# Original Oil-Dry SMS Select Black, found some! (dialup beware)



## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

Found five 50# bag of the original Oil-Dry Soilmaster Select. Doesnt say SMS Select on the bag, but there was a label on the pallet that stated SMS Select. Had to drive 4 hours round trip to get it. End cost ( including gas and tax ) was $16.50 per bag. Did I do good???

I will have atleast 2 full bags, if not 2.5 bags available to anyone who wants it ( at my cost ). Location Mid-Michigan ( Clare County ). I will know for sure once I get my new 110gal wide picked up next week.


















Pretty close to color when dry









Jet black when wet.









the flash washed out the color a bit. Photo of a Nickel and Dime for comparison.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I have the same stuff.. Love it.


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## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

Also, wanted to say THANX to the members of this forum. I was ready to spend $250 shipped for Seachem Flourite, and wasnt feeling great about it. Reading your forum here turned me on to the SMS Select and saved me some moolah!


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## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

fshfanatic said:


> I have the same stuff.. Love it.


Just curious. How long has it been in your tank and has it softened any ( or gotten mushy )?


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

BlueLagoon said:


> Just curious. How long has it been in your tank and has it softened any ( or gotten mushy )?


I have had it in my 29 for about a yr and my 180 for about 3. Still going strong. I have had zero issues with it.


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## jinx© (Oct 17, 2007)

I'm currently using it in multiple tanks as well without any issues.


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

good find. we dont have a distributer on this rock, but i have been using the walmart oil-dri (reg brown version) and it works just fine. strange thing is that of the 4 bags i purchased at the same time, one had the sms black. i guess when they got bought out they just packed the remaining sms as oil dri to get rid of it. couldnt find it again, all other bags i have purchased are the standard brown crap.


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I actually scored on finding sms recently. I took a stab in the dark and called my local road safety department. Three phone calls later, they were able to find me 50# bags for $10.00!


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

Late this summer I got two five gal. buckets free. I had to drive about an hour and then scrape it off the parking lot. A good rinse and all was well!


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## Blackstar65 (Sep 12, 2008)

I have about 75lbs of it left I need to go get one more bag.


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

well i might be able to top that i went 400 miles for mine though i was visiting family. i did buy them out of the 8 bags they had. i have it in 5-6 tanks now. only problem i have with it is i can never get hair grass to stay in it.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

mgamer20o0 said:


> well i might be able to top that i went 400 miles for mine though i was visiting family. i did buy them out of the 8 bags they had. i have it in 5-6 tanks now. only problem i have with it is i can never get hair grass to stay in it.


One way around that may be to place a base of pool filter sand underneath it. This should help better anchor roots of stem plants and deep rooters like cryptocornes and swords. I guess it is too late for you to do that, but may be an option for others who have not set up their tanks yet.


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Remember i'm new still! Is this the stuff you use on your garage floor when you spill oil?


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## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

CKJ said:


> Remember i'm new still! Is this the stuff you use on your garage floor when you spill oil?


Yes


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow I had no idea that stuff would be safe for use in an aquarium! Cool!

Thanks


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> One way around that may be to place a base of pool filter sand underneath it. This should help better anchor roots of stem plants and deep rooters like cryptocornes and swords. I guess it is too late for you to do that, but may be an option for others who have not set up their tanks yet.


the crypts stay fine..... its the just hair grass the stupid plecos tear up i dont think there is a easy way around that other then keep it in another tank.


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## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

CKJ said:


> Wow I had no idea that stuff would be safe for use in an aquarium! Cool!
> 
> Thanks


I'm not sure what other products they manufactures for "Oil-Dry" on garage floors. Make sure it is 100% clay, no other additives. Some people use clay kitty litter also ( non-purfume ).


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## CKJ (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow I had no idea that some kitty litters could be used as substrate as well! I've got 3 persians and an indoor dog that all use litter boxes! But I use the clumping perfumey stuff! Oh well!

I learn so much here!

Thanks!


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

CKJ said:


> Wow I had no idea that some kitty litters could be used as substrate as well! I've got 3 persians and an indoor dog that all use litter boxes! But I use the clumping perfumey stuff! Oh well!
> 
> I learn so much here!
> 
> Thanks!


