Anyone ever use this sand?

[scotia-reefer]

I really like the look of the Carib-Sea Indo Pacific black sand. Has anyone ever used this stuff before? It's Arag-Alive sand and it's a real nice black and white. It's grain size is .5mm-2mm is this too small? Will it get blown around the tank?

 

[DanConnor]

.5-2mm is pretty big, much coarser than southdown. I never used it though.

 

[scotia-reefer]

So I shouldn't have to worry about it blowing around in the tank with the current?

 

[DanConnor]

Depends on how much current you have! I didn't want that worry, which is why I went BB.

 

[Dave ESPI]

Lou, yeah yer tank will be a mess with it. Yo are better off sticking with the calcium sand. It is a natural substrate.

 

[scotia-reefer]

What's the grain size of the calcium sand? Is that a Carib-Sea product? I really like the black and white look of this stuff but if it's a definate no-no then I'll get something else.

 

[DanConnor]

Here's some sand sizes for comparison. They refer to .5-1.5 mm a "intermediate" sized sand.

"Sugar fine" is .1 to 1 and is probably like southdown.

I don't know why your tank would be a mess any more than any other sand or anything unnatural about it; maybe Dave can elaborate...

 

[rudeanduncouth]

I have that in my HOB refugium, and the store I used to work at used a bit of it. It seems to be heavy enough if that is your only concern.

If anything check the source: http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/products/marine/substrate/aragalive.html

 

[scotia-reefer]

Thanks for the input. I really like the look of this sand so I may try it out. If it makes a mess I'll just have to replace it. Trial and error right?!

 

[DanConnor]

Oops, I fogot to include my link. Here's another:

http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/aquaticref.html

 

[michaelg]

One of the catalogs, I think my aquatic eco systems one, has a comparison of sand grains. from FME, grain size does not matter once it achieves a bacterial coat on it. Any fresh sand will blow around. My best results have been to add a raw sand for a couple days, then add some rock (not all of what you want) along with some good live sand (preferably from a local source). then wait a couple more days to a week and all will clear. then fire up main circulation. keeps main pumps from getting bad calcification early on........ My experiences from playing around with this a few times now. Oh yeah. I've found no bad effects from daily feedings of phytoplankton, and seems cycles have gone quickly from limited experiments (7+tanks now- but no real controlled experiments).

 

[michaelg]

some of the carib sea product is the same as southdown sand. FWIW, the stuff I tried from walmart last fall was not the stuff. If you've seen enough you can tell the difference,, but while some of this seems carbonate based, much is silicate (which isn't necessarily bad- done refugiums with 75% silica sand and no problems at all)....

 

[FishFINatic]

I've got the Indo-Pacific sand in my tank and dont really have much of an issue with the stuff blowing around the tank.