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Looking for white sand, not sugar sand.


pokerdobe

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I'm trying to place in my order for sand and rock and while researching, I've run into a host of opinions concerning white sand and sugar sand.

 

I am definitely looking for white looking sand - as long as it appears white under lighting in water, I will be happy.

 

While I'm currently leaning towards the oolite sand, there's definitely some debate over whether or not the sand is too fine. My question is, is there another alternative to oolite that is not too large or too small? I plan on having a medium flow within the tank, but could one day move towards high flow for eventual SPS additions. What size does sand become sugar sand?

 

The planned tank is a Nuvo 16.

 

Thanks!

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Grumblecakes

the sand will stick together eventually even if it is very fine. Bacteria and other organisms will more or less glue the sand together. So if your worried about it being to fine you could do low flow for a few weeks.

 

Also if you rinse it well you can get alot of the finer particles out of it. you will lose some overall weight/volume this way.

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Amphiprion1

I vote for all of the above :). I use a fairly broad mix of grades, types, and shapes, ranging from <0.5 mm all the way up to about about 0.5 cm. Finer sand predominates in my setup, with a very thin layer of slightly larger grains on top.

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SouthFlorida_Tron

Special grade was wayyyyyyy tooooo large for my taste, yes it never moves and does well under high flow, but thats the point, its ffriggin huge, and gets dirty/looks dirty fast.

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Tropic eden mini reef flakes!!!

 

http://premiumaquatics.com/products/30-lbs-bag-miniflakes-aragonite-crumbs-2mm.html

 

They also have live/dry. Argasnow .5mm, Miniflakes 2mm, reef flakes 3.5, and grand reef flakes 5.5

 

You can even order a sample pack to see what size you like. Love this sand, just do a search for it, I haven't found anyone that doesn't love this stuff. It does sell out quickly, so I would order it fast.

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Special grade was wayyyyyyy tooooo large for my taste, yes it never moves and does well under high flow, but thats the point, its ffriggin huge, and gets dirty/looks dirty fast.

 

I feel like I have had the opposite experience with my old fiji vs new special grade. I find it super easy to clean in a shallow sand bed.

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Thanks for the input all - I really appreciate the feedback.

 

Although I really like the oolite, I decided to go with Fiji instead, just to be safe. It's my first saltwater tank ever and I really want things to go smoothly, so I'll hold off on the super fine sand until the next go-around.

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Jackal_Knight

stay away from the oolite sand, i got some for my first reef because i didn't know. it looked really nice but every time you moved a rock try'ed to fix the sand bed, turned on a pump it there was a sand storm. and it was always in the rocks i had to clean more sand out of the rock than detritus

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rafastank727

Tropic eden reef flakes. Georgeous and the cleanest and available. Premium aquatics carry it, cheap shipping and customer service is the best.

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