Hi, with kitty litter, the jury is out on whether it should be used as an aquarium plant substrate. Kitty litter can dramatically alter PH. It is not all the same depending on where it is mined which may or not make it ideal as a substrate. Some claim that it turns to mush over time which can create more issues than it is worth. 

IMHO, you are better off using Schultz Aquatic Soil. It is made from the same stuff(fuller's earth) as Kitty litter, dollar for dollar it is a virtually the same price as kitty litter, it does not alter water parameters(I set up a 10 gallon and monitored water parameters over several months and there was virtually no change), and it is fire kindled meaning it will not break down over time. However, be forwarned, some claim that the new bags of Schultz Aquatic Soil contain fertilizer pellets(blue) which can cause ammonia spikes. Also, I would personally never use Schultz Aquatic Soil because it is too light and plants will uproot once they form deep long roots. Plant growth in my experience though is comparable to Seachem fluorite at a fraction of the cost. 

In my experience, I had much better plant growth and plants remain better anchored in pool filter sand than Schultz Aquatic Soil. You will probably save 
yourself much more money going with pool filter sand over root tabs. I would also suggest looking into mineralized toposoil, but am not giving it my full endorsement yet until I try it and see how plants do in it compared to Schultz Aquatic Soil and pool filter sand over root tabs.


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## prjct92eh2 (Apr 8, 2008)

I'm out of the loop on this. So SMS is the same as Oil-Dri? and it sounds like they stopped production on this stuff. True or false?


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## msc (Mar 10, 2008)

Lesco still makes SMS. But now you have to get it at John Deere Landscapes


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Actually, Oil-Dri is the manufacturer of SMS, and it was (is?) distributed by Lesco through John Deere stores.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Correct, Oildry makes SMS and almost every other calcined(fired) clay product. This includes many brands of cat litter (look on the bag for oildry), absorbents for the automotive industry, aquatic soils, as well as turf products for ball fields etc. There are numerous companies that receive the same material from them and stamp their own name and purpose on the bag. Lesco is only a distributor of these products and doesn't actually make anything that we're interested in.

There are a few types of clay mined for this wide range of marketing, illite and montmorilinite (which SMS is) are two of them, they are all essentially the same after the fact, maybe a slight difference in CEC (still they are all superior to most other options for planted aquaria as far as CEC goes). Some products may not have been fired as long, particular certain cat litters, which may allow them to soften over time and even break down, but SMS in my experience will never soften.

The red color vs. grey colored SMS is due to kiln time, the darker is fired longer [or hotter?], but I don't believe this means that Red SMS will soften over time, it just means it's ugly, is all. .


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## prjct92eh2 (Apr 8, 2008)

Interesting. One of those John Deere Landscape stores is down the street from me. May have to stop by and see what they have.


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## BlueLagoon (Jan 2, 2009)

I'm to understand the Oil-Dry SMS is no longer made. You can only find old stock at the Lasko dist. Onces its gone, its gone. The NEW product that is supposed to be simular is the " Turface " ( I think thats the name ). Both the SMS and Turface were both made for the same function, which is baseball diamond drainage. At least this is how I understood all I have read about it, and is why I was geeked to find the 5 bags that I found ( last they had ).


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

As of a few months ago, only the charcoal-colored SMS had been discontinued, OilDri was still producing the other colors, just renamed Pros Choice.

Turface is made by a different manufacturer.

According to an OilDri rep that replied to my email, Turface is a comparable product, however.


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## tzen (Dec 31, 2008)

The first local ACE hardware store that I stopped at carries this stuff. It was $10 for a 50lb bag. It was Oil-Dri from the Oil-Dri Corporation of America. http://www.oildri.com/
On the bag it states that it was thermally treated and air-processed to reduce dust, and one of the uses listed on the bag is to add to house plants to improve water retention. So that's promising.
Their web site notes that they have different sources for it; I believe mine came from Mississippi. They make it either of Fuller's earth, or amorphous opaline silica, or montmorillonite.
It has a nice variation to the color, but most of it is a medium charcoal, with some blacks and tans and light greys.
I've had some soaking for several days, and with effort I can break up some of the granules between my fingers to make fine slippery clay, so I don't think it has been fired at a really high temperature. I'm also guessing that means I don't have the silica type.

I think I will use it for my new tank I am putting together, along with a thin layer of gravel on top.


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