Caribsea Super Naturals Aquarium Sand, 20-Pound, Sunset Gold

I just got back into having fish and decided to go with all live plants, which I've never done before. 10 weeks in and I have four tanks going. I used this sand in my 30gallon and put it into a 6.5gal upgraded betta tank today. It is beautiful and I'm thrilled with my purchase!Pros:1. Very fine for sensitive bottom dwellers like Cory Cats. Mine play and frolic constantly, leaving happy little trails all over the tank. They love it! My mystery snails and Malaysian trumpets love it too!2. Plants love it! My plants are going crazy in this tank and taking longer to get going in the tanks with Eco Complete and Tahitian Moonlight (also beautiful, btw). I rearranged a few plants today and they had roots 6 inches long after about 8 weeks in the tank. The soft sand makes it easy to place plants without damaging them.3. The light color is really pretty and makes it easy to spot various critters. It's kind of beachy in a way and a great contrast to my tank with the black Tahitian Moonlight sand in it.Cons:1. Somewhat tricky to clean. Take my advice, which I got from someone else, and buy a mini gravel vacuum. It is perfect to stir up the sand to clean without sucking it all up and out of the tank.2. Not really a con but some more advice: WASH IT FIRST!!! I did this by pouring the bag into a big 5 gallon bucket I got on the cheap from Walmart. Get a stool (it takes a while) and take the bucket to your outside hose. Use the strongest, most focused nozzle you have. Have a seat and shoot the water with force down into the sand. Use the water to churn it up. You'll be shocked at the fine particles that come out! Carefully pour the water out (don't worry... the sand will stay in the bucket) and then do it again. Rinse until the water runs clear. Trust me. You'll thank me later!You really can't go wrong buying this sand!

I bought the Torpedo Beach sand hoping for a pretty white sand and it was. I have to say, I didn't rinse it. I didn't have fish yet and decided just to chance it. The water was a little cloudy that day, and there was a very little bit of trash that floated to the top and was easily scooped out with a net. The water was clear by the next day. My aquarium was so beautiful with this sand! But then the diatoms set in after about a month to two months of having the aquarium up and going. My beautiful sand turned a very dark brown. From lots of research online, it sounds like this is something that either has to resolve on its own or you take your substrate out and wash it on a regular basis. Some people might have time to, but I do not. So I'm looking at trying to get gravel to replace what used to be beautiful white sand.UPDATE: The horrible diatom bloom is starting to die down and the white is coming back. I decided that I'll keep the sand after all. :)I still love the sand and for people with established aquariums this probably won't be a problem. I still love it and maybe will return to it someday after my aquarium is settled in.UPDATE: 9/1/2018I never did get around to switching to gravel. I found that red cherry shrimp adore diatoms. They keep the surface of my sand looking pretty and white. There is still brown along the glass where the shrimp can't get to, but it's not worth disturbing my now planted aquarium. This tank was a cichlid tank for a short time until I moved them into a larger aquarium and the sand stayed pretty decent looking with the yellow labs constantly moving the sand around. But without either the sand being moved constantly or the shrimp cleaning the sand, it starts turning brown very quickly.

I finally got around to using this 20lb bag of the white sand. This sand has an amazing texture. It's light and slightly luminescent and is such a nice upgrade to my little 10 gallon tank. In a ten gallon tank you will have almost 3 inches of depth which is great because this is a turtle tank and the sand volume allows for various depths to make the tank more dimensional. I really love the color and the texture of the sand. I actually didn't pre-rinse the sand because I was in a bit of a rush but it really didn't have much dust in it. Once I had the tank arranged I turned on the pump filter and used the included water conditioned. Within 20 minutes it was ready and the water was super clear. This substrate is superior to small gravel I had used in the past. Love it.

I wanted to switch from gravel to an aquatic sand for my betta fish after having several pumps ruined by sucking tiny pieces of Rick into them. Sand seemed like a great option and after lots of research I settled on this! Overall is really beautiful, doesn't have issues with floaters or dust particles, and looks beautiful! It's much much cleaner looking and he seems to enjoy it (the betta fish). My tank is almost 4 gallon, so this 20lb bag will last him forever. Very happy with this purchase and the overall quality of this fresh water sand. Highly recommended!