Whats your favorite sand?

BillBME · Apr 28, 2016

I think it was natures own Reef sand i got last time.... no blowing around, some stuff is too fine..no matter where you point your heads, it blows up...

zoomonster · Apr 28, 2016

beaslbob said:
play sand from building/garden supply stores.

Used to be a brand at Home Depot that was usable but that company went out of business a long time ago. Pretty much anything you can find now is silica sand loaded with silica and other impurities.

lou dog420 · Apr 28, 2016

zoomonster said:
If I remember right (in my 200) I used 4 x 40lb bags of Caribsea Seaflor special grade reef sand and a 2 x 40lb bags of Caribsea ocean direct live sand (oolite version). The Seaflor is a little course but none of my wrasses have an issue with it. High flow so didn't want all sugar sand blowing around. At least when I got mine foster & smith had the best price and it was free shipping (240 pounds worth). Much cheaper than anything locally. UPS was hating me because they shipped it in 6 separate oversized boxes that arrived smushed.

AHahahaa, when the ups man delivered my rock he said " dang man, whatcha got in here rocks?" Lol, I said yup

lou dog420 · Apr 28, 2016

salttanklife said:
I went with the Natures Ocean bio-activ live aragonite in black and love it.

Nice!!

lou dog420 · Apr 28, 2016

I do kinda like the black

lou dog420 · Apr 28, 2016

salttanklife said:
I went with the Natures Ocean bio-activ live aragonite in black and love it.

Where did u purchase it?

Kami2011 · Apr 28, 2016

lou dog420 said:
Does it come in water or just damp?

I believe it comes in water

salttanklife · Apr 28, 2016

lou dog420 said:
Where did u purchase it?

I got it at a lfs but it's available on Amazon as well

120reefkeeper · Apr 28, 2016

Special grade...

salttanklife · Apr 28, 2016

Looking at the last picture, mines Caribsea and not Natures Ocean. I just got the black version instead of the one pictured.

salttanklife · Apr 28, 2016

This is my 3rd tank that I've had and the one pictured with black sand is only a little over 2 months old. My first I used crushed coral. I'll never do that again for sure and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. My 2nd was the figi pink and it was a good sand. I never had any complaints about it at all. I decided to go black this time because my lfs uses it in all their display tanks and it looked wonderful in everyone. I fell in love with the way it made the color of the corals pop. The colors against the black seems to magnify them. It has been my personal favorite out of the 3 so far by a long shot

lou dog420 · Apr 28, 2016

salttanklife said:
This is my 3rd tank that I've had and the one pictured with black sand is only a little over 2 months old. My first I used crushed coral. I'll never do that again for sure and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. My 2nd was the figi pink and it was a good sand. I never had any complaints about it at all. I decided to go black this time because my lfs uses it in all their display tanks and it looked wonderful in everyone. I fell in love with the way it made the color of the corals pop. The colors against the black seems to magnify them. It has been my personal favorite out of the 3 so far by a long shot

Thanks, I think in sold on the black!! Do u use a magnet to clean your glass? I understand there can be issues with that.

salttanklife · Apr 28, 2016

Yeah I use a magnet but I stay right off the top of the sand bed. I haven't had any issues with that yet. I read somewhere once that black was supposed to have metals in it but was a false claim or was by a manufacturer that aren't in business anymore. Seems safe to me so far and I haven't got any scratches on the glass

revhtree · Apr 29, 2016

I'm a big fan of Tropic Eden sand.

Dat Le · Apr 29, 2016

I have the black caribsea in my tank too. I have no problem with the magnet cleaner. You can buy them at Petco,on sale too. get a coupon on internet for cheaper price:

http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/caribsea-arag-alive-hawaiian-black-aquarium-gravel

Joel B in FL · Apr 29, 2016

I used the black caribesea in my 29g biocube and it definitely has some magnetic particles in it. I love the look of the black and thought about using it in the 180 I am currently building out but once I decided to go acrylic tank the black sand was axed. I will be using the caribesea special grade in my new tank.

lou dog420 · Apr 29, 2016

Joel B in FL said:
I used the black caribesea in my 29g biocube and it definitely has some magnetic particles in it. I love the look of the black and thought about using it in the 180 I am currently building out but once I decided to go acrylic tank the black sand was axed. I will be using the caribesea special grade in my new tank.

Yeah, I changed my mind and just ordered the Fiji pink. My tank is acrylic as well and. Didn't want to take the chance. One thing I've learned on this first build is i don't think I will ever go with acrylic again. Already put a couple scratches in it setting up the rock work, every time I see them i just want to kick myself in the butt

beaslbob · Apr 29, 2016

zoomonster said:
Used to be a brand at Home Depot that was usable but that company went out of business a long time ago. Pretty much anything you can find now is silica sand loaded with silica and other impurities.

that was "tropical play sand" southdown or some other brand name. People used to drive 100's of miles to get the stuff. You know the stuff that said "not for aquarium use" right on the bag.

It was calcium carbonate based.

FWIW I used the silica in a mixed reef for 9 years with no side effects. I also did the diy two part and balanced out the tank with an in tank refugium. Even with weak NO lighting easy corals did just fine. I also did no water changes just topped off with untreated tap water.

To me the key is and was the balancing out with macro and other algae.

But that's just my .02