Which sand to go with?

b0bby1 · Dec 31, 2007

what brand has the best sand out there for my new tank? i have the very very fine sand now and hate it so i wanna go up in grain size. i was looking at this in the special grade version...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10741+7318&pcatid=7318

Hypertek99 · Dec 31, 2007

Carbi-Sea is good stuff. Their Arag-alive stuff makes your tank cycle faster.

surfn · Dec 31, 2007

i replace my sand bed every year when i have to move.

have always used arag-alive with great success

J. Montgomery · Dec 31, 2007

Wow, ya'll have actually been using the Arag-Alive stuff? Is that b/c you think it's beneficial, or just cause it's easy to find?

I've got the CaribSea Fiji Pink fine grain sand in my display and I like it alot. I have the next step up in size (the Special Grade, I guess?) in my refugium and 10 gallon (b/c thats what I could find locally). I've got no complaints with it, it's good stuff. When I first set up my tank, I included some 2-4mm pebbles in with the Fiji Pink, and I hate that stuff with a passion. It gets covered in algae and coraline and looks dirty. I've removed a ton of it, but it still pops up and persists in certain areas of the tank that I can't get to.

surfn · Dec 31, 2007

J. Montgomery said:
Wow, ya'll have actually been using the Arag-Alive stuff? Is that b/c you think it's beneficial, or just cause it's easy to find?

I've got the CaribSea Fiji Pink fine grain sand in my display and I like it alot. I have the next step up in size (the Special Grade, I guess?) in my refugium and 10 gallon (b/c thats what I could find locally). I've got no complaints with it, it's good stuff. When I first set up my tank, I included some 2-4mm pebbles in with the Fiji Pink, and I hate that stuff with a passion. It gets covered in algae and coraline and looks dirty. I've removed a ton of it, but it still pops up and persists in certain areas of the tank that I can't get to.

i'm not exactly sure how beneficial it is.......but what i do know is every time i've moved and put in a new sand bed with this stuff......i've had absolutely no cycles, no losses, and no algae outbreaks.

the one time i used some regular dry caribsea i got a cycle and a major outbreak of algae that took months to clear up. also took months to clear up the NO2. it was very odd.