Haha, yes! I waded through months of sand agony before I finally decided to buy quikrete brand tube sand from menards. It was a great price, and I liked that there was a lot of variation in granule size - I felt like it made for a more natural look. I have a picture of it in my 20gal thread.
Something I learned during my searches on sand was that not all quikrete is the same. They use regional sand mills (is that what they are called lol), so depending on what the rock in your area is like may or may not alter your pH / hardness. For example, in some coastal areas, quikrete is made up at least in part of crushed coral (probably depends on the sand type you are buying as well), so best to do a test in water after a few days / week to see what effects it has.
Additionally, Estes marine sands are painted sands that come in every color and are safe for fresh and saltwater use. Their brands are sold in virtually every single chain pet store and LFS, so they should be able to order you the color you want if you'd like something specific. It will be pricier than hardware store sand however, but should not break the bank for a 20.
Finally, especially with hardware store sand, be prepared to wash the bejesus out of your sand. The "formula" I came up with was to use a 5gal bucket and using a sour cream container as a scoop, I would do 1-3 scoops of sand (I was not very consistent haha) and then blast it with the garden hose for maximum agitation. When the bucket was full, I would dump out the water (some people say to wait for the sand to settle for 5-10sec first, but I wanted to get rid of the tiniest particles so they are now in my garden). Then I would repeat about 5x/ bucket. I still ended up with cloudy water and a week after I was set up with the sand ended up washing my entire filter under the tap because it was full of what looked like brown silt/mud. I hadn't started cycling because I was sort of expecting that to happen so no loss except time.
Overall, though, I'm happy with how my 20 ended up. I used about 3.5 gallons of sand for it, and in retrospect should have put in more since I think the plant roots would be happier in a slightly deeper substrate,but I figure I can always add more!
Interested to hear what you decide!!
