Looking for a sand bed for my new tank.. I'd like the smallest particle size possible, but want to avoid my MP20 blowing it all around the tank. Just looking for some input on what people have found best with a vortech while still maintaining the most consistent clean looking sand bed possible.

in my 39g 24x20x20H, i have fiji pink with my mp10, which i run on 100% reef crest.

i am constantly dealing with sand dunes/piling and occassional sandstorms.

I've got the MP20 in a 40 breeder with 2 1/2 inches of Fiji Pink/Aragamax Select sand (very similar particle size). There is one spot in the tank where the sand has sloped down a bit (about 3/4 inch) because the MP20 has blown some of it but I believe this was through a gradual process - I don't get sandstorms or anything like that. I keep the top of my MP20 about 4 inches below the top of the water. I also have a decent amount of rockwork near the MP20, so that may be stopping it from blowing more sand around. I got my particular sand because I intend to get a wrasse which will dive into the sand bed and I needed something fine but didn't want the finest sand out there. If you intend to get animals (fish or coral) which need a finer sand bed, I'd definitely recommend one of the sands I got, but if you don't the other one might work better.

what settings/speed is your mp20 set to?

my mp10 is only 3-4" from the surface in my tank (which has 20" of glass, but probably only 18" of water, so say 14-15" off the sandbed). I also use my mp10 on the back wall. full disclosure, i'm also using a tunze 6025 on the opposite side's back wall, but the mp10 was creating sand issues before i installed the 6025).

Hmm, now I'm conflicted lol.. I'd prefer a smaller grain sand for the look, but definitely want to avoid storms.. Will probably play it safe and go for the reef grade.

BTW, is the Fiji Pink really pink in colour?

Why not both sands? The fiji pink will stay in the lower flow zones, whereas the reef grade will stay in higher ones. If you have a lot of water motion, that's just about the only choice you have. I've got 3 modded Tunze nanostream 6025s plus 1 modded Tunze Stream 3100. That's a LOT of flow and I have had to rely on various grain sizes and the zonation that comes with it to keep any substrate in some areas.

The fiji pink only has some pink specks in it. The Caribsea ones aren't as bright looking as other brands.

One other thing I highly recommend for tanks with high flow and still want some fine sand is Tropic Eden. The grains are denser and tend to stay put much, much better.

I've been varying it recently (going down to 50% b/c I wanna see my new xenia pulse) - but prior to that I had it at about 85%-90% at least. I do use lagoon mode most of the time though, not reef crest. Keep in mind, I've got my MP20 on my short side and I've got a peninsula style tank so my rock is toward the middle, with open sand on both long sides. I do think my rockwork is helping deflect some of the "kick up."

I did 25 lbs of sand in my new Elos mini. I mixed it about half and half and I have a MP-10.At first you will see some sand dunes then after the sand gets some slime going it will stick more and the dunes will slowly disappear.

I had fiji pink, with an MP10 in my Biocube 29. Many many many problems. I got 20 lbs. of Fiji Pink *SPECIAL GRADE* and I poured it over the existing fiji pink. No problems any more. I would say the grain size is twice as large as normal fiji pink. It's perfect. No sandstorms/dunes at all.

I'm going with special grade reef sand in my 75g. I'm going to have 1 mp40 and don't want to even think about the possibility of sand storms. I'd say go with special grade.

no. it is white with very sporadic pink "color impurities" in it.

Oops, I have a modded Tunze Stream 6100, not a 3100. The Tropic Eden is so far, so good with ~10000 gph in my 40 br. It still doesn't stay put in the higher flow spots, but much better than any other finer sand, as I said before.

I agree with Special Grade. I just bought 120 LBS for my 67 gallon. Gonna run MP10 and MP20.