Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been logged in and check this thread unless I get quoted or PMed.
For sand, I've been using the CaribSea Aragonite Special Reef Grade Sand since my last two tank large display tanks and a variety of Caribsea sand in the past.
https://caribsea.com/aquarium/
For display tank, I don't like the sand to be too fine, ie. Oolite sand. The flow required for SPS will endlessly blow the Oolite around. Sand in the display tank is mainly for sand dwelling critters like leopard wrasse I like to keep. Therefore, I don't need it to be deep. My sandbed is ~2" in the display.
Be careful with sand that are too large. They're more likely to get coralline on and it'll look dirty in no time. I always see tank with large crushed corals have pink/green coralline covered the substrate.
My recommendation for sand in display is Special Grade Reef sand at 1.0 - 2.0mm grain size for SPS dominant followed by AragaMax Select at 0.5 - 1.5mm grain size for mix reef with minimal SPS.
I would use the Oolite and Aragamax Sugar-Sized at 0.25 - 1.0mm grain size for deep sandbed in the fuge with minimum flow.
If you want the sand to clear up quicker(and maybe cycle quicker??), they have them soaked in ocean water in the bag. But it costs about twice as much. I've used the wet bags in my smaller tanks but I didn't want to pay for it in the larger tank so I went with the dry stuff. Been too long to remember if there's any difference in cycling time. But to me, a newly set up tank will go into the "ready to give up" algae phase regardless until it gets cleared up with or without your intervention. I have not found a way to set up a new tank or a tank transfer with new rocks without algae showing up a month or two later on the rocks and last about 2-3 months. Most people will feel like giving up including myself but you just have to tell yourself it's just a phase.
