Florida Crushed Coral 40 lbs
4.9
5
11
11
Good substrate
Easy to use and I like the white color. It needs to be rinsed well before adding it to the tank. It doesnt blow around a lot which is a big plus even with moderate/high flow. It is a bit cloudy the first day or so but that clears up. I like it.
April 11, 2013
Great service!
The product was just as described, and service plus delivery were exceptionable!
October 2, 2012
The best sand in the market!
It is the best and cleanest, good looking sand in the market. The size is perfect, full of sea shells “white” which some of my smaller hermit crabs liked the new shells so much, they switch their shells with the ones came with the sand in no time, also light in color which is very pleasing to the eyes!
I would like to share some of my notes to myself with regards to selecting sand:
Deep Live Sand Bed (2” – 3”) and large amounts of Live Rock (2/3 of the tank) is the best method of de-nitrification. Live sand has anaerobic bacteria which they convert the nitrates into a harmless byproduct “Nitrogen” / remove nitrates. Also, it acts as a haven for “microfauna” / microscopic animals, thereby producing food for the tank inhabitants and keeping the bottom of the tank clean.
It will also come with some animals such as burrowing worms, Cerith Snails, Sea- cucumbers and Brittle Seastars. All these animals help to keep the sand clean and turn it over thereby avoiding the formation of toxic H2S. This is especially useful if particularly fine grained sand is used.
A further advantage of having live sand is if keeping anemones. Live sand may stop them from wandering around! All needed to do is to clear the sand from a spot on the bottom of the tank and allow the anemone to adhere to it. Once it had stuck, push the sand around the anemones base. This makes some anemones feel secure and ceases their endless search for a good spot.
Choosing the Live Sand:
*** Avoid Silicate Base Sand ***
Such as local beach sand as it can leach silicates into the tank water and create a diatom bloom which will cover the tank glass and some invertebrates.
First Choice:
Calcium Based Sand, because coupled with bacterial activity, it will leach some trace elements and calcium into the tank water and help buffer the pH.
Second choice:
Aragonite Sand “dead sand” as this is considered best for calcium and pH maintenance. Aragonite Sand is mined sand and comes from ancient fossilized reefs which it consists of crushed Halimeda leaves, crushed coral and crushed shell.
Sand Size:
Coarse substrates act as organic traps, as food and fish waste are likely to accumulate in them. Further, as more and more debris accumulates, the lower layers are starved of oxygen (anaerobic conditions) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is produced. H2S is deadly to marine fish and invertebrates. It is the black patches that can be seen some times in the shallows at the beach or if a large shell or rock that is sitting on the substrate is to be removed.
2 mm sand is considered the best grain size. If it is much coarser than this, it can be difficult to move or damaging to sand stirrers and will also trap debris. If it is much finer than this, it is really silt and will not allow oxygen to diffuse through it and H2S will form. This may still be useable with the right sand stirrers. Some small pieces of rock (around 10-15mm) can be useful mixed with the sand as it helps burrowing animals such as Sleeper Gobies shore up their tunnels
Sand thickness:
2” to 3” thickness will de-nitrify effectively with the assistance of sand stirring animals and will not form H2S. With this sand thickness the bottom layers will become anoxic, meaning that the oxygen levels are low, under anoxic conditions the bacteria take the oxygen atoms from the NO3 to use for energy conversion and this just leaves behind the N2 and N2O, which bubbles off to the atmosphere.
Prior to the discovery of de-nitrification in live sand, it was known that live rock does the same thing within its core but it had not been considered efficient enough to take up the typically large quantities of nitrate in aquariums at that time.
Good Luck and Happy Reefing...
August 9, 2012
keeps the ph up, looks good
I guess it keeps the ph up, my fish like it. Looks good in my 180! I rinsed off and still clouded up the tank for 2 days.
August 3, 2012
 "Florida Crushed Coral")
The only crushed coral with aragonite, which provides up to 25 times the buffering power of other crushed corals, dolomite, or oyster shell. Will eliminate chronic pH problems and provide maximum surface area for water purifying bacteria. Allows an increase in bioload by up to 50% and it will never need to be replaced. Can be used with calcium, but also carbonate buffer and essential trace elements such as strontium (up to 10,000 ppm). Mixed Grade. Grain size: 2.0 -5.5mm. Lightly rinse before use.
