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sand color and rinsing sand


treesprite

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(edited)

Where can I get some very light or near white sand (somewhere near me)? Or what brand/type of sand is very light? I have to add some sand to my tank. I bought a bag of Carib Sea that looked light in the bag, but after rinsing off the residue that I don't want clouding up in my tank, it turned out to be far darker than I would want to add to my tank.

 

 

I'm attaching a picture of the Carib Sea sand. The lighter patch is some sand that was in my tank about a year ago - I want sand that is at least as light as that (it was washed and has been stored in a bucket since then, but is only about 2 pounds). My current (and the old) sand is not as grainy as the Carib Sea, but is not sugar fine (I used to have sugar fine sand... never again).

 

post-1671-0-22318300-1430776877_thumb.jpg

 

My other question is, how much do you rinse your sand? I usually rinse it until any cloudiness is settled before I have a chance to even turn the bucket to dump the water, so usually I get no cloudiness in my tank when I add sand.The problem is, by the time I am done, there is definitely not as much sand as there appeared to be in the bag.

Edited by treesprite
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CaribSea has a number of different sands. I've used their OceanDirect Bahamas oolite (which you're not supposed to rinse); and it ends up looking very light gray under metal halide lights. The oolites tend to appear in pictures as their lightest-colored sands.

 

For the most recent tank I put together, I used Nature's Ocean Indonesian Reef sand. It's not white; it has a bit of a brown/yellowish cast to it. Looks nice, though. It took a lot of rinsing. The last water I poured off of it was still somewhat cloudy; but after running a skimmer on the tank for a few days, it cleared up nicely.

 

Nature's Ocean does have a Marine White Sand that might be closer to what you have in mind.

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(edited)

I found an empty sand bag in with some junk, which reminded me that the brand of my current sand was Nature's Ocean (didn't even remember the name). I managed to find a bag of it at Tropical Lagoon. Looks pretty good in the tank. When I rinsed it, I noticed that the cloudy water had a grey tint rather than a tan tint such as the Carib Sea had. The Natures Ocean didn't need as much rinsing as the Carib Sea.

 

I would like to know why the Nature's Ocean bag says the sand controls nitrate (this was not live sand, just regular dry sand).

Edited by treesprite
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I would like to know why the Nature's Ocean bag says the sand controls nitrate (this was not live sand, just regular dry sand).

After bacteria colonize the surface of the sand grains, it will aid in the nitrate cycle. It looks like Nature's Ocean makes the same claim on all of their sand, but the process is the same for other makers' substrates.

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(edited)

After bacteria colonize the surface of the sand grains, it will aid in the nitrate cycle. It looks like Nature's Ocean makes the same claim on all of their sand, but the process is the same for other makers' substrates.

It doesn't say nitrate cycle, it specifically says nitrate, which makes it sound like magic. The only way it will reduce nitrate is in a DSB.

Edited by treesprite
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It doesn't say nitrate cycle, it specifically says nitrate, which makes it sound like magic. The only way it will reduce nitrate is in a DSB.

That's true, and I think that's what they've got to mean. It's the only thing that makes sense to me.

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