JayReefs97
Community Member
What sand is good for a shallow tank? I don't want it blowing all over the place. 15.75 inches deep tank
lagoon tank sand?
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mmorrison55
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Dimensions of your tank and do you have any power heads or planning to use any? In my IM 25 lagoon I have TBS live sand, and it does not get blown around, but it’s on the coarse side.
On my big display,I used to get the front edge blown around all the time. I have several mp40’s on the back glass @ only 24” from to back. I ended up adding some tropic Eden reef flakes sand that was more coarse to the front glass,and it solved that problem.
On my big display,I used to get the front edge blown around all the time. I have several mp40’s on the back glass @ only 24” from to back. I ended up adding some tropic Eden reef flakes sand that was more coarse to the front glass,and it solved that problem.
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What are you choosing between?
My top choice would be the live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater, as mentioned above. Not the least expensive option, but arguably "the best" in terms of establishing a micro and macro biome of beneficial organisms, and is of large enough chunks as to not blow around.
After that, some of the better LFS's may have some "good" live sand, at least a cup or two to seed your tank would be helpful.
Then, you get into dry sands and in that group I personally included the many Live-Sands-In-A-Bag, including the popular CaribbSea products. There's nothing wrong with these sands, many use them, and they may very well provide one or hundreds of beneficial microbe species, but many here at R2R simply treat these sands like dry sand, they rinse them with tap water, some then rise with RODI, and call it done. There's a great amount of personal preference here
To answer your question more directly, and short of premium live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater....
Stay away from the Caribbsea Oolite fine-grained sand. This stuff is very, very fine (less than a sugar cube), and blows around easily. This sand should absolutely be avoided for high-flow.
The Caribbsea Special Grade I've read is a pretty good mix of large and small particles and holds well in higher flow. I'd look for grains sizes like the Special Grade or greater.
You can always go the extreme - substrates like crushed coral (Calcium reactor media) or bare bottom are certainly options
As always, best of luck!
My top choice would be the live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater, as mentioned above. Not the least expensive option, but arguably "the best" in terms of establishing a micro and macro biome of beneficial organisms, and is of large enough chunks as to not blow around.
After that, some of the better LFS's may have some "good" live sand, at least a cup or two to seed your tank would be helpful.
Then, you get into dry sands and in that group I personally included the many Live-Sands-In-A-Bag, including the popular CaribbSea products. There's nothing wrong with these sands, many use them, and they may very well provide one or hundreds of beneficial microbe species, but many here at R2R simply treat these sands like dry sand, they rinse them with tap water, some then rise with RODI, and call it done. There's a great amount of personal preference here
To answer your question more directly, and short of premium live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater....
Stay away from the Caribbsea Oolite fine-grained sand. This stuff is very, very fine (less than a sugar cube), and blows around easily. This sand should absolutely be avoided for high-flow.
The Caribbsea Special Grade I've read is a pretty good mix of large and small particles and holds well in higher flow. I'd look for grains sizes like the Special Grade or greater.
You can always go the extreme - substrates like crushed coral (Calcium reactor media) or bare bottom are certainly options
As always, best of luck!
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