Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reef Substrate, 8 lbs

This was perfect for my 10 gallon saltwater tank. I wanted about a 1 inch layer on the bottom of my tank, and this was perfect-especially for the dwarf seahorses I am about to get. You may want to get something that sifts sand, though (I am getting blue legged hermit crabs at $0.40 each). Arrived earlier than expected, which was great, because my seahorses arrived a little less than a week later. Thumbs up to this product. Arrived like expected in physical appearances, besides the fact that there where broken seashells and almost-microscopic mini shells buried deep-plus about an inch-long branch of live rock.Update;Hermit crabs love it, and so do dwarf seahorses.Hope this review was helpful, answered any and all questions you may have, and anyone who is skeptical of this product due to negative reviews changed their minds about buying this product.

I bought this sand for my refugium connected to my 75 gallon reef tank. It is a nice substrate that did not cloud the water longer than an hour after adding it (I have had other sand substrates cloud the water for days, literally). I had no problems planting my macros into the sand, and the piece of live rock that I placed on top has already seeded the sand with pods. My refugium looks great and is the perfect addition to my healthy reef tank.

Mine arrived in the original bag, inside of another bag. There was no hole or any damage to the original bag. It was still plenty "wet" and appeared to be exactly what I thought I'd get. It was 8.55 lbs of small shell pieces and fine sand. It in finer than the CaribSea aragonite pink sand that I previously had, but settled in less than 12 hours.Make sure to actually open the bag before you decide it's dried out. The liquid is hard to see near the top of the bag. You'll notice it more near the bottom.For the price, it's a good deal. I can't speak for instant cycling ability, yet, because I plan to do tests this evening after placing it in the tank last night.

I like how there are small shells mixed in with this sand. I bought this to add more sand to certain areas of my 120-gallon reef tank. I do not have the cloudiness issues others seems to be having - I used a large fish net to carefully lower the sand into the tank, with all the pumps turned off.

The picture of the bag makes it look like this product is mostly larger chunks of shells/coral/stone. The bag I received DID contain some of this, but mostly it's an extremely fine powder that I'd call "silt" or "dust" rather than sand. Even the slightest disturbance to the sediment kicks up plumes of particles that take days to settle back to the bottom. I really don't understand how anyone is using this successfully - even adding a piece of décor or doing a partial water change makes it look like the tank is full of milk rather than water.Maybe I got a bad batch, or maybe I missed something because this is my first time with live substrate. Also it IS a very small (10 gallon) tank. I am going to try putting a layer of heavier gravel over top of it, to see if that helps keep it in place. Fortunately I haven't added any fish to the tank yet, because I may have to just drain the whole thing and start over - contrary to the "No Waiting!" promises made by the manufacturer.

When they say "instant cycle", they meant it. Tank was cycled within three days. One bag was leaking a bit, so I would suggest timing the delivery for the day you need it.

I was very disappointed in the substrate and glad I only ordered 8 lbs! It has a mix of fine sand ald larger pieces of all types of shell. Looks starge once you spread it out, you end up seeing the shells rise to the top of sand and some of the little broken shells are orange, black in color, so the orange little pieces makes it so I have a hard time distinguishing from whats left over fish food thats fallen to the sand. I am always turkey basting leftover food and I cant tell whats what! Looked beautiful in the window of bag but not when you lay it down. Looks just like the first pic with all the shells on top of sand!

Pretty awesome product! I ordered 2 bags for my reef aquarium and it did just the job. It has a random assortment of little shells and stuff in it so it gives it a more natural ocean look.