The sand is great, varied but still "sandy." The main difference in this and bagged sand is a few larger pieces of coral rubble or shells. It looks very natural obviously. If you don't like the few larger pieces just use a clean cat litter scoop to take them out. I kind of misspoke, the main difference is the life that comes in it. Every time I vacuum my sand I have to let it settle and pick out all of the critters from the discard bucket to avoid feeling guilty. The crabs and mantis that people are stuck on aren't that big of deal. I had two mantis shrimp in my two shipments, caught the first one no problem, kept the second for a couple of years in the display. I caught it eating a snail on video once, much more fascinating than disruptive. I fed him with frozen food on a stick or tongs, he was quite awesome. I had a couple of gorillas, but they haven't hurt anything. I know the stories of fish killers in both cases, but neither species ever hurt my fish which are all small, gramma, clowns, yellow and sixline wrasse. I could catch the gorillas if I wanted to, just food on a stick after they get used to you. The thing that should be focused on is the awesome array of really cool life. Baby urchins the size of a dime that grow into algae eating baseballs that you can keep, sell or trade. Limpets, porcelain crabs, cup corals, sponges, tunicates, mini brittles. They all add such a dimension to the tank. I didn't add coral for months just because it was so entertaining to watch the natural fauna. I will admit, some of the life just doesn't last forever in the less than ideal conditions. The barnacles, oysters and some of the macro sponges only lasted months to a couple of years. Newer tank was purchased used and was started from dry rock and bagged sand. It seems like a desert sitting next to an old growth rain Forrest, devoid. Kind of sad actually.
