Using Black Sand

[jbarre03]

Anyone use Black Sand. If so whats the pro's and con's in your opinion

[Bruleyii]

I have a black stand. The pros are it matches my furniture and that the only way my girlfriend would allow it. Cons are it shows more chemicals and salt. Probably needs cleaned a bit more.

[jbarre03]

lol I said sand. Trying to figure out the difference between white a black live sand 

[Bruleyii]

oops! my bad.   

[Mattiejay6]

Lol! The only problem I had with black sand is it would stick to my algae magnet when cleaning glass.

[surf&turf]

Lol! The only problem I had with black sand is it would stick to my algae magnet when cleaning glass.

 

+1

[jbarre03]

I've read that. Is that all black sand or just certain kinds? What about mixing black and white together?

[jbarre03]

oops! my bad.   

All good gave me a good laugh 

[eddiev0008]

I heard with black sand u have to clean it a lot more to keep it looking nice

 

 

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[eddiev0008]

I was thinking of doing black sand as well on a nano tank I'm trying to build but everyone keeps saying to stay with white much easier to clean plus you can see if you start having algae issues much faster . My 70 gallon has white sand

 

 

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[jbarre03]

Yeah my 38 has white to. I'm looking at 40 pounds of white and 20 of black for my 93

 

 

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[aggarza]

I have black sand in my biocube. the pros are it looks great when its clean. the cons are that certain grains do stick to magnets, the shiny parts, and it does have to be kept clean. the white sands can hide the detritus and poo and stuff. the black sand can't. on a side note, i just upgraded to an epoxied black sand. this got rid of the magnet issues along with the high flow issues i was having. and since every grain is encased in epoxy, not nitrate/phosphate issues.

[jbarre03]

 

I'm thinking about mixing this with some white sand. Anyone ever used it. I heard the Hawaiian sand sticks to metal but nothing about this one

 

 

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[aggarza]

this is what i have. it also has volcanic elements that will stick to magnets. they are shiny little specks in the sand. the bigger bits won't stick.

[jbarre03]

I have black sand in my biocube. the pros are it looks great when its clean. the cons are that certain grains do stick to magnets, the shiny parts, and it does have to be kept clean. the white sands can hide the detritus and poo and stuff. the black sand can't. on a side note, i just upgraded to an epoxied black sand. this got rid of the magnet issues along with the high flow issues i was having. and since every grain is encased in epoxy, not nitrate/phosphate issues.

Where did you find the black sand that doesn't have the magnet issue

[Epic Reefer]

I have black sand in my biocube. the pros are it looks great when its clean. the cons are that certain grains do stick to magnets, the shiny parts, and it does have to be kept clean. the white sands can hide the detritus and poo and stuff. the black sand can't. on a side note, i just upgraded to an epoxied black sand. this got rid of the magnet issues along with the high flow issues i was having. and since every grain is encased in epoxy, not nitrate/phosphate issues.

 

 

Any pics of this? Would love to see

[aggarza]

Where did you find the black sand that doesn't have the magnet issue

 

Sorry, should have clarified. The epoxy itself encapsulates the individual grains, I then placed it in a form to mimic the shape of the biocube and it cured into a single large piece. The final product looks like a 1" thick black rice crispy treat. Because it is all stuck together, grains getting stuck in the magnet are no longer an issue. Once in the tank it looks like a thin layer of sand, and my powerhead shoots directly onto the sandbed and prevents detritus with no flurries.

 

Any pics of this? Would love to see

 

Yeah I posted the project in my thread awhile back, but I never posted finished pics, this pic shows it before I place in tank. The dimples are to hold the rockwork in place.  The second pic shows the scape. I did rotate the big rock about 2 inches to the right in the pic to fit right in the dimple.

 

 

 

[YHSublime]

I like that above!

 

I have black sand in a nano. I like it. It sets the RBTA's off, and seeing as they are the only things in the tank... that helps.

[Epic Reefer]

Very cool.

[jbarre03]

That's really cool

 

 

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[SunWyrm]

I use black sand in all my tanks. I won't go back to white. Makes all the corals pop and I've never had to clean it to keep it looking nice, unlike white sand that turns funky colors.