• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Best aquascaping sand? Opinions please.

Joined
22 Mar 2012
Messages
3,156
Location
Richmond, North Yorkshire, UK
Hey,

Was going to buy some 'standard' aquarium sand the other day, but want something a little more natural.

Was thinking ADA forest or Unipac Fiji?

Can anyone post up photos of sand substrates with what it is, to make my decision a little easier :)

Cheers,
 
Hey nath I've never used Ada sands but unipac do a nice range :) I used Senegal in my shrimp nano if you look at the later images Ian holdich uses tana in his signature scape my lfs just got some big bags in and I'm itching to rescape with sand foreground for the price I would go with the unipac.

Hey tim,
Thanks for taking the time to reply mate. Do you know if Maidenhead Aquatic branches stock unipac? As I could go to their Stokesley branch tomorrow :)

Cheers,
 
My local MA does, can be hit and miss on bag sizes though maybe ring them first see what they have In stock.

Will go have a look I think anyway, if nothing else will be worth a look round :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: tim
Unipac sands are great IMO. I have used a few now and they are as good as the Ada sands with a fraction of the price. I'm using tana sand at the moment. It's in my journal.
 
For what it's worth.
Fiji Coarse (3mm), they do a smaller 'fine' as well
8458213015_5f8dbaa01f.jpg

8459312990_8d7d7bac12.jpg

I've not had much experience with other sands, except play sand.
This is nice to plant in.Enough 'give' when planting the M.Hirsuta & no floaters.
I like the variation in colour.
HTH
 
Unipac sands are great IMO. I have used a few now and they are as good as the Ada sands with a fraction of the price. I'm using tana sand at the moment. It's in my journal.

I thought as much mate. As long as its got a nice look and doesnt raise hardness, it'll be right for me.

Thanks for replying :)

For what it's worth.
Fiji Coarse (3mm), they do a smaller 'fine' as well
8458213015_5f8dbaa01f.jpg

8459312990_8d7d7bac12.jpg

I've not had much experience with other sands, except play sand.
This is nice to plant in.Enough 'give' when planting the M.Hirsuta & no floaters.
I like the variation in colour.
HTH

Thats great Stu! That is more or less the look I want, a mixed palette of creams with the odd Gray and brown. Looks very natural to me.

Does it raise your KH or TDS?

Cheers,
 
No idea about the KH or TDS, sorry.
I don't test for either.There's nothing sensitive in there.
The Rummys usually have good colour, so that's good enough for me.
 
I was concerned about which of Unipacs sands might affect water hardness and according to their techy guy Maui, Fiji and Samoa are the only ones guaranteed not to contain traces of dolomite. However, planted tanks have high water changes so I am not sure if the other sands would really cause a problem. I like the look of senegal.
 
Hello chaps,

Well, Ive kind of gone against the grain (Giggidy) here. Although there was loads of unipac colours, I couldnt decide in the end. I liked the Maui but they didnt have it in fine grade.

So I ended up with two bags of JBL's Sansibar - River colour.

zy7ubyju.jpg


Which specifically states it wont affect water hardness. Ideal.

Anyone had experience with this before?
Cheers,
 
Back
Top