Carib Sea ACS00223 African Ivory Coast Sand for Aquarium, 20-Pound

A#1

I replaced silicone sand with this gravel. I kept going through impellers on my HOB filters with the lighter sand so I figured Id spend more money for some heavier sand that doesnt get kicked up as much. Unfortunately, ever since I introduced this substrate into my tank it killed everything. I thought I had a disease, or that I lost my cycle, but I had already taken extra filter media out of one of my other tanks to help with the load. So I drained my tank for a few months and started all over. I recycled the take over about 4 weeks with ammonia and after I felt I had enough bacteria, I introduced about 7 cichlids in. Within 3 weeks all of them were dead. After some further research there were a few others that had similar experiences with this substrate, specifically, the one with any black sand in it. I came back to amazon and the reviews seemed pretty good so figured I had something else going in. Just to see I removed all of this and I purchased white natural geographic substrate and recycled my tank. I finally have a healthy tank of fish again. I cant say for sure that this substrate caused all my problems and cost me hundreds of dollars in lost fish but it sure seemed like it. If you decide to stick with the brand, perhaps stay away from the mixed colors.

Glad Im not the only one who has had this issue. I thought maybe that was just how it was but now that I have done more research I realize sometimes you get good sand and sometimes you get garbage like this. I am now in the process of slowly removing cup by cup of this black gravel and replacing with actual sand. I would guess a third of the product is this black gravel and its magnetic. FUN when it sticks to a wavemaker magnet on your acrylic tank.

This is a decent substrate. Ive had this sand in a 150 gallon cichlid tank for a about a year with no issues. Fairly easy to clean. Looks nice with holey rock. One word of caution to my fellow hobbyists, the black granules in this substrate are made of a ferrous material that will cling to magnetic glass cleaners. Be careful that you dont scratch your glass accidentally.

Nice substrate

Awesome product! Awesome seller. I will be changing my other cichlid tank over to this sand!

I initially rinsed 3 bags of this sand thoroughly [in the bag] several times before adding to my 55 gallon tank. After adding to my tank and adding the water, it remains cloudy. After a couple days it did settle, but any slight movement of the sand clouds the tank back up considerably. The first fish I transferred to this the tank died so I started over with the rinsing. I have been filling this tank and draining it now more times than I can count over the period of a year, trying to get it somewhat cleared up. But no matter how many times I rinse it says just as cloudy as milk like when I first got it. I have not been able to enjoy this new tank that I set up over a year ago. Today I give up and accept the fact that I wasted $100 on this crap. I have never had these problems with regular old filter sand from the hardware store. I bought this just because I liked the look of the black and white sand but I am utterly disappointed. I am throwing this crap out and going back to the basics. Just a warning if milky looking tank water bothers you.

No está bueno se me murieron mis pescaos

This company rocks lol

Sand cleaned up pretty easily and the water clarified in the tank within 6 hours.