Which sand , new tank w/pistol & goby

[rickb]

I am setting up a new tank and trying to decide which sand to use. Planning on having a pistol and goby but not sure which sand to use. I'd like it to be really white. Will have dab in sump. I'm also curious if anyone has mixed different sands ( Southdown + caribsea) and what the results were.

Southdown - I have a few bags
Marco rocks sand
caribsea aragonite reef sand- has mixed sizes which is good for tunneling?
HD play sand?

Thanks
Rick

[rgonzalez]

I tried mixing sands and it looked like crap in my tank. I use the standard Carbisea Aragonite Reef Sand. I don't like the sugar sized grain type because it gets blown around by my K4's. I think the aragonite has the best "white" appeal.

I have heard good stuff about the HD play sand, but I don't think I'd like it.

[ChadTheSpike]

Sorry to hijack, but are the bags of southdown old? If not where did you find them? I have not been able to find southdown for 5+ years.

[rickb]

Sorry to hijack, but are the bags of southdown old? If not where did you find them? I have not been able to find southdown for 5+ years.

I've been planning this tank for 8 years, got them at HD when they were still available.

[ChadTheSpike]

Eh, I figured... but thought I would ask, thank you.
wow 8 years in planning!
Mixed sand sizes are best for ensuring that tunnels are stable if it is just a sand bed. Although I dont think this is as important in our tanks where most of the tunnelling will be done underneath rocks and will be more horizontal in nature than anything else. When I had shrimp gobies and pistols I supported the live rock on 1" pieces of PVC and used a constant sized (I think it was 'reef select') sand. The pistols tunneled happily all over, and I didnt worry about rocks collapsing or tunnels collapsing on them.