
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Post by curlingguy on Nov 26, 2007 2:27:47 GMT -5
I got some 16 grit sand at my local Lordco...cost like $13.00. They had to order it in.
They were nice enough to slit a hole into a bag of "glass beads"....found that it was way too fine for plant use.
They stock the sand and glass beads for sandblasting purposes.
Gave them a couple of capensis and they were happy to have them!!
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Post by vraev on Nov 26, 2007 11:24:35 GMT -5
lloyd. DUring the december break I will come down to toronto, we should get together and get some sand or glass beads. My square pots are coming in and I will be doing a major repotting programme this december to change my table collection.
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Post by lloyd on Nov 26, 2007 17:21:19 GMT -5
Let me know before you come in so I can try and look around. I went to Bustan's today and they didn't have any square pots at all.
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Post by vraev on Nov 26, 2007 18:00:40 GMT -5
lol! thanks for the investigation lloyd. I guess its a good thing I went the online route. Yeah! I'll PM you once my christmas break starts. We can meet up and probably shop around for the sand.
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Post by pdsyme on Jul 15, 2009 21:25:53 GMT -5
Try a pool supply store. They sell silica sand for filters. Also blasting sand can be had for about $10.00 for a 25-30kg bag at any of the machine shops.
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