Aqua Natural Oolitic Aragonite 10lb Aquarium Sand for Reef, Saltwater and Marine Tanks and Aquariums

Loved by my nassarius snails
The sand is a beautiful white pearly hue. Because of its fine nature it required plenty of cleaning but that is expected. The grain size is perfect for sand dwellers which constantly dig themselves and emerge without struggle from the sand bed. One very important plus I noticed was that my seeded copepod population quickly found a home within the sand bed aside from my rock. Poop is obviously noticeable in the sand but, thats poop. You either see it, or you smell it (I’d rather see it). My snails are very happy. The 10lb bag was more than enough for my 6 gallon shallow reef tank. I’m very happy.

Looked good
Product looks good. I realize after I bought it that it was the wrong type of sand for my aquarium so I did return it. I’m giving it four stars because it did have a hole in the package when it showed up so there was sand inside the box and it got on my ground a little bit when I picked up the package before I notice.

Keeps tank clean!
I use this for my African Sideneck turtle. I adopted her from someone who was moving and couldn’t keep her. She had lived for 10 years in a tank with nothing on the bottom!! She loves this sand. And i love how clean it helps keep her tank.

Finally my shrimp tank stays balanced. Rinse first in a bucket!
Yes you do have to rinse like it says, I made a mistake and used the Stratum black clay for my tank. It says for shrimp but it’s really for low loving oh shrimp, caridina . I have red cherry shrimp. Told to use that for my plants and shrimp. I could never get the ph to stay around 7 with that substrate. So I put this white Aragonite substrate in a bucket and kept rinsing till clear. It’s easier to do smaller amounts at a time, than large otherwise you will be rinsing it for ever. (I have also had some extra which I dry out and out in a bag to put so all amounts in if the substrate is covered and needs a boost.)Then started putting it little by little in to cover the black. Had to be sure I didn’t bury my shrimp. After this I have not done a water change in months. Now I see some debris starting to cover the aragonite so may just add some more. Apparently shrimp don’t like big water change parameters when you change the tank water. Which appeared true as I kept losing some. I test my nitrate/ ammonia is always negative. I just clean the sponge filter and filter itself when flowing is decreased. I clean it in dechlorinated water so not to kill any good bacteria etc. I have a billion seed shrimp as well, annoying as they are they are clean up crew. So can’t say enough about this substrate if you want ph of 7 and above. The acid that build up is counter acted with the coral substrate. I have probably 80-100 shrimp, started with 20. I started last fall. You can see from the photo, the stratum at the bottom, then the fluorite with debris building up on top. You can see some fluorite to the right still. The stratum is exceptional for plants as it is like dirt, I now just put it at the bottom of my tanks substrate than cover with Argonite, but will always have fluorite on top now. I never thought I would find a way to make my tank stable. I also removed my big apple snails 🐌 they make a lot of waste and are like bulldozers with my plants. But I still had ph problems after removing them till the fluorite, which is a ph maintainer due to it being a coral (calcium) calcium is used up to buffer acid as needed. Just rinse as there is always little bits of wood and lots of dust. If you don’t do this than just let your filter do the clean up but be prepared every time the substrate is stirred up it may release dust and you won’t be able to set up the tank for a while. Otherwise if you keep cardinia shrimp this is the way to go, if you keep Neocaridina lower oh loving shrimp than keep the stratum as your substrate.

I purchased this white sand for my freshwater aquarium, but unfortunately, it has been a disappointing experience. The sand is extremely fine, which causes a major problem—it stays suspended in the water, leaving the tank constantly murky.I tried changing the water multiple times and even used a filter to clear it up, but the problem persists. No matter what I do, the sand continues to cloud the water, making it difficult to maintain a clean and clear aquarium.While the sand looks nice initially, its fine texture makes it impractical for aquarium use. I wouldn’t recommend this product unless you’re okay with dealing with constant cloudiness in your tank.

Photo is taken after nine hours (!) of rinsing in a bucket.the item description claims this sand is ”dustless” but it is not. it has a very fine, powdery dust that turns your water milk white, takes hours to rinse, and is dangerous to fish. i put about a cupful in my bare-bottom 20g nano to test it out and my damselfish started gasping for oxygen and unfortunately died. I assume the dust cloud it caused damaged his gills.I would suggest rinsing this stuff aggressively and then letting it settle for a few days in a fishless tank before exposing any fish to it.update: after several more hours of rinsing the water is still cloudy, and the surviving fish, which i moved to a quarantine tank with new water, are showing signs of skin irritation. this is honestly the worst $30 i’ve ever spent on this tank.