Best Sand to buy online at a decent (cheap) price

[ashton1881]

I am still getting together all of my equipment to set up my tank, so I don't have a set up just yet. Mostly just reading up as much as I can and learning all i can before I take the dive. It is teaching me patience however, so no complaints.
I have gotten all of my hardware together and i am now looking at the insides. I know what size sand bed I want so i don't need to know how much sand I need. But, I was wanting to know some good suggestions for sand to go in my tank. I know bagged "Live" sand doesn't mean anything, but if it has any benefit at all i haven't ruled it out. I plan on getting a cup full of sand from an established system to put into my tank to seed the sand. I am starting out with about 90% dry rock purchased from BRS and am going to seed the other 10% with LR from a LFS. But, I am ordering a lot of my stuff online as I get the $$$ and also because down here in Arkansas the only pet store that sells saltwater close to me is not the best looking stuff so I don't know how much I trust them. Nice people, but their tanks (few) scare me.
Back to my question however, what are some good places online to purchase sand and what type of sand is good. I am doing a FOWLR so not worried about corals. I am stuck on the grade. i want a smaller grade, but dont want a sandstorm. I also dont want my sand to look like gravel. So, I am not sure what size to get. I found some carib sea special reef grade but not sure of the size of that. On the Drs Foster and Smith website it looks like rocks, but on the caribSea website it just looks like sand. I won't be ordering the sand until I get ready to set up the tank. But, I like to have my budget together and know exactly what i am going to get. So, any suggestions would be fantastic. As always, thank you all for your help.

It is going to be a 75 gallon FOWLR

 

[R.Ram]

I have the Caribsea Reef Grade sand and I have fowlr tank aswell. I like it a lot. I switched from a very fine sand because I didn't like how it seemed like algae could make a perfect layer above that type of sand, almost as if it were a glass surface.
But yeah the carribsea grain size is a bit biger than a grain of sugar, but it doesn't look like gravel (pieces of rock size). Very cheap. 40LB for $36, looks nice, rinsing was a pain, didnt feel like it got much clearer after hours of rinsing, though the cloudiness in the tank went away after just two days. If you have a pet supermarket (where I picked mine up) around you, if they have any, I would go and pick it up to avoid shipping charges, that way you can use the shipping money to buy another bag if needed!

 

[RcToners]

Sounds silly but if you want the Caribsea brand you can buy it at Kmart online, they have several different kinds. The nice thing about buying it there is that they currently have a 10% off deal if you buy more than $50 worth and you can sign up for their "shipvantage" trial gimmick for free and get FREE shipping for 30 days (even on overweight items!!). This is what I did. I bought 4 bags of the special grade reef sand, got the 10% off and the shipvantage trial. Once I got the sand in the mail (1 week later), I called kmart and cancelled the free trial to avoid future billing. Turned out to be the cheapest way that I could find.

Link to Caribsea sand @ Kmart.com

 

[Lynnmw1208]

if you want a smaller grade sand for an ok price I am looking to get tropic eden reeflakes. they come in a mini size that you may like. the price is $19.95 for 30lbs of it. premium aquatics sells it. http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/TE-TE03613M30.html

 

[ashton1881]

What about "Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand" its the same price as the caribsea, I know it says "Live" and I can take that with a grain of....sand....but, does anyone know about this sand? Good, Bad, indifferent? Thanks for the replies

 

[NJS7x7]

I don't think live sand is worth the money. There is a great article posted on this board New-First Time on RC-Look Here for Answers post.

Basically it states that while it helps, it doesn't help as much as it costs, and neither does it help as much as they lead you to believe. I used dry sand, and the cycle took a few months. I think the majority of stuff you need comes on the live rock.

I did use wet live gravel for my freshwater and later when I set up another freshwater tank with dry gravel I noticed the cycle time to be the same.

 

[snidelywhiplash]

Guy on ebay fijisandman killer sand cheap!

 

[ashton1881]

I've been scared to order live rock or sand from Ebay. I don't want to get something that will harm my tank. I don't want to handicap myself from the start by introducing something bad to my tank. I just picture some guy in South Dakota in his back yard shoveling sand out of his back yard into buckets and then saying "Live Sand" on there. But, if I can get a few people that have bought from ebay before and had an established tank from it for a bit then I really may look in that direction.

 

[snidelywhiplash]

I have his sand in my 225 and it's white and I love it! I've had this sand in my 160 before this and my 92 gallon corner tank! Best part if you get the aquacultured sand from him... No dust! It's cool barely clouds tank and its ready to rock.. He sells REAL, LIVE phyto too and I swear by it as well!! Here's the link http://shop.ebay.com/fijisandman/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340 and a pic of my 225 with his sand...

 

[snidelywhiplash]

Biggest thing with him is all shipping USPS so it's a tad slow

 

[bglegs]

Biggest thing with him is all shipping USPS so it's a tad slow

+1 very slow..

 

[m-rass]

I helped Snidely setup that 225, the sand is nice, looks like sugar. I'd buy from fijisandman, and plan to on my next tank project.

 

[ashton1881]

If it takes a while to ship, then is this sand any more "Live" than the stuff you can by in the bag that is labeled "live". This guys sand looks good, I am still gonna try and find some stuff online from people that have ordered from him. But, I am keeping him at the top of the list.

 

[kmac67]

I have his sand in my 225 and it's white and I love it! I've had this sand in my 160 before this and my 92 gallon corner tank! Best part if you get the aquacultured sand from him... No dust! It's cool barely clouds tank and its ready to rock.. He sells REAL, LIVE phyto too and I swear by it as well!! Here's the link http://shop.ebay.com/fijisandman/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340 and a pic of my 225 with his sand...

Is this sand silica or quartz based?