Best Sand For Me?

[cm11599ps]

I'm going to be picking up some sand tomorrow so I can finally get my tank going. It's a 55 gallon reef. I know my wife would like to see some very light colored substrate, kind of what you would see on some exotic beach. What should I be buying?

[pmrossetti]

I like Natures Ocean live sand. It looks great and I don't have to rinse it. :) Otherwise CaribSea 1-2mm is nice and doesn't blow around. Tropic Eden Reef Flakes are great but hard to get. Vendors always sell out it seems. good luck :)

[lbannie]

I have really fine white sand and I HATE it! Looks nice, but it gets blown around very easily!! I think that black sand looks neat, although I've never seen it in person.

[HanoverFist]

+1 black sand

Just make sure to find the right kind. Some buffer, most don't. Some are magnetic.

[Virtuoso]

Having just gone through this decision process myself, I cannot recommend enough "Tropic Eden Miniflakes". The sand seems to be the perfect size and it is beautiful. I did a lot of reading around here and found a lot of people recommending "Tropic Eden Reeflakes", but for me that sand looked just a little too coarse. I am loving my Miniflakes.

[cm11599ps]

Are there different colors associated with all of these brands? I'm sure my wife would want something colored like this.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/totm/images/Image016.jpg

I only plan on keeping about an inch in my 55 and the have 6" in my fuge.

[cm11599ps]

I ended up getting some Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand.