Carib Sea ACS00930 Aragamax Sand for Aquarium, 30-Pound

I usually use pool filter sand in my tanks and love it. However, I wanted to start up a Lake Tang cichlid tank, and someone recommended using aragonite substrate to help buffer my soft water. I purchased this after reading the reviews - I did see a few that stated how cloudy it makes the tank, but most seem to imply that it settled quickly with no problems after that so I went ahead and splurged. Massive waste of time and money. I added it to my tank, just being set up. I rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed this sand - a good 4-5 times more/longer than I have ever had to rinse sand before in my life. It still was cloudy in the bucket, but I wasn't about to spend the rest of my life rinsing sand and figured it could settle in the tank. Went ahead and added it, and even being careful not to pour water directly onto the sand as I filled the tank, the attached picture is how my tank looked after filling. Literally could not see through 12" of water to the back of the tank. I added two sponge filters right away, not wanting to damage my HOB filters with all the silt in the water. 24 hours later, it had cleared some, but was very murky still. I purchased as much active carbon, carbon filter pads, and fine-sediment water polisher sponge as I could fit into an HOB and Fluval U3 filter, and added those. 24 hours after that, hadn't seen much improvement, so decided to start doing water changes. Drained the tank most of the way, put two fingers into the sand to see how it was, and immediately decided to stop wasting my time and rip it out. As soon as the sand is disturbed in the slightest, out pours yet MORE cloudy dust and sediment. Also, calling this sand is a bit of an overstatement, it's so fine that it's more like a powder on the bottom of your tank. So every single little movement stirs it up. I'd lost all patience at that point and my new fish were due to arrive in a day or two, so I ripped it all out and went back to my pool filter sand. Total garbage and a waste of $60. I'll stick with crushed coral in my filters and buffer salts to get what I need.

Quick Review:I have kept cichlids for years and years, and this is always my go-to substrate.It's a nice white color, and the grains are really tiny...like sugar sized.Mimics their natural habitat, and some cichlids actually injest some sand to aid in digestion.It also buffers the PH of the water and keeps it right around 8.2, which is optimal for almost all African cichlids.Note that it needs to be rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed some more. Even then, it will cloud the water somewhat. No matter what you do, it will clear after a few days.It can be a bit costly, so I try to wait for a sale on it.For example, in order to have a 2-inch depth, I need 3 bags for my 75g tank.My fish happily sift through it daily...there's no replacement for crushed aragonite, IMO.

My fish love this sand and the tank looks wonderful! Take your time cleaning the sand again and again and again and then one more time till everything is out and you will be with clear water in less then a day

I did a ton of research and i mean a TON of research on my current salt water fish tank. I spent at least 2 weeks deciding what kind of substrate i want for my aquarium. Do i want fine sand, coarse sand, crushed coral, aragonite shavings, you name it I probably googled it and watched a youtube video on every brand out there. This sand was exactly what i was looking for. I wanted a fine sand so that if i got snails they would be fine in it, and if i for a goby then he would have no problem burying himself in it. I actually did not rinse the sand before adding it to the tank but i did add the sand before adding the water so it was not disturbed at all while filling up the tank. There was initial cloudiness but nothing compared to the white fog clouds i have seen in the past with other tanks. As of today my yellow diamond watchman goby has a blast making a new cave in the sand every day, and the snails glide across this like nothing. 10/10 exactly what i was looking for.

I bought 3 bags for my 150 marine tank. I rinsed in buckets for 5 mins. Water is going to be cloudy regardless how long u rinse it. And the more you rinse the more sand u can lose. Note, I used carbon pads in my sump to help clear the water. My water was clear with 24 hours. Without thebpad it would of took 3-5 days to clear. Also make sure your changing out your mechanical filtration to help clear your water. I ran both filter socks and filter pads to help clear the water.