To Sand Or Not To Sand? -Substrate.

[Fishflyer]

I had a 40 gal. with black gravel. It seemed like in about 5 years of aquarium maintenance (Fishkeeper cleaning gravel) that some of the gravel started turning white. You could sort of see the gravel coating was wearing off.
So when I got rid of this tank and started a new 100+ gal tank I took care in selecting gravel. I finally selected a Caribseas natural gravel.

I also have one aquarium that has CaribSea Torpedo Beach. I like it. It has a nice appearance and easy cleaning
with it going only into the vacuum cup--swirling with only the dirt going into the vacuum tube, and then the sand quickly settles back to the tank floor. @ LBDave. What color is the Natural Gravel? I am thinking it is various shades of grey. I will look it up. Although I like their product, (Cairibsea)the ads I have seen do not do the appearance justice. The Torpedo Beach is a white with a glow. The colored fish show up nice and go between the white sand and the gray and green gravel in the other half if the tank. The Albino Cories disappear when they are resting on the white Torpedo Beach. When they swim off, it's like ghosts popping into out dimension. Even though it is white sand it really doesn't show dirt and keeps it's appearance as if new.
The Torpedo Beach Sand stays put and doesn't mix with the gravel.
I just received the Sandtastik Sand. I will report on different aspects (maintenance) of it. It is the Classic Green. Natural green in appearance with some light catching highlights.

 

[Fishflyer]

Report on Sandtastik Sand Classic Green: Looks good in tank, but is very fine and clumps in frequent curds. Excessive floating surface sentiment.
If using Sandtastik Classic sand; suggest through repeated rinsing and kneading sand thoroughly to remove air pocket sand curds. Then stir and let stand for a period in rinse water so all floating sentiment can rise to surface for removal.
In water this sand has the dexture of soft mud. Betta likes this. I suspect because it resembles the substrate of it's instinctive natural habitat of muddy rice paddies and large mud puddles. For this reason I may leave it. The green sand is combined with a separate section of the original separate green gravel substrate at the back of the tank, also combined with some striated rocks It is not unpleasant in appearance, resembling a green moonscape or green Marscape.
I have not tested it with vacuum maintenance and will report on that later.
When added to the tank or when sand is stirred it falls immediately back to the tank floor and does very little and VERY short term clouding, suggesting it has heft and may lend itself to easy cleaning.

I found a Sandtastik company recomendation (after I received sand) that the>>>> Larger Grained Floral Sand Is Recomended For Aquarium Use and perpetuation of plants. This is also recommended by another member who successfully uses Sandtastik Floral Sand for aquarium purposes. (See thread: Best Sand Ever by Finwin.)

 

[Fishflyer]

Note: Finwin's thread; Best Sand Ever has in tank photos of the texture and some of the colors of the Sandtastik Floral Sands. It should be noted that the company offers a wide selection of colors and shades of those colors which may viewed by accessing the company name followed by .com.

 

[Fishflyer]

I used Sandtastik regular green sand in Horseman Cories tank, an also in a betta tank, as their indicated preference is a very fine, soft sand. The strike red color contrasts extremely well with the green sand. Again the Sandtastik regular play sand requires some preparation as compared to the Sandtastik Floral sand which has a texture, all though rounded and not gritty, it is not as fine as the regular play sand.

Both clean well and do not rise are not sucked through the suction tube. The regular Sandtastik play sand does side into the larger vaccum chamber, but sinks back down to the tank floor. It also settles quickly when stirred. These are the same properties of the Sandtastik Floral sand. There is a wide variety of colors available.

 

[tpaquarist17]

I have Caribsea Instant Aquarium Crystal River in my 180 gallon, which I believe is an even smaller grain size then the Torpedo beach. Didn't need rinsing just dump into aquarium- which was pretty great.
Anyways- it was expensive, but worth it to me for several reasons: I have 2 FX filters in here and didn't want to deal with suspended sand ruining the filters, it is primarily an eartheater tank, I am a 50 year old woman who did not find rinsing the amount of sand needed for this tank appealing.

There is no suspended sand ever. The color is perfect as a light tan. no back pain.

Just curious as to what you were lighting this tank with?