Artificial reef sand?

[jDoSe]

i am looking for extremely uniform sand around 2-2.5mm. I don’t want it made of dead snails, dead corals, etc.

There’s a bunch of artificial liverock out there, but is there a single artificial sand producer out there?
Something that is made out of aragonite/calcium carbonate that is extremely uniform due to being man-made.

Although not man-made, oolite would be perfect, but it is way too small and nowhere near 2mm. I looked everywhere and noone has larger oolite for sale.

 

[JGT]

Caribsea Arag-live Special Grade.

 

[Idech]

Caribsea Arag-live Special Grade.

Or the regular version, as Arag-alive is said to cause bloom problems in the tank, so it needs to be rinsed. Just buy the regular version, a little cheaper. You’ll still have to rinse it though.

 

[jDoSe]

Are you actually saying that arag-alive is completely man-made?
The shells in it are manufactured?

it isnt even close to uniform. Id give it a 2/10 for uniformity. I am looking for around 8/10.
When I say uniform, i mean more than just the size….

 

[N.Sreefer]

Is there a such thing as manufactured aragonite? Thought it was all mined?

 

[Idech]

Are you actually saying that arag-alive is completely man-made?
The shells in it are manufactured?

it isnt even close to uniform. Id give it a 2/10 for uniformity. I am looking for around 8/10.
When I say uniform, i mean more than just the size….

No, it’s not man made. I’m curious, why does it have to be so even ?

 

[EricR]

Or the regular version, as Arag-alive is said to cause bloom problems in the tank, so it needs to be rinsed. Just buy the regular version, a little cheaper. You’ll still have to rinse it though.

jDoSe, if you decide to go with CaribSea "Special Grade" that a lot of people seem to like (for the grain size), be aware that PetSmart has the DRY (not live) version on sale at 40 lbs for $19.99 + $4.99 shipping:

CaribSea Special Grade Aragonite Reef Sand

*I was a little concerned that the picture in the ad shows "Special Grade" on the bag while the ad title never specifically says that but the bag I got definitely says "Special Grade" and I like the grain size

 

[jDoSe]

jDoSe, if you decide to go with "Special Grade" that a lot of people seem to like (for the texture), be aware that PetSmart has the DRY (not live) version on sale at 40 lbs for $19.99 + $4.99 shipping:

CaribSea Special Grade Aragonite Reef Sand

*I was a little concerned that the picture in the ad shows "Special Grade" on the bag while the ad title never specifically says that but the bag I got definitely says "Special Grade" and I like the grain size

Thanks for the post, but this is not even close to what I am looking for.

 

[Quietman]

I don't think you're going to find uniform size in a larger sized granules (>.5/1 mm). I've looked a bit when wanting to set up a natural sandbed filtration. The only thing I could come up with was buying sieves (metal rounds with sized screens in bottom) to filter out my own. I decided not to go that route for a few reason not least of which was level of effort. Then when finding out the carbonate in sand does get consumed due to natural processes reducing size...seemed like the effort wasn't going to worth it. But at least there's some option if you need to go this route. Good luck!

 

[EricR]

Thanks for the post, but this is not even close to what I am looking for.

OK. Sorry...
Re-read your post and it feels like an option (1-2mm grain size, aragonite) but I must've missed something.

 

[jDoSe]

OK. Sorry...
Re-read your post and it feels like an option (1-2mm grain size, aragonite) but I must've missed something.

Cant be made of dead corals/snails/shells/etc.

Imagine things like sugar, salt, silica gel packets, etc

 

[jDoSe]

The closest things i have found are:
1) Oolite: too small
2) Esv ultra white: cant find anyone who sells it
3) Imaginatium white aquarium sand: Dont know what it is made from. Many people complained it spiked ph to 8.8 and kept it there
4) reeflowers pearl white sand: not sure what it’s made from. Only 1-1.5mm. Very white, looks bad imo.

 

[Timfish]

I'd only use araganite sand. Once it colonized with biofilms and endoliths and other stuff it's going to be an important source of buffering for a reef system as well as having beneficial microbial processes.

 

[jDoSe]

I'd only use araganite sand. Once it colonized with biofilms and endoliths and other stuff it's going to be an important source of buffering for a reef system as well as having beneficial microbial processes.

Do you have any evidence to suggest that only ocean-sourced aragonite sand (calcium carbonate CaCO3) will harbor “biofilms and endoliths and other stuff”, and man-made calcium carbonate CaCO3 will not?

 

[mitten_reef]

hear this out,
for uniformity sake, would it be easier to just buy standard reef "sand" of whatever brand, preferably dry.
Then purchase a couple of metal screen mesh (which I think you can define the size of them), one to screen out anything 2mm and under. Then buy 2.5mm mesh to screen out all the aggregate the size that you want...
The only catch would be that the original sand has to have enough variety of size that worth the two-screen process, well, and finding the screens.
good luck

 

[jDoSe]

hear this out,
for uniformity sake, would it be easier to just buy standard reef "sand" of whatever brand, preferably dry.
Then purchase a couple of metal screen mesh (which I think you can define the size of them), one to screen out anything 2mm and under. Then buy 2.5mm mesh to screen out all the aggregate the size that you want...
The only catch would be that the original sand has to have enough variety of size that worth the two-screen process, well, and finding the screens.
good luck

Again, when i mention uniformity, i am not talking just about grain size.

 

[elorablue]

Ummm kinda argumentative dude.

 

[mitten_reef]

Again, when i mention uniformity, i am not talking just about grain size.

r u saying that you don't want to see flakes (flat pieces), even at that tiny of size? ALL little nice round-ish balls? i'm no sand expert, but I have never seen any setup with such sand you're trying to describe.

buy a coffee burr grinder and start grinding away little bits of mined aragonite rocks to create your personal custom size? probably closest to uniformity I can think of. then you'll still need to screen them, since it'll probably produce some dust and smaller particles. that IF the grinder holds up in the first place.

So...good luck with your search

 

[afrokobe]

I dont think you're going find what you want in terms of uniformity unless you want really fine sand like pool filter sand.

 

[MnFish1]

Try this:
https://premiumaquatics.com/product...MItefXl-bM8wIVxHxvBB2MRgQUEAQYASABEgJzvfD_BwE