Best substrate for the money? ?

[tutmatt3]

I grabbed caribsea from petco (online) for $20 for a 20lb bag. Got myself the Hawaiian black, but color is your preference.
Not saying this is the BEST, as I'm too new to know, but it's worked great for me so far!

Since I ordered 3x bags, got free shipping as well.

 

[JoshH]

you haven't had any issue with it at all? ?

 

[tutmatt3]

you haven't had any issue with it at all? ?

No, not one been. Keeping in mind my tanks only been up 1.5 months - i started with 60lb live sand (the carib sea), and 33lb dry rock (reef saver from BHS) in a 4ft 55gal. Gives me about 2-3" of sand.
After my cycle w/ bio-spira & dr tims ammonia (he has an AMAZING fishless cycle guide on this website), all was well & had no issues w/ levels.
My fish were in love w/ the tank before I pulled them last week (deciding to run fallow & QT fish for ich JUST as a late precaution.) (2x clowns)

I do have a couple SPS frags, and some mushrooms who still love the DT. I feed a few pellets every other day and ammonia still @ 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10

After placing in the sand which is still wet in the bag, the rocks, and then the water - the tank was cloudy for a few hours, then went away. They actually toss in small packets of anti-cloud something, and I did use one, but I honestly don't think it was needed, as the sand just needed to settle.

This is also the sand that all my LFS sell around here, so figured it would be worth it.
Lastly I tossed in a couple lb's of blue gravel for the extra visual effect only =)

Hope it helps!
Before & after a black background (WHICH I HIGHLY RECOMMEND DOING BEFORE PRESSING A FULL TANK AGAINST THE WALL -____-)

 

[JoshH]

I was definitely considering the caribsea as my LFS carries it. Really cool scape you have and the blue is a nice touch of colour. Thanks for the info!!

 

[alex.mccann99]

Here's some important things to take into consideration. Your Live Sand bed becomes a major part of your filtration. Depending on your tank inhabitants, such as wrasses, gobies, pistol shrimp and others that commonly burrow into the sand, wouldn't you want this to be the best possible for them??? With all of my tanks I've been amazed at the amount of life that comes from the sand. With a healthy live sand bed, it should help you controlling the breakdown of food, detritus, etc. Don't go cheap on it is my opinion, it will be worth it. As far as brands, I have used the Caribsea and the Tropic Eden, I didn't really notice a difference there. I currently am about to use the Caribsea black Hawaiian in my shallow nano build.

 

[jeffrey holloway]

Nothing wrong with the big box stores sand. I've used it with no problems. Putting together a 65g fish only tank and had thought about getting some from home depot. But I came up with a better idea, I went down to the beach and shoveled me a couple of buckets for free.

 

[JoshH]

I have used the Caribsea and the Tropic Eden, I didn't really notice a difference there.

This is exactly what I've been looking for, a direct comparison between the two to see if it was worth the price difference. 20lb bag of Caribsea sea = $27.00, 30lb bag of tropic eden = $120 with shipping. (These prices are in CDN). I'm looking for anything that really sets the tropic eden apart to justify the cost difference for me.

But I came up with a better idea, I went down to the beach and shoveled me a couple of buckets for free.

Wish I had that ability lol

 

[Madelion33]

I just bought 440 lbs of caribsea aragonite for 408.00 USD including shipping through petsmart. Best price I've found thus far but caribsea isn't my first choice.

 

[JoshH]

I just bought 440 lbs of caribsea aragonite for 408.00 USD including shipping through petsmart. Best price I've found thus far but caribsea isn't my first choice.

What would be your first choice and why??

 

[davocean]

I've been using the caribsea seaflor special grade for many years now in various tanks, it's my preference and perfect size, stays put in fairly decent flow.
Petco or petsmart sales are best from what I've seen so far, get the dry, not live, and if you can add a scoop of established sand from another tank it seeds very fast

 

[samnaz]

Did you end up choosing Caribsea?

Apparently no one can justify spending 3-4x more for tropic Eden, it would appear?

I’ve heard many times that it is the preferred substrate over Caribsea. I use Figi Pink and it looked great for a few months but no matter what I do it looks dingy, dirty and bad.

I’ll be trying out the mini flakes/meso flakes on my new tank BUT I probably would not if it'd cost me 3-4x more.

 

[Tikosyn]

Honestly, i can vouch for Tropic Eden. I used all tropic eden miniflakes in my red sea reefer 750, the dry non-live version, and I love it. It is seriously the whitest sand I've ever seen. I had been told to rinse the sand before using it, but also heard that tropic eden sand is so clean you don't need to rinse it. Well I did not bother rinsing and there was no clouding or dust whatsoever after filling the tank. Really awesome stuff!

