12/25 Mesh - Garnet Abrasive Media, Coarse Grade (5 LBS)

I bought this garnet sand to use in an Aquarium, and it works really well. When wet the red color is a bit darker and looks natural, but eye catching. This particular sand has really nice large grains, so it does not cause the water to get cloudy at all. Garnets are also more dense than regular silica sand, so it stays put on the bottom of the tank and does not get moved about by the water currents. Because the grains are large and vary in shape, which is more like tiny pea gravel than regular sand or special aquarium sands, it is perfect for plants' roots with a perfect amount of space between particles to prevent the substrate from becoming too packed together.It is more expensive than plain cheap sand, but about the same price per pound as you would pay for fancy colored aquarium sands. Because Garnet is more dense then other sands, you may need more pounds (25% more maybe?) of this than other sands to provide the same thickness on the bottom of a tank.In some aquarium discussion forums people sometimes suggest using the black sandblasting grit as a cheaper alternative to expensive black aquarium sand, but the black sandblasting grit is made from coal and is extremely hard to clean before using in a fish tank. I bought some once and tried, but after washing it for over an hour and wasting tons of water, it was still oily and had lots of tiny dust particles. This garnet sandblasting media is the complete opposite. I washed it once in a large bucket of water, and it was complete clean - no dust particles or residue of any kind.It is hard tell from the pictures, but it looks like the coarse sugar used to decorate Christmas cookies, but a shade or two lighter in color. When you look at it under microscope the particles vary in color darkness a great deal, which gives it a very natural look with visual texture, while man-made colored aquarium sands are normally uniform in color and look artificial. Those man-made sands sold for aquariums are often much lighter than normal sand and float easily for a long time until the particles are coated with bacterial bio-film that helps them cling together and sink to the bottom. This is especially a problem when you have plants, that get easily uprooted by water currents in the tank because the sand is so lightweight. This garnet sand holds the plants' roots firmly, even when their leaves act like sails being blown by the water currents.The garnet sand's color with green plants, gives a visual effect that reminds me of pictures of Grand Staircase-Escalante or the Grand Canyon. I have been keeping aquariums for almost 50 years and now have a dozen tanks in my home, and I like this sand better than any other substrate I have used in a tank.

I've seen online a fish tank that used crushed garnet and I really liked how the color of the substrate looked in the tank so I decided to give it a try. This blasting medium coarse grade seems to fit as closely to what I would like and expect in an aquarium. The garnet stays put even with a decent water flow and readily sinks to the bottom even after rearranging the plants and hardscape.This is quite expensive when comparing other substrate mediums for tanks but it's definitely unique and worth it. My tank is extremely small (1.9 gal 12inch x 6inch x 6inch) so a 5 lb bag was sufficient for me.When I received it the garnet looked like a very dull darkish brown but under the aquarium light looks redder and far more bright. I would recommend this to showcase your favorite tank.