What's your favorite reef sand and why?

[atomos]

CaribSea Fiji-Pink seems to be the right size for my tanks; not too big and not too small IMO.

 

[robert teseo]

real live sand from the reef, from tampa bay saltwater, with all the critters still alive!

 

[JaaxReef]

Tropic Eden Meso Flakes for me!

 

[Jekyl]

Crushed coral. Because they don't sell dolomite anywhere and sand clogs my RUGF.

 

[Tcook]

Small: Fiji pink 1" deep. Went bare-bottom for many years. DSB and Jaubert plenum before that.

 

[claudio wagner]

Reeflowers - Pearl Sand

 

[Gotts6501]

I don't know the exact size of my sand grains, but they're definitely on the smaller side. I definitely am not a fan of very large sand grains, at least when it comes to owning brittle stars and pistol shrimps, so think that somewhere in the middle is best. I don't like the look of bare bottom tanks that much, and would probably only do a bare bottom if a specific creature required it.

I use CaribSea Arag-Alive sand in my reef, about an inch and a half thic

Happy Tuesday!

Today let's talk about reef sand and more specifically the brands and consistency of the substrates! Let's go!

1. What brand of sand do you prefer to use as the substrate of your reef tank?

2. Do you prefer a small, medium or large grain size of sand and why?

k.

 

[Gotts6501]

Fiji pink for me

 

[BBN Reefer]

CaribSea Special Grade. Not too big...Not too small...just right!

 

[Treefer32]

I love the oolite sand because it reminds me more of a fine sandy beach sand. What oceans are famous for. The parts I don't like....Well, thanks to my sand sifting goby and Dragon Wrasse that both love playing in the sand and a couple of my tangs that love flaring their fins in the sand... Is that a couple times a day my tank is a sand storm, and my powerheads creating barebottom parts of my tank and other areas of my tank bed are large mounds.... Between the fish and pumps I can't keep some areas covered. And on top of that, everytime I clean my cannister filter cartridge and filter socks, I'm removing sand from everything. I've probably removed 20lbs of sand through filtration in the last 3 years. Out of 180 lbs. . . .

Can definitely tell now there's less sand in the tank... I wouldn't give it up though. Still love the beach look.

 

[spd3001]

I use a variety of sands because I make my sandbed with the finest particle size at the bottom and increase the average particle size as I add sand to get to a depth of six inches. The six inch depth is because I like to keep a jawfish and they appreciate the extra depth. I use a particle size profile per this article by Dr. Shimek:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php

So my 90 G (24" x 24" x 36") reef tank has the following brands starting with the bottom layer:

Bottom 0.1 to 0.5 mm: 40 lbs @120 lbs/cu ft - Nature's Ocean Marine White Sand #0 (Do not wash)
0.125 to 0.25 mm: 45 lbs @ 77 lbs/cu ft - MarcoRocks Bahama Aragonite Sand (Do not wash)
0.25 to 1.0 mm: 60 lbs @ 96 lbs/cu ft - CaribSea Aragamax Sugar-Sized Sand
1.0 to 2.0 mm: 15 lbs @ 85 lbs/cu ft - CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand
Top 3.0 to 6.0 mm: 2 lbs @ 72 lbs/cu ft - CaribSea CORALine Caribbean Crushed Coral

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Another vote for Special Grade, dry. My LFS set me up with super fine stuff on my first tank and it was definitely not beginner friendly. My tank always had sand on the move and it was so difficult to gravel vac! The super fine sand is pretty but just too hard to work with.

 

[Mschoolman]

I love the Hawaiian black aragonite sand.

 

[brandon429]

The sand shown on page one pic is the dirtiest cloudiest sand ever made but I love it anyway

You'll want to tap rinse that hours before use, so it doesn't jack the whole system for three days. It's awesome after a tap rinse

 

[Puffthefish]

Fiji-pink from Caribsea for me. It gets pretty cloudy so I go with a canister filter for the first 24 hours and it clears right up

 

[fredjr]

Happy Tuesday!

Today let's talk about reef sand and more specifically the brands and consistency of the substrates! Let's go!

1. What brand of sand do you prefer to use as the substrate of your reef tank?

2. Do you prefer a small, medium or large grain size of sand and why?

 

[fredjr]

Happy Tuesday!

Today let's talk about reef sand and more specifically the brands and consistency of the substrates! Let's go!

1. What brand of sand do you prefer to use as the substrate of your reef tank?

2. Do you prefer a small, medium or large grain size of sand and why?

Tropic Eden Is the best (Imo)

 

[Tmtdvm]

Bare bottom for me. I have high flow in my tank for the Acros. I hated sifting the sand in my old tank.

 

[N.Sreefer]

For my 150 I used crushed coral (40pounds) oolite sand(20 pounds) and real beach sand(40 pounds). Imo the multiple textures is closer to nature than one uniform grain size. It allows for channeling, mixing and some settling.

 

[MikesMach1]

My first tank I used Fiji Pink live, nice stuff but it does blow around a little , when I did my second tank the store was out of Fiji Pink. But had Bimini pink, tried it and realy like the look and texture, I think it's a mix of Fiji pink fine, and Natural reef coarse