 

[JoshH]

Did you end up choosing Caribsea?

Apparently no one can justify spending 3-4x more for tropic Eden, it would appear?

I’ve heard many times that it is the preferred substrate over Caribsea. I use Figi Pink and it looked great for a few months but no matter what I do it looks dingy, dirty and bad.

I’ll be trying out the mini flakes/meso flakes on my new tank BUT I probably would not if it'd cost me 3-4x more.

I did end up going with the caribsea fiji pink and it is as you say, rather difficult to keep pristine. But I will be adding a sand sifter and see how things work out. I don't mind the extra work, when it is clean it looks awesome. I might try the tropic Eden on my next build in the coming year and go with the same combo your looking at but still the cost is a hard pill to swallow. I'd need around 150-180 pounds of it and that comes in at $8-900.... for sand lol.

Honestly, i can vouch for Tropic Eden. I used all tropic eden miniflakes in my red sea reefer 750, the dry non-live version, and I love it. It is seriously the whitest sand I've ever seen. I had been told to rinse the sand before using it, but also heard that tropic eden sand is so clean you don't need to rinse it. Well I did not bother rinsing and there was no clouding or dust whatsoever after filling the tank. Really awesome stuff!

Awesome you love it so much, would you pay $100+ a bag for it though?

 

[Tikosyn]

I did end up going with the caribsea fiji pink and it is as you say, rather difficult to keep pristine. But I will be adding a sand sifter and see how things work out. I don't mind the extra work, when it is clean it looks awesome. I might try the tropic Eden on my next build in the coming year and go with the same combo your looking at but still the cost is a hard pill to swallow. I'd need around 150-180 pounds of it and that comes in at $8-900.... for sand lol.



Awesome you love it so much, would you pay $100+ a bag for it though?

Haha, no way. I got mine off Amazon I believe for around 40 per bag. Just wanted to vouch for the sand but definitely cannot justify any sand at that price.

 

[jda]

I got my last lot in the mail from marco rocks. It is a mixed grade from the Bahamans (at least when I ordered it). While I have absolutely no love for their dry rock, this sand was quite nice and the larger particles end up on top and the smaller on the bottom and it does not blow around nearly at all. I would use it again.

 

[JoshH]

Haha, no way. I got mine off Amazon I believe for around 40 per bag. Just wanted to vouch for the sand but definitely cannot justify any sand at that price.

Lol see that's the pickle, apparently it's amazing sand but for us Canadians it's almost out of the question. Premium aquatics is the only seller of it and there customer service, while awesome, gave me the best deal they could but the exchange rate and shipping practically double the cost of it regardless

 

[lbacha]

To me the best value is no sand. I've been running barebottom for 6 months and I love not dealing with the headaches of a sand bottom. Now that coraline has encrusted it and my monti's as well it looks great. I even get little piles of coralline chips that build up (detritus just stays suspended so only heavier things stay on the bottom). I just siphon the chips up every month or so as they sometimes get wedged in my monties

 

[jda]

If you want a sand-dwelling crew of stuff like conchs, cucumbers, nassarius, etc. then do not buy all large-grade sand. Mixed is fine, but they need some finer stuff to sift through.

 

[MSOEME2009]

Tropic Eden Reeflakes

2x MP10's running 85% in a 40 cube - no sand storm. Negligible diatom bloom (almost non-existent). I did a shallow bed on purpose and wanted something that I could blast flow.

I did however find a few pieces of plastic in the sand, just picked it out. Sadly it's just like real life

I didn't even wash it. It's cool it has even some mini shells in it (I'm talking tiny).

 

[Forsaken77]

No.Yep as is glass
Ran a tank with play sand for ~5-7 years.

Sure you may get some silicates at first and therefore diatoms but that is temporary. Some people like Dr Randy Holmes-Farley actually dose silicates which are needed for sponges and the like.

Actually the main downer is probably the color compaired to the ultra white of aquarium products.

my .02

I used to use play sand over crushed coral (back when it was a popular substrate) for about 4 years and never had any issues either. Though this was 20 years ago and I don't know if ingredients have changed. Some sands are natural, some are manufactured.

Personally, I preferred the color of the play sand. I like the darker brown; it reminded me of the beach. It also doesn't show the dirt as much as white sand.

But I agree that play sand is ok, and even better if you can find a good one. Some will say "contains crystalline silica and quartz."

Most is washed and rinsed beforehand and doesn't contain much silt like regular bagged aquarium sand does. It's also the perfect grain size . In fact, Lowes has a limestone sand (calcium and magnesium) that is washed and screened. May help with Ph buffering as well.