Carib Sea ACS05840 Super Naturals Crystal River Sand for Aquarium, 5-Pound

There are two versions of the Crystal River Sand from Caribsea. One is just the sand. The other comes packed pre-cultured with nitrifying bacteria.The version that comes pre-cultured with nitrifying bacteria will come in the same plastic bag, but the sand will be moist. And it is not recommended that you rinse it out. Within the bag, you will find two small packets. One is a dechlorinator. The other contains a floculant, to help clear cloudy water. If you are starting a new tank, this is the one that I would recommend. It helps eliminate deadly ammonia spikes. Naturally, you will still want to start with hardy fish until the tank stabilizes.This is a beautiful substrate. The grain size will range from fine to medium. The size is large enough that you can vacuum the bottom without losing too much of your substrate in the siphon hose. This is the ideal size, in my opinion, for most situations. The grains are small enough so that fish feces and other debris cannot work their way into the substrate. And yet, large and heavy enough not to get too much of it get siphoned out during tank maintenance. Some fish species, like Corydoras and German Rams prefer a fine, sand substrate like this."Crystal" comes from some small, clear grains that catch the light and actually shine. Almost like a sparkle, but not bright. You can use this in a fish-only tank or you can even use this as the substrate for a planted tank. This could very well be the perfect substrate, except for one thing. If you have bright lights, algae will grow on this sand. And that ruins the beauty of it. Darker sand still grows algae, but hides it.Bottom line. If you can keep your tank clean, this is perfect for you. If you are slack on maintenance, pick a darker sand. There is a black sand from the same manufacturer called Tahitian Moon. It is slightly finer and it hides algae very well.Oh, and one other thing. If you keep rainbows, they will tend to exhibit their best colors when their sand is dark.Update: I bought a five-pound bag to replace the small amount that I lose through the gravel vacuum hose during each water change. Some will leave the tank when you get rid of unwanted plants too.

I received this aquarium sand yesterday. I bought it primarily because I purchased five assassin snails and the love sand. I have a 50 gallon established freshwater tank. I already have soils and gravel at the bottom for my live plants, but assassin snails need sand, and this sand had great reviews. Cleaning it was easy and I just followed the directions on the bag. Waited 30 minutes for the sand to settle before reintroducing the fish to the aquarium. My Corydoras are having a field day! I am infested with mystery snails, so I’m excited to see if assassin snails help with the population and love seeing the pretty sand in my tank. Highly recommend.

At first I didn't like the color of this sand inside the bag, but once I got it in my tank it really gave it some personality. The color is just right, it looks natural and my fish really seem to enjoy it. Must be washed and rewashed, and washed one more time for good measure to get most of the dust and floaties out, but otherwise it's pretty great. 10 pounds/2 bags filled the bottom of my 20 gal long, despite how small the bags appeared at first. Great product, will be purchasing more in the future.

Sand is beautiful. A bit beige mixed with white, but the crystals are still very pretty. A bit hard to wash without a hose, but a good few rinses in a bucket like washing rice, helped. Just don't dump the water in the drain as its bad if sand is stuck in the drains! I toss the cloudy water into the streets instead.I like the extra little packet of bio-magnet clarifier. It helped the water clear up faster. Nice touch.This filled a fair thin layer over half my elongated 35 gallon tank. You can see in photos. I will need 3 more bags if I want a thicker 1 inch layer to fill my entire tank. Luckily, half looks pretty enough. I have not tried cleaning it yet, so a bit worried that sand might get sucked in my pump. Guess I'll know on cleaning day.Hope it works out. ;)

My only regret is not getting more.This sand is the 2nd sheerest sand ive ever had and it's exactly what i needed.When i got it, i tried cleaning it but it barely needed to be cleaned! When i put it in the tank it was barely even cloudy. I'm so very pleased. Thank you!

I ordered this to make my succulent dirt mix. It’s very fine, which was exactly what I wanted. When I rinsed it, I did it in my two cup mesh strainer because I thought my colander holes would be too big.

Nice sand, lays out good, nice and tight. Leaves very little room for waste to settle into. It did stress my betta out, and pretty sure it gave the lil guy fin rot. I followed the instructions, except I waited 3 hours or so before adding my fish.

I bought this sand for my kuhli loaches for hiding. I did half gravel and half sand. I loved the sand so much I did the entire tank with sand. I used two bags for a 20 gallon but am ordering more. It didnt make the water cloudy the first time and a tiny bit cloudy the second time but cleared very quick. I opened the bag put it under the water and poured the sand it. Helped eliminate clouding and easier to control. very pleased with this sand