- Today on BRStv Investigates, do you really get more sand
when buying it dry versus buying it wet?
And if so, is it worth the cost savings?
(upbeat music)
Hi I'm Randy with this Friday's BRStv Investigates
where we put popular reefing gear, theories,
and methods to test by experimenting
on our own tanks, so you don't have to experiment on yours.
And in today's experiment, we begin
a new testing series that dives into aquarium sand
where we hope to answer questions
like how much sand do you need?
Will dry or wet sand cycle the tank faster?
What makes up the brown gunk
when we stir up our sand bed, and more.
Today, we're kicking it all off
with a quick and simple experiment of dry versus wet sand,
where by the pound it appears that 40 pounds
of dry sand works out to be about 36% less cost
than 40 pounds of similar type wet sand.
But that's dry versus wet, and not the whole story.
Today, we look to answer two questions.
First, how much sand do you really get
once both dry and wet sand are options are damp?
And within that, how much savings per pound
does that work out to be?
So with that, here's the breakdown for today's test.
For today's comparison test, we chose 40 pounds
of our two most popular types of dry and wet sand
with CaribSea's Fiji Pink, which is a finer sand grain
and Special Grade sand, which is
what most would consider to be a medium sand grade.
We're gonna take a look at the differences
in the amount of sand for each type from two angles.
Where in the first test we conducted
a visual comparison by placing each sand type side by side
in 18 X 18 inch cube tanks, added equal amounts of water
to each and then spread the sand out as evenly as possible
to take an average sand bed height measurement for each one.
For the second test, we look at
the total weight for each sand type
after draining each tank and filtering out
the standing water from the sand
by using large mesh filter socks.
We drain the residual water from each sample
until the sand was damp, and water stopped flowing
from the sock, then weighed each one.
I think most of you watching this will likely agree
with my hypothesis here that no doubt
we'll see more sand per pound
in the dry bags versus the wet.
But how much exactly should we expect?
And then, in future tests what does that mean
when choosing the right amount of sand the first time?
Let's take a look at the data that we found.
Okay, starting with the first test
for today's experiment we see that
in all four 25 gallon cube tanks
40 pounds of sand went pretty far.
With each one creating around a two inch sand bed or more.
Taking a look at the first pair of sand types
with 40 pounds of dry and wet Fiji Pink sand
although they look to be visually similar
and pretty close at first glance,
we measured a 20% difference in sand bed depth
between the two where the 40 pound bag
of Fiji Pink dry sand created a 2.75 inch sand bed
while 40 pounds of Fiji Pink wet created
a 2.19 inch sand bed.
As for 40 pounds each of wet and dry Special Grade sand,
visually there's a pretty stark contrast between them.
And, in this case, assumedly 33% less sand
in the wet bag of Special Grade, measuring 1.94 inches,
whereas Special Grade dry sand created a 2.89 inch sand bed.
Interestingly enough, it looks as though
the much smaller grain size of Fiji Pink
is what allows for more sand grains by volume
over Special Grade to fit in the bag.
But let's find out if that same hold true
when we drain them and compare their packaged weights
to how much they weigh when damp.
Staring with the Fiji Pink dry versus wet sand comparison.
First, again, we found the dry bag of sand
to have around 20% more weight than the wet sand
where it went from 40.6 pounds in its packaging
to 44.54 pounds after being drained and damp.
The Fiji Pink wet sand started at 40.8 pounds
in two 20 pound packages, but after filtering out
the water it wound up losing 5 1/2 pounds down to 35.33.
Moving onto the Special Grade sand weight test.
This time, there was only 23% difference between the two
where dry Special Grade started at 40.8
and ended at 42.43 pounds.
Whereas the wet Special Grade started
at 40.5 pounds packaged and ended at 32.86.
So, again, about 23% less sand by weight.
So how much sand do you really get
once both dry and wet sand options
are damp from weight alone, and depending
on the grain size you choose?
In our case here, there's a range of
about five pounds to almost 10 pounds difference
between the dry sand over the wet.
What does that mean in terms of savings per pound?
In our experiment, once they're damp
the dry Fiji Pink sand works out to be $1.12 per pound
whereas the wet works out to be $2.21 per pound
or just over $1.09 total savings.
For the Special Grade cost per pound difference
that savings is slightly more when you purchase dry sand,
coming in at almost $1.20 per pound saved.
So for those cost minded reefers
this savings of over a buck per pound is pretty compelling.
However, for those looking for bacteria laden sand,
from the start that additional cost may not be
as much of a concern, especially when it comes
to how much you actually need
to create a one or two inch sand bed,
which by the time we're done thoroughly testing sand
we'll have that answer and more right over here
on this reef tank sand playlist.