Sand Options ?

[CMMorgan]

I've got the Fiji Pink. Aside from my sleeper goby bombing the tank with it, it's been fine. Next go around, I'm going with live local sand. I've always had this idea that I wanted the tank to feel more like a window off of the coast of Florida. Will be adding lots of local macro and local ricordias. When I did the Fiji Pink, I was looking for the fine sand with the "pink". Well, at the end of the day, it's just a backdrop and you don't really see the "pink".

 

[Greg P]

yea i have decided im going fiji pink ! I dont like the style of the big grain sizes and much harder to keep clean like my last tank with aragonite !

Have you compared grain sizes on the Caribsea website?

Marine Substrates - CaribSea

ARAG-ALIVE!™ ARAGONITE CORALINE™ OCEAN DIRECT™ AQUACULTURE GRAVEL ARAG-ALIVE!™You can now bring the world’s most exotic reefs into your home with CaribSea’s Arag-Alive!™ substrates. Eight environmentally accurate ecoscapes, developed through CaribSea’s cooperation with public aquariums and...

caribsea.com

 

[Greg P]

There are different pages, so look through;
ARAG-ALIVE!™
Aragonite
CORALine™
Ocean Direct™

 

[Greg P]

I've always used their aragamax select, which is the same size as the fiji pink.
I find it can't stand up to MP10s @ 85%. The vortex sucks it up, even when it's covered in bacteria and such. But still my preferred sand for keeping clean, and of course sand dwellers.

 

[arking_mark]

Figi pink all the way. Select is too corse and oolitic too fine (I've used both). Figi pink looks almost as smooth as oolitic but doesn't blow in the flow or with gobies.

 

[Greg P]

Figi pink all the way. Select is too corse and oolitic too fine (I've used both). Figi pink looks almost as smooth as oolitic but doesn't blow in the flow or with gobies.

Not to argue, but Aragamax Select and Fiji Pink are both 0.5-1.5mm

 

[CK00020]

Check out the reef flakes

 

[CMMorgan]

Figi pink all the way. Select is too corse and oolitic too fine (I've used both). Figi pink looks almost as smooth as oolitic but doesn't blow in the flow or with gobies.

I dunno about that.... my sleeper powder coats my tank with the fiji pink daily. It's been bombs away for months. It just floats around and settles wherever I don't want it to. Not blaming the sand, it makes him happy but darn the mess. I have a huge mountain of sand in the middle, as he seems intent on making sure there is none in any of the corners.
It's like fairy dust...

 

[arking_mark]

I dunno about that.... my sleeper powder coats my tank with the fiji pink daily. It's been bombs away for months. It just floats around and settles wherever I don't want it to. Not blaming the sand, it makes him happy but darn the mess. I have a huge mountain of sand in the middle, as he seems intent on making sure there is none in any of the corners.
It's like fairy dust...

Did you thoroughly pre-rince your sand? I can post a video of my Bella Goby sifting sand. Gulps it and goes straight down...no mess.

 

[arking_mark]

Not to argue, but Aragamax Select and Fiji Pink are both 0.5-1.5mm

Sorry I meant Special Grade.

 

[CMMorgan]

Did you thoroughly pre-rince your sand? I can post a video of my Bella Goby sifting sand. Gulps it and goes straight down...no mess.

I just think mine is a little turd. He picks it up and drops it on top of the wavemakers.... deliberately.

 

[brandon429]

It needs pre rinsed then any degree of disturbance does no cloud. Without a pre rinse, this is common

we routinely fix this in running reefs by rinsing the sand now, and putting it back like it needs to show up, pre rinsed for about two hours it takes that long. It doesn’t cause a cycle if we take things apart in an orderly way

the #1 reason people won’t pre rinse is due to fear of bacterial loss, as if that matters. They’ve been told it does though by very powerful groupthink, so to go against the grains is rare

 

[CMMorgan]

It needs pre rinsed then any degree of disturbance does no cloud. Without a pre rinse, this is common

we routinely fix this in running reefs by rinsing the sand now, and putting it back like it needs to show up, pre rinsed for about two hours it takes that long. It doesn’t cause a cycle if we take things apart in an orderly way

the #1 reason people won’t pre rinse is due to fear of bacterial loss, as if that matters. They’ve been told it does though by very powerful groupthink, so to go against the grains is rare

I can't even recall. The tank has been set up for years.
I have a new build coming online in a few weeks. We'll see if Chernobyl behaves then. LOL

 

[waverider]

yea i have decided im going fiji pink ! I dont like the style of the big grain sizes and much harder to keep clean like my last tank with aragonite !

Let us know how it works out.. and... be patient. At first you will have a cloudy tank for a while. I take a powerhead and stick a plastic water bottle under it and stuff the bottle with the bottom cut off with filter floss. -Every day I change the floss. -This will de-cloud your tank faster.