Caribsea Super Naturals Aquarium Sand, 20-Pound, Crystal River

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.

It was very easy to clean. I took the end of my hose and did like the instructions suggested: cut two holes in top of bag at either end, and stuck one end of the hose thru one hole deep down and turned on the water. Eventually, I just stuck my faucet wand (unscrewed the wand part) right into the bag). It only took a very small amount of rinsing before it ran clear. There was minimal cloudiness once I put it in the tank. I started doing it with a lemonade jug but ended up just pouring it in with the bag. No problems with the fish, at all.I put a good amount in my 29g, enough for real and plastic plants to be covered well and still had enough to put a thin layer in my 55g. I usually only keep bare bottom tanks, so I only wanted enough to just cover the bottom without it being deep. So one bag worked for two tanks. 40 would've been over-kill, despite 1.5-2 20lb bags being suggested for my 29g. Within 30 mins the 29 was completely clear and the 55 never wasn't. Very pleased, it looks great.

This is my first time buying white sand. I usually buy black sand or use eco complete. I thought let me try a different substrate and bought this for it’s high reviews. It didn’t disappoint.Of course I had to clean it up. I cleaned it in 5 batches. The water was milky white for a while so I added the clarifier. Next morning it was still a little cloudy but by day 3, it was clear.One bag of 20lb sand will fill the bottom of a 20g regular tank (24”x16x12). It’s about 2 inches high.The attached photo is my tank in progress. I’m going to make it heavily planted, but you can see the clarity of the sand. Simply great!UPDATE: After a few weeks, it continues to be white-whitish. I do not vacuum the sand floor, but when I rummage through the sand, the whiteness comes up. This is great for plants. I use a DIY Osmocote+ root tab, so the plants grow well.

Makes the aquarium look more natural, instead of the coloured gravel that I usually used ! Love it !!

Very consistent grain size, relatively clean no problem. Purchase 2 bags, locally a buck or two cheaper. But Amazon delivers to your door, especially if your ordering other items.

Price was decent, quality great. I’ve bought this brand before and it was perfect. The grains are small enough that if my axolotl eats some, he’ll be fine. This size covered the bottom of my 20 galling long tank.

looks good , cleans and settles fast, I have Oscars and they scoop this up and spit it out in various locations around the tank , I think they identify as interior designers . The down side is they often spit it toward the canister filter intake and the fine grains get sucked into the filter the courser ones Semi plug the intake .

My aquarium looks much better and organized. Can’t get my eyes off of the views