Whats your favorite sand?

Yeah I use a magnet but I stay right off the top of the sand bed. I haven't had any issues with that yet. I read somewhere once that black was supposed to have metals in it but was a false claim or was by a manufacturer that aren't in business anymore. Seems safe to me so far and I haven't got any scratches on the glass

I bought the CaribSea black for my 70. I'd heard about it being magnetic too, but I saw no sign of it. However, it's got fine enough particles that just moving a mag cleaner near by stirs some grains up to get caught in the cleaner.
 
Another vote for CaribSea Special Grade (1.0-2.0 mm grain). You can get it dry/dead or wet/alive. In my current tank I mixed it with CaribSea crushed coral, about 2:1 sand to cc.

Has a nice natural look that doesn't blow around, and, yes, sandstorms should be a consideration because you definitely want flow near the substrate.
 
The reason my vote was for tropic eden reef flakes was that their product is much more consistently graded than Carib sea. I used Carib Sea products for many years and have never had a problem with them (other than the sugar fine oolitc that is mixed in with ALL of their grades of aragonite substrates. It always blows around in a high flow tank. (In my experience)

My current setup is a 190 with two Tunze 6105's at 100% output and two Tunze 6095's running at 100%. My Reef flakes sand stays put! It slowly migrates over days but it doesn't blow around. The particle size is so much more uniform, 3mm is almost all 3mm particles, almost zero oolitic sand! It washed very clean (insoaked in DI water for 3 days changing the DI water daily before putting in the display). It leached zero phosphates during that.soaking period. I am a happy customer and will use it for future setups too.
 
I use a mixture of seaflor and crushed coral.Three 40 lbs bags to one 40 lb bag of crushed coral.
 
Seaflor is nice, oolite if its a lower flow tank..
Most black sand is volcanic rock as well, so you can have heavy metals leach from em.. (had aluminum myself, ty triton test)
 
First hand experience with Tropic Eden Reeflakes: I literally poured in the sand, I did not rinse as I was intending, but the water never got cloudy. At all.
 

WHICH PART OF YOUR SETUP IS HARDEST TO REACH OR REMOVE FOR ROUTINE MAINTENANCE?

  • Glass behind or beside the tank

    Votes: 6 30.0%
  • Powerheads or wavemakers

    Votes: 2 10.0%
  • Sump or rear filtration chambers

    Votes: 2 10.0%
  • Skimmer or other filtration equipment

    Votes: 1 5.0%
  • Overflow or plumbing

    Votes: 6 30.0%
  • Lights or lids

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Mine is pretty easy to access!

    Votes: 2 10.0%
  • Other—tell us what I missed

    Votes: 1 5.0%
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