Does tan sand look natural in a marine aquarium?

[PGJE]

I don't have a lot of money and I'm planning to start up a nano reef tank, and I know from scuba diving and seeing other people's tanks that the sand is mostly bright white. I'm trying to save as much money as possible and I have some sand bags full of the standard desert, tan sand. do you think it would look unnatural to have a reef with desert tan sand? I haven't really seen any pictures of tanks with that color.
Also, I've heard that crushed coral beneficial, is it okay to just have plain sand?

 

[phreeflow]

Should be fine. People use crushed coral or aragonite to help buffer the ph and keep alkalinity high.

However, you should be fine using regular sand as long as you stay up on maintenance as the salt mixes also have buffers in them. You should note that there are silicates in regular sand that may or may not cause algae blooms but that’s debatable.

 

[duanes]

I live about 50 yards from the ocean in Panama, and snorkel nearly everyday, the sand here is tan.

I also use the same sand in my fresh water tanks.