The best substrate for inverts?

[AyeAye]

I just bought a reef tank and after set up I would like to get some crabs, shrimp snails in the appropriate future. However I recently bought a fine sand substrate for the tank but it appears to have metallic (flat) grains some of which look copper in colour. It might be something else entirely but I can't tell if it is really copper or not. And am afraid to put it in. Can anyone tell me if pet stores typically supply sand substrate with copper content?

Many thx

 

[Bifferwine]

If you bought aquarium sand, it won't have copper in it. The bag should have said aragonite sand.

 

[Smitty]

Can you post a picture of the package so we can see it?

 

[AyeAye]

This is the item and store I got it from. all the information about it in the link below.


Sand Mix Aquarium Gravel 8kg by Pets at Home | Pets at Home

I looked up the aragonite sand, sounds like a better option...

 

[kevdogg]

I would go with the aragonite sand. the reviews don't look so good online and it seems like most people are using it for FW setups. At least with the aragonite we know that it is just ground up rock, the same rock that we would use as our live rock. :twocents:

 

[Bifferwine]

The sand you bought says it's made from silicates. That can lead to algae problems (specifically, an algae called diatoms) in saltwater. If it's not too much trouble, I'd buy aragonite sand instead.

 

[AyeAye]

Ok, I was sold at "diatoms."

Thanks very much.