Is that a lemon mbuna, M; it is stunning......
One key to using sand is to wash the sand very well to get any light particles out of it. With either new sand or "dirty" sand I'm recycling from an existing tank, I place it in a bucket and fill the bucket with water. I then starts stirring the entire contents of the bucket to the point I have all the sand spinning around in the water column. Then quit stirring for a moment, then pour off everything that is still in the water column. Do this several times and you'll be left with just heavy sand that, even if stirred up in the tank, quickly settles back down. You have to wash the sand like this several times, and if you have lots of sand, you might have to do it in batches. Best done outside with a garden hose rather than getting sand down you drains inside the house.I say rocks, When u do a water change u will lose sand, plus sand is harder to clean...
Sorry but anyone with sand would disagree with you on both points there. Only way one would lose any appreciable amount of sand during a water change is if they don't know how to vacuum. And as for being harder to clean, nothing could be farther from the truth - sand keeps waste on the surface where it will often collect in certain areas, making cleaning a breeze.
You bring the end of the hose or tube to about a quarter inch above the sand and make a swirling motion. That will stir up any waste which will then be sucked out. It's finesse, whereas vacuuming gravel is brutish, jamming the vac to the bottom of the tank through the gravel. Often in a sand tank there will only be a few places that you ever have to vac because the water movement collects it there.
Sand only opens up your options. No limitations.
The moonlight sand is really nice. And expensive - $20 to $25 for a 20 lb bag.
My suggestion is to switch to a canister. Because of the way they are designed, they are impervious to sand. The moonlight sand is light enough to get kicked up into the water column by fish swimming on the bottom, like pictus. These suspended sand particles make their way to the strainer and can get deposited in the HOB motor, causing it to make all kinds of noise and possibly stop the impeller. I run an AC70 on that tank. It's really such a pain to keep the thing quiet. I have it in my extra room so I let it go making some noise. Just recently the metal piece that holds the impeller broke. Luckily I have extra motors on hand and just swapped it out. If you go with an HOB filter I would highly suggest jus buying a second motor. That way, when one gets noisy you can just swap it out for the other. Once the fouled motor dries out it's much easier to clean. It's very easy to swap out motors on aquaclear filters - for some brands it's not so easy, or even possible.
But a canister will provide you with peace and quiet.
Big tanks are awesome. How big were you thinking?
Sunset gold was my favorite sand. It went with the tank when I sold it :-( It's fine and very soft but not quite as fine as the moonlight sand...which is a good thing IMO. Minimal amount of sand is kicked up into the water column from fish, as opposed to a cloud with the moonlight.
For a 30 breeder I think you will need more than one bag.
Big tank like 200 gallons a 48 *48* 24 length *width* depth custom built wooden pallet stand. Will prolly start next summer. Will post pictures when I do it.