Who has fine or very fine sand?

[AydenLincoln]

My 20 gallon tank has a thicker substrate and is the reef grade sand so it doesn’t stir up as much or cloud the water. With my 5 gallon tank I didn’t need a 10 or 20 lb. bag so I went with the Ocean Direct sand instead and it gets stirred up so easily. Does fine sand always cloud the water? I’m curious on people’s thoughts/experiences. I do like the way fine sand looks and is most like the beach/shallow reefs. The tank itself cleared in less than a few hours.

 

[Reefahholic]

My 20 gallon tank has a thicker substrate and is the reef grade sand so it doesn’t stir up as much or cloud the water. With my 5 gallon tank I didn’t need a 10 or 20 lb. bag so I went with the Ocean Direct sand instead and it gets stirred up so easily. Does fine sand always cloud the water? I’m curious on people’s thoughts/experiences. I do like the way fine sand looks and is most like the beach/shallow reefs. The tank itself cleared in less than a few hours.

Fine sand can cloud the water column, but you can use a flocculant or mechanical filtration to clear it up.

Maybe look into something like Mesoflakes.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

With that sand, you need to gently agitate it every few hours until it no longer clouds the water. use that packet that comes with it if you haven’t already.

 

[AydenLincoln]

With that sand, you need to gently agitate it every few hours until it no longer clouds the water. use that packet that comes with it if you haven’t already.

I did thanks! Also I got a powerhead and it’s too strong it blows the sand. I almost think that I don’t need another one and maybe I’ll see if I can find a stronger return pump.

 

[Miami Reef]

Fine sand is good for tanks with very little flow. Many of us made the mistake of getting fine sand (sugar sized) because it looked good.

 

[i cant think]

My 20 gallon tank has a thicker substrate and is the reef grade sand so it doesn’t stir up as much or cloud the water. With my 5 gallon tank I didn’t need a 10 or 20 lb. bag so I went with the Ocean Direct sand instead and it gets stirred up so easily. Does fine sand always cloud the water? I’m curious on people’s thoughts/experiences. I do like the way fine sand looks and is most like the beach/shallow reefs. The tank itself cleared in less than a few hours.

I have fine sand in both my tanks now and I don’t have an issue with it being blasted even with high flow.
I will admit I hate having sand sleepers with it. My rocks look like a blizzard has passed through every night due to my Leopard Wrasse in my 3’ nano.

 

[Miami Reef]

I have fine sand in both my tanks now and I don’t have an issue with it being blasted even with high flow.
I will admit I hate having sand sleepers with it. My rocks look like a blizzard has passed through every night due to my Leopard Wrasse in my 3’ nano.

Either your sand isn’t truly a fine sand, or your flow is very low.

 

[i cant think]

Either your sand isn’t truly a fine sand, or your flow is very low.

This is my 3’ tank’s sand. The flow in there is plenty - Acros are thriving in the tank now they’ve gotten past moving from my Max Nano.

My 4’ tank has a much higher flow rate and the same sand (Will get a photo later).