CaribSea sands

I've read great reviews of both; the Super Naturals seem to require quite a bit of washing. Is there any reason to choose it over the other anyway?

It looks like not everything came through on the previous message.

I'm looking at CaribSea Instant Aquarium Moonlight(white) Beach (something like that) with the bacteria-laden water vs the CaribSea Super Naturals white sand. The latter seems to require a fair amount of washing, per reviews I've read.

Is there a reason to pick it anyway?

The two kinds of sand are sold by different stores, so I can't get a direct comparison of reviews to figure it out.

Oh well!

What are you trying to do with the products?

I want to change to white sand to:

• provide Penelope the chance to put sand in her mouth and spit it out as goldfish and others seem to like doing;
  lighten up the tank;
  allow food to stay on the top of the substrate, easier for her to get her food than with the large pebbles that lightly cover the bottom and that I'm afraid may be a little difficult on her face;
  have a better substrate to secure the plants;
  if I can vacuum with my Eheim vacuum, it will be easier to keep the tank cleaner between water changes;
  make it easier for the Malaysian trumpet snails to get around and in the substrate

.

I also would like to provide help in cycling, which I think the instant aquarium sand would do, because I have seen that some people have White Mountain minnows in their goldfish tanks and that might be fun to see, but I assume they'd need a little more cycled tank than the goldfish. The only problem I've had is that when I've used the black Eco-Complete there has been black dust coming up forever. I ended up tearing down a tank full of it because it always looked murky.

One person said the white sand with the good bacteria in it had a milky tone for awhile. I'd not really like that; I want it clear as I can get it.

I've ordered the sand with the good bacteria water, but I can return at the local Petco, and the plain sand is in the store at PetSmart.

If I like the sand, I may use it in the 40 gal breeder when I set it up.


Eventually I'd like to give Penelope an Oranda buddy, probably a red and black with fun markings and a gentle but cute personality, but she's pretty happy with her tank right now and maybe I want to wait until I can put her into a bigger tank.