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Re: [APD] Sources of DIY Material



> Does any one know where you can get darker sand in the Los 
> Angeles/Orange County area?
> -- Jerry Baker


Garnet sand is readily available and free just outside Bishop. Get a 
friend vacationing here or Mammoth to carry along a couple of extra 
buckets. The hills just west of town are called the Tungsten Hills, and 
a big canyon there is still called Tungsten City, though the buildings 
are long gone. The bottom of the canyon is filled with garnet sand 
tailings from the old tungsten mill. Free for the digging and screening. 
It is rather fine, so don't expect coarse aquarium gravel. Look for the 
dirt "Tungsten City" road, going west off Ed Powers Road, west of Bishop.

If I want coarser, I use any desirable substrate, but then cover it with 
"Flourite" which is an attractive mixed dark red-brown.

RMC Lonestar's "Lapis Lustre" coarse aquarium gravel is available at 
most larger western building supply places. 
<http://rmcpmi.us/aggregates/sands.shtml>  If you don't mind that it can 
harden your water a bit, it is very pretty stuff. About $8-10 for 100lb 
in the builder places, it is out of sight expensive in the fish shops. 
[$0.50/lb, last time I priced it.]

Less colorful (light gray) is the aquarium gravel from Silica Resources, 
Inc. SRI is distributed out of Sackapimento CA, but available in many 
places. IDK if they have much market in LA, tho. Again, check the 
suppliers of bulk building materials. Its main advantage is that it is 
really inert, having been leeched clean by the "distilled" water of the 
Sierra foothills rivers.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net - 760 872-3995

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"Sometimes I wonder if the fight against terrorism is nothing more than the government's way to prove to us how stupid socialism is." -- Trevor Bothwell                       

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