Which Aragalive Flavor?

[dja1980]

Ok, I'm going to be starting up a new 24g Nano Cube and wanted some opinions as to which Aragalive flavor is best. Argalive is available in 7 different environments: Special Grade Reef Sand, Indo-Pacific Black, Fiji Pink, Bahamas Oolite, Florida Crushed Coral, West Caribbean Reef, and Bimini Pink.

 

Here is the link to the descriptions of each:

http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/products/ma.../aragalive.html

 

My original plan was to find a bag of Southdown or another tropical play sand packaged under a different label and seed it with a Detritivore Kit, but I'm tired of looking all over the place to find a $4 bag of sand. So now I'm just going to pay the $15 for the Aragalive and be done with it. I do still plan on seeding it with the Detritivore Kit to turn it into "true live sand". I just need some help as to which type of sand would be best to host the critters that come with the Detritivore Kit.

[Darold]

I know the oolite is a very very fine grain. I choseto get the fiji pink because it still has a very small grain (creating more surface area for bacteria) but would not have to worry as much about it getting blown around the tank. Not 100% sure that this is the perfect grain for the detrivore kit you are ooking at, but I will ssay that I am very hapy wth my Fiji Pink, and recomend it highly.

[reef-luva]

I would stay small. Larger substrates tend to get detritus build-up quicker because of the spaces, it allows the "crap" to fall between. Larger crushed coral is great for an under gravel bio fiter.

But I wouldn't recommend an UG for a mini reef tank.

[drparker]

I went with Figi Pink last week. It's what I expect sand to look like.

 

Drew

[atticusfinch]

Special grade reef seems to be my favourite . It has the perfect thickness yet it's still small.

[Travis]

I have Figi Pink in my tank, TigahBoy has Figi Pink in his tank also. Click on the link in my signature to see the newest photos of my tank (Older onese are a few pages before).

[Tigahboy]

fiji pink is purrty.

[timb000]

fiji pink here also

[RoOk_Reef]

I have always went with fiji pink, but I wouldn't mind trying the Indo-Pacific Black

[dja1980]

Thanks for the replies. So would the Fiji Pink or the Special Grade be better to host the Mysis Shrimp, Gammarus Shrimp, Other Amphipods, Copepods, Etc, Miniature Brittle Stars, Baby Bristle Worms, Stomatella Varia, Peppermint Snails, and Micro Stars that come with the Ditritivore Kit?

[Travis]

Figi Pink IMO.

[proraptor]

I have the special reef grade sand and its super nice

[atticusfinch]

apperantly special grade reef is the best for a variaty of life.. cocopods .. and such

[vangvace]

I run both in different tanks but I perfer the special grade

[gjones]

Where are you getting your detrivore kit from?

[genuck]

indo-pacific black for me, if i wanted a light colored sand it would be the fiji pink though

[dja1980]

gjones - the link in my first post will take you there, but to make it easy, here it is again: http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html

I'll have to call them and see if the can sell me a half kit. I don't need to seed a 55g tank, which is what their kit is made to do.

[fastuno]

Another vote for Fiji pink.

[gjones]

Thanks for the responce dja1980, very helpful.

[lgreen]

special grade reef sand

[yellowtangman]

I have Fiji Pink in my nc6 and crushed coral in my 20h. I love the Fiji Pink but the crushed coral is NEVER clean. I reccomend Fiji Pink.

[Donovan]

My critters keep my Fiji pink clean in my NC12. Very nice color, look, and texture I wish I could add more.

[drbegalke]

Bahamas Oolite: it looks better then the others (to me) and packs tightly, so you have much more surface area for bacteria and more anaerobic areas with a shallower depth of substrate.

 

I put some very small reef rubble in as well, which my pistol shrimp used to bolster the "cave" he built.

[calvin]

yes, bahamas oolite. It looks like the southdown I have in my tank which I love

[dja1980]

Bump... I'd like to revisit this since the new 24g project got postponed until now. I also wouldn't be opposed to looking at the CaribSea standard Araganite Products. Here's a link to the descriptions of each of those flavors as well:

 

http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/products/ma.../aragonite.html