Sand grain size

[SuperNemo]

I need some help deciding on the size of sand to get.

I saw a good deal on sand for 30lbs but the size is between 0.1mm - 1mm.

That sounds kind of small.

But then there is others for are 40lbs that are 1mm - 4mm. That might be a little too big. i dont want the sand to trap detrimus and cause nitrate issues.

Please advise.

[Michael]

im not sure of the actual size in mm, but i buy medium grade, also sugar sized is adequate, i wouldnt buy anything bigger personally.

[IslandCrow]

Just about any of the sands out there are going to be fine, except the really coarse stuff that's more shells and other things rather than sand. It's really the crushed coral that has big issues with trapping excess detritus. About the only time I think you really need to worry about sand grain size is if you're considering a deep sand bed, in which case you really want relatively fine sand. Of course, one problem with really fine sand is getting it to stay in one place, especially with the copious amounts of water flow most of us have in our tanks. Eventually, the bacteria is going to start binding the sand together to some degree, so this won't be as much of an issue, but because of this, many people shy away from the sugar sized sands.

[SuperNemo]

okay. does anyone have experience with bahama sand offered by marcorocks.

[mkobu]

HI

I am wanting to see if you are buying sand through aquarium supply places or if there is some safe sand that can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot?? I have a 245 that is 8' x 2.5' that would be crazy expensive if I got through a LFS...

Thanks....

[JLAURIA751]

I would not go with sugar sand I did that It was a big mistake. I had to tare my whole tank down and replace the sand bed because it got stirred up way too easily. It also depends on what fish your going to put in. If your going to put a fish in that burrows in the sand like a diamond goby, or a jawfish you wan't something finer grain.

[sdc19982002]

I agree with the the stay away from sugar fine. I just put it in another tank I just set up and it's messy. I know it will stay put after a while. I would go with the aragonite medium grain.

[SuperNemo]

does anyone have a good place to get medium grain sand at a decent price. like mkobu says, getting sand for a large tank is pretty costly from the lfs

[eho72]

Originally Posted by SuperNemo

okay. does anyone have experience with bahama sand offered by marcorocks.

I bought 80 lbs of the bahamas sand from marcorocks. That was a mistake since my tank is mostly SPS with 2 Vortech MP40w blowing sand everywhere. Ended up having to buy new reef grade sand to put on top to settle the sand storm. So it depends on what type of system you are running.