Carib Sea ACS05839 Super Natural Sunset Gold Sand for Aquarium, 5-Pound

I was skeptical about buying sand for my aquarium. I’ve always heard that it’s difficult to deal with and makes your water cloudy.After some time with it, that’s not the case at all! It’s great, it does take a couple rinses to wash out any excess dust or dirt but it holds up very well. The Ph doesn’t change and the water is crystal clear. Even if my corys start rustling throw the bottom, the sand floats right back down. Love it, great product.

The sand is very soft and it has the color of sand in a creek stream or brown water beach. Very pleasant to look at, and it goes well with darker substrates like Fluval Shrimp or Flourite Dark. I did rinse it a little bit, the tank still got cloudy but was cleaned up quickly by the filter.

It's a nice sand color. It's not as... yellow as I had feared. It's a nice 'warm white-tan' color that isn't as start against dark brown planting substrates. Since it is a warm-toned sand it makes green plants really pop in an aquascape. I'd share a picture but... the snails are poop monsters and I'm not cleaning the sand until tomorrow.It's just a good natural color.

I like the way it looks in the tank! It definitely requires ALOT of washing before it goes in the tank because it has a lot of dust, that’s the only reason it’s not 5 star. It does however have a tank clearing liquid included that helps settle the cloudy water once added which was nice.

Rinse this -- a lot -- and you won't have any issues. I have a pico tank with this sand, a piece of soft sea fan coral, and Marimo in it. Before I added the Marimo, I washed the sand for a good 20 or so minutes before the water ran clear. I put the sand I wanted to use into the tank (easy enough for me to do because of the small size of the tank, but the same concept would work just fine in a Homer bucket) and then ran cold water over it, using my hands to constantly move the sand. Yes, I lost a teeny bit of sand, but those are the pieces that would otherwise be floating in your tank, so best to flush them out right away. Now every time I do a water change, I can just run the water straight into the tank and not worry about upsetting the sand base because the water doesn't cloud up at all. I think the reviewers who complain about cloudy water haven't cleaned it thoroughly before setting up their tank. It does take time, but it's not difficult and it's just a matter of moving the sand as you move water through it until the sand stops floating up to the top.The photo I've included is of my Marimo tank after a full water change as described above (just running water full blast into the tank). The photo was taken about 5 minutes after the change was complete. The specs are micro air bubbles on the inside of the tank, but the water is crystal clear.

I have not "used" the product yet, but I have it sitting in a cycling tank. I am confident that my fish are going to love this sand. I've used play sand before which was kind of rough and my cories and kuhlis didn't like it so much, the cories liked to dig but the kuhlis would never burrow. With this sand I think that my kuhlis and cories will both love it. I'll have to do more research for the cories though, I get conflicting information to if they prefer sand or gravel but mine seem to dig more in sand so I think they like sand more. This is completely worth every cent. Will be buying more of this brand whenever I can get more tanks.

love this sand! but its way to expensive. you can get it way cheaper from pet smart and other sources.but as a pure review of this sand as a product, its great. excellent color, looks beautiful in my tank. I will say that it takes ages to clean, so make sure you rinse it well before putting it in the tank so it doesn't cloud your water. its really soft, which is nice because i have cory cats.for reference i used this sand in my 20 gallon long for about a 2-3 cm sand cap. i got a 20 lb bag and i have lots left over, i think it could have been fine with 10 to 15 pounds., but i like to have extra.if you don't mind this price, go ahead, the sand is great quality. but you can find it cheaper else wear if you have those options available to you.Update: I returned the product, but I was charged almost $9 for return shipping! i have never been charged for return shipping on amazon before, very annoying.

It was delivered promptly and was the product that was advertised.