Recommendation for fine sand

[Limpc]

Hi all,

For a good and effective DSB, would #1 sand be good enough ?

I heard from some members that there are sugar fine sand available. Where ? and how much ?

I saw in a LFS, there is something call riversand (sugar fine), would this be a good DSB ?

Any advice please.

Limpc

[Tanzy]

You can get carib sea oolithic aragonite sand which is sugar fine from Sealife at $150 per pack. Otherwise just use #1.

Don't know about the riversand.

[Limpc]

Hi Tanzy,

Your reply is always very prompt at this time of the day. How's life there ?

How heavy is that pack in sealife ?

Thanks,

Limpc

[Tanzy]

Cause I'm trying not to fall asleep so I can hand-in my lab report later at 10 am.

The pack should be about 5 kg I think. Can't remember for sure but there's only one pack size. It's good for 0.5" of sand per pack in a 4'x2' tank. There are 2 sand sizes from Carib Sea at Sealife.

[Hon]

They are in 30 lbs pack so it's roughly around 13.6kg.

Do take note that these sand are damm heavy.

This packet can only cover around 1 x 2 ft tank of 2inch dsb.

[Limpc]

Hi Hon, Tanzy,

So, is it $150 for 5 kgs or 13.6 kgs ? Anyway, will check it out in sealife.

Is this consider as livesand ?

Thanks, guys.

Limpc

[Achilles Tang]

Hi Hon, Tanzy,

So, is it $150 for 5 kgs or 13.6 kgs ? Anyway, will check it out in sealife.

Is this consider as livesand ?

Thanks, guys.

Limpc

livesand? NO WAY!!

Bro, it's dry sand packed in bags!

[yazid]

I just bought the fine sand at Petmart. 10kg for S$10.00. It is almost like dust.

I dunno whether I'm the last one to buy the 2 pack. Check it out.

[Tanzy]

I think I might have mixed it up with the Kent sand/mud/dust. Anyway it should be very deader than dead sand at $150 for >10kg. There are better things to spend on then sand.

[Limpc]

Hi guys,

The prices really scare the shit out of me, man.

Is there any particular type of sand to look out for, not just the size, but the type, eg coral sand, etc ?

In the worst, would a #1 be sufficient ?

Limpc

[Tanzy]

#1 crushed coral should be good enough.

[Limpc]

Tanzy,

That's very consoling. At least my pocket will not be burnt.

Limpc.

[EbiTank]

i bought my no. 1 sand from OP last month.

sloping from 7" to 3" (left to right)

picked up some conflicting theories.

Ron Shimek said 4" enuf. but talking abt 0.113mm in diameter.

but since the only amt of $ i'm prepared to spend is only enough on no.1, I decided to pile it up higher.

[anakjoh]

More than the min is all right - I suppose more denitrifying bacteria - downside is losing precious space.

I read that aragonite is good - suppose to help with calcium levels

[Tanzy]

Aragonite does not dissolve at normal tank pH, so won't help with calcium levels. The only possibility of calcium being released might be due to biochemical reactions due to sand organisms and bacteria, but the amount released should be negligible.

[eprouve]

On the topic of sand... the last 2 days has been one big LFS drama for me! I called Marine Image and the said #1 sand is out of stock. So I got a bag of his alleged #3 sand... which was marked C-1 on the sack for $8.

Then I was told that #3 and #1 were so huge in size difference... so decided to call all the LFS on the list for #1 sand. So Sealife (being the nearest to me, other than Marine Image) had it. Went there and they tried to sell me those very same sacks marked with C-1 for $16! They said theirs was special in the sense that it is very clean and require minimal washing.

So I got a rock of Calupera and left. Intending to go back to Marine Image... but they were out of stock! Had 3 sacks last night! Sigh... these people got me so confused... now I'm not even entirely sure I'm using #1 sand...

Anyway... this is what I got from Marine Image. What do you guys think?

[Achilles Tang]

I did a #1 sand article in the Product Review Section here.

Perhaps you can get a clearer idea?

[souphamster]

are there white colour coral sand? looks nicer ler...

the one i saw at petmart is 10 bucks for 10kg i think?? but the colour is beige in colour. I think if there are white sand #1, it will look fabulous.

[Tanzy]

The colour of the sand depends on the colour of your lights in the tank. Generally the crushed corals we get are beige in colour when seen under sunlight but will be white in an artificial 10000K environment. If you really want pure white then you'll have to use glass beads.

[yazid]

Is smaller better? Like fine sand? It is smaller than #1 sand shown on the picture above. I just got 2 10kg bags of fine sand from Petmart. Should I call that #-2 fine sand. <_<

Can I mix it with #1 since I don't think I have enough #-2 fine sand to make 4"-5" in a 2 feet refugium.

Or should I layer them instead of mixing them?

Should I put the #1 at the bottom and the top layer put #-2? or vice versa?

Any good theory?

[souphamster]

hmm.. getting more interesting now..

[Tanzy]

The finer sand will settle to the bottom and float the bigger grains up after some time. In Singapore the smallest grade of crush coral is #0 (very rare), if it is smaller than #1, it might be silicon dioxide sand (a.k.a. beach sand).

[Phang]

If you are interested in Grade O sand, i might have lobang... but think must ship in large quantity to justify cost....

[lona]

Hi Phang,

How large a quantity is large? Just curious..

[yazid]

I was reading the article on sediment by Dr Ron Shimek

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

"....comprised of very fine sandy sediments that we can, without any hesitation, call MUD..."

"...In a given volume of sand, the usable bacterial surface area rises rapidly as the average particle size decreases. For example, a cubical particle 1 mm on a side has 6 square mm of surface area, while the surface area on a particle that is one eighth(or 0.125) mm on a side is a total of 0.09375 square mm. However, in the volume of 1 cubic mm, there would be 512 of the smaller particles, for a total area of 48 square mm, eight times what is found on the larger cube.

The total sediment surface area in even a small tank is impressive, indeed. In my 45 gallon reef tank, the sand bed averages about 4 inches deep, by 12 inches wide, by 36 inches long, for a total of one cubic ft of sediment. I won't bore you with the calculations, but if the average particle size is one eighth mm, and that is a good average size to have, the total sand surface area is about 14,828 square feet or just slightly over 1/3 of an acre. A LOT of bacteria can live with that amount of space!..."

So my assumption is the finer the better, right?

The 2 bags I bought is call fine river sand (description says that it had been clean and would not cause algae or diatoms) for Aquarium use.

Will get a photo of the bag when I come back from work.