sugar fine sand

[bigfish14]

I really love the look of the sugar fine sand. Are there any drawbacks to it? It will be going into a softie/LPS tank with an MP10 (75%) and a koralia 750 for flow. Will this sand stay put in my tank or will it get kicked up?

[Yellow Rocket]

I hate my fine sand. If I had to do it again I would get something a little coarser.

[bigfish14]

Originally Posted by Yellow Rocket

I hate my fine sand. If I had to do it again I would get something a little coarser.

Any reason you hate it?

[Kies1]

I prefer also something a little coarser. Have tried both

[packman90]

fine sand sucks, mine blows around and I have a damsel that uses it's tail to throw it up into the tank.

[hackney]

I had sugar fine sand.... took apart the whole tank to get it out. BIGGEST mistake so far!

[aandfsoccr04]

Biggest mistake I've made in the hobby. Sugar fine sand sucks since it blows all around the tank and covers up corals and kills them if you don't blow it off them.

[bambam918]

I have sugar sand and love it. Looks really good Nd I don't have issues with it lowing around and I have a mp60 and mp40 going at the same time. Both are at 50%

[downbeach]

I've got 4+ inches of it going on 6 years, without any problems. But I'm using Tunze PH's, and can direct them toward the surface, I don't know how your Ecotech will do.

[Lig]

I also hate the sugar fine sand. It "migrates" with water flow, livestock get it all over the rocks & it generally just blows around. It's not for me.

[bigfish14]

Sounds like it's hit or miss. I saw the sugar fine sand in my LFS 300 gallon display tank and it looked really cool. The sand was ripply and seemed to stay put. They had the exact sand on sale and I debated getting it. I think I am going to stick with the sand I currently have. No reason to fix whats not broken, right?

[TheGodParticle]

I actually did the opposite, I switched from a coarse bottom to sugar fine. It's one of the best things I've done for my tank. Sugar fine just looks soooooo much better than other bottoms IMO. I have 2 MP10s running at 100% I've never had one issue with blowing sand all over the tank.

[bugs713]

I mixed sugar fine with the next size up 50/50 and that seems to be perfect. But, my Sleeper Goby sometimes turns my tank into a 185 gallon snow globe.... I have a ton of flow and a 38" deep tank, so its not to bad. I do spend more time keeping the MP40's clean though.
I'd probably go with bigger grain size on a shallower tank.

[Dexters Reef]

I have 180 lbs of sugar fine sand in my 75 creating a 4" dsb and love it. I have two evolution 1400's and my mag 7 return and have no issues with it blowing around. I love the natural look of it

[Michigan Mike]

I have non live sugar sand, and will get something larger next time. There is a 100% difference in non live sugar sand and live sugar sand. Live sugar sand is twice as coarse and is much better. I would get tropic Eden reef flakes or grand select next time though.

[Yellow Rocket]

Originally Posted by packman90

fine sand sucks, mine blows around and I have a damsel that uses it's tail to throw it up into the tank.

My blue damsel does the same thing and it drives me crazy. All of my rocks are covered along with all of my coral. I have to go in there and try to "dust" everything off.

[Neogenocide]

I love my fine sand. Take it easy on flow at first, as the sand ages in the tank, it will sit better and be less prone to move. Also take care in how you setup your powerheads and again, you won't have any problems. I really prefer the look of my fine sand over coarse sand. Yes it can be a pain, but it's easily averted with proper setup.

[biocube14g]

I love mine..... It does blow around, but it breaks down the nutrients quicker..... Looks super nice and the fish love it!

[swcc]

I also do not like fine sand. it can be messy. It is only a natural look if your setting up your reef to look like the bottom of a reef. the idea of a natural look is dependent on the location of the reef your trying to copy. for instance on the great barrier reef these are very shallow sections where the substrate is all crushed coral.

[Dexters Reef]

Originally Posted by Yellow Rocket

My blue damsel does the same thing and it drives me crazy. All of my rocks are covered along with all of my coral. I have to go in there and try to "dust" everything off.

This can be an issue with any sand and certain species of fish. My 75 gallon reef is a coral centered tank, and was designed to be an upgrade from an older 46g mixed reef I have. In my 46 is a large harbor goby, and even though that tank has coarser sand, it still ended up on on all my corals and rocks, and I would have to blow them off almost daily. Needless to say, it will be more of a PITA with sugar fine sand that makes the water dusty. Even though it clears up quick on its own, I decided not to move the goby into my 75 because I didnt want the hassle. I dont blame the sand, I blame the creatures doing it.

I now have 4" sand bed of sugar fine sand, nassarius snails to stir it, about 45x turnover rate, 10 sps and tons of other coral, and no sand dusting/blowing issues, because I selectively chose the inhabitants, and placed the powerheads in good spots to direct the flow, and corals in certain spots to absorb/block the flow.