What type of sand is everyone using?

[jetmaker]

Aragalive indigo pacific

 

[Rickyrick]

I use Marco rocks sand too, I had to rinse it twice

 

[tjnorthdakota]

Natures Ocean Samoa Pink #1 grade. Like it so far, its a finer grain sand somewher between oolite and caribsea special grade. Has more pink tinge than the caribsea fiji or bimini pink though

 

[todda5914]

CaribSea special grade waiting to go in new 75 when things slow down at work and I have the time.

 

[aslmx]

Petsmart. Caught it on sale for like $10 a ton

 

[Smotz]

Can someone tell me what the "blackest" sand is ? and is it ok to use? any negatives?

 

[aereaus]

Probably something fairly course

 

[aereaus]

Idk what the blackest sand is but I can tell you some of the negatives -- in my experience it grows more algae because it tends to absorb a lot more light. So, youll need to keep your water clean to avoid that issue. Also black sand doesnt reflect light either so there will be less refracted light in the tank

 

[aereaus]

Also im not sure refracted was the word I was searching for lol diffused is probably more appropriate

 

[jetmaker]

Can someone tell me what the "blackest" sand is ? and is it ok to use? any negatives?

Probably the Hawaii I have the indigo it has some black in it. And no algae problems ever.

 

[Tristan]

Carib sea Fiji pink. Dry

Same.
Getting some for a new build

 

[tjnorthdakota]

Also im not sure refracted was the word I was searching for lol diffused is probably more appropriate

ambient light maybe?

 

[Mark3]

ambient light maybe?

I think reflected is the word you're looking for ...

I use white sugar soft Florida beach sand ... not the powder soft, from south of Tampa ... have had it running in tank for about 7 years

 

[aereaus]

Probably lol lets face it, english isnt my strong suit. In any case, i love my black sand. Just sharing my experience

 

[Mark3]

Probably lol lets face it, english isnt my strong suit. In any case, i love my black sand. Just sharing my experience

I had black sand once ...kept it about a year or so, don't remember any problems with it, just got tired of it, added white ...that didn't look good. looked like salt&pepper. ..have used plain white ever since then.
Moved here to Florida almost 7 years ago, that's when I changed to the sugar beach sand, ...wanted the Florida beach look in the tank.

 

[aereaus]

Ive always ran white sand, current tank is the first one with black works fine for me

 

[mila sheehan]

I added three layers to my tank, bottom layer has gravel, mid layer has yellowish sand from the beach and top layer has white argonite sand..

 

[mila sheehan]

What sand would work the best if I plan to set up an underwater waterfall?

try argonite or sand from the beach

 

[mr.Green]

What's the different properties of the different grain sizes? Will smaller ones stay on top, or will larger grains stay on top (if you mix it and let the tank have it's way with it)?

I'm setting up a new shallow system (75*60*30 cm) and thinking of doing a DSB (8 cm), but not sure yet. I've only ever had experience using fine grain (about 2 cm, worked nicely) and coarse grain (about 3-4 cm, collected a lot of detritus, and didn't go so well) in two separate tanks. I'm puzzled what to try next.

 

[Collinslice]

I find the larger grainsalways work themselves up to the top. At least in my Fiji pink that's what happens over time