Are there any problems with silica based sands and the rays? I have heard that it is bad and that it is fine. Just wondering what you all thought about it.
sand
- Thread starter wildman6809
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I did this dance a couple months ago. You'll hear from both sides as I did. Here is how you can decide: if you have the cash, choose from the super natural line from caribsea which is designed to be ray and soft belly safe and it is great (several varieties too). I selected crystal river. I love it, rays love it, absolutely no irritation, they sift through it, and if it gets kicked up, it just sinks back down. A plus, it doesn't stick to them. Silica is said to be ok by some, others have shared experiences where they will never use it with rays again. If your low on cash, you could try scilica, but caribsea is a sure thing. Caribsea was $19.99 for 20 lbs.
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I found silica sand was sticking to the rays disk and they always looked dusty
It was also very light and when the rays flap it got pushed into my weirs
When I set the tank up I put 125kg of silica sand in when I changed it and took it our I only had about 90 kg in the tank the rest I found in the sump
If you are in the US you can look for a sand made by unipak and the very natural colour is call tanna it's a bit more expensive but it's the best substrate I have had
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It was also very light and when the rays flap it got pushed into my weirs
When I set the tank up I put 125kg of silica sand in when I changed it and took it our I only had about 90 kg in the tank the rest I found in the sump
If you are in the US you can look for a sand made by unipak and the very natural colour is call tanna it's a bit more expensive but it's the best substrate I have had
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I used a coarse Quartz sand that I found at a local landscape supply store. The rays can dig and bury when they want and it is very heavy so it stays out of the filter. It was also "dirt" cheap if you will excuse my pun 
It seems to be similar to the larger carib sea sands just cheaper. I want to say it was 10-15 bucks for 80 pounds
It seems to be similar to the larger carib sea sands just cheaper. I want to say it was 10-15 bucks for 80 pounds
I used silica sand on my first ray tank. The sand seemed to stick to the ray all the time and even under her some. I switched to Caribsea because Trev suggested it to me. I'm super happy with this choice. I got Tahitian moon super naturals for my tank and it works great.
What if I use a more coarse silica based sand. It is not super fine. The reason I want to se this is because of color and price. I need a few hundred pounds.
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