Easy to vac substraight?

[JustinKScott]

I have a planted 180g using floramax and playsand. Now starting a new 3tiered waterfall. I'm not happy with the playsand/max mix. Yeah, it was cheap; but it looks terrible.

I don't like the brown/tan color. I want a white 'beach' look.

I'm also not happy with the difficulty of using a gravel vac. It just sucks up the sand and the waste. I tried just not vac'ing; but that makes it look worse.

What can I do to get the look i want and still have a planted tank? Is there a pea size white substraight I can use that plants will love?

 

[JustinKScott]

I've tried multiple tiers before, any way to avoid that and just have one single substraight?