Black Sand

D

DaMenace

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Hello everyone! I was wondering if I could use any type of black sand as my substrate for my saltwater tank? I have crushed coral now but really thinking of switching since I feel like it looks too plain....
 
There are some sand mixes that have some black "sand." check with your LFS to see what they have. I know Caribsea has a mix with both. Some LFS like mid cities has tanks set up with the mixes.
 
I don't see why not. Hawaii has black beaches. You could use black diamond blasting grit from tractor supply store inexpensive.
 
Black sand looks awesome so long as it is 100% clean, kinda like a black car. If you want a black bottom on your tank I would spraypaint the bottom and not use any sand. I've seen a few SPS dominant tanks with a black barebottom and they are much nicer than my experience with the moon sand
 
@digital_gods wrote:
I don't see why not. Hawaii has black beaches. You could use black diamond blasting grit from tractor supply store inexpensive. said:
It wouldn't be sharp for like eels?
Click to expand...
 
It settles. We have it in tanks with catfish and loaches without issue. Just ask over on dfwfishbox.com and they will confirm it. The black diamond is made from coal slag. It does require good washing but you will be satisfied with the look of it.
 
Prob with black sand in reef tanks is that it is magnetic so when you have mag float some sand can get between the mag float and scratch the sides of the tank


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I had the Tahitian Moon sand in my tank years ago, it didn't stay clean and black looking in a reef environment. And yes, it'll stick to the mag float, too.
 
I bought some of that black diamond grit... Looks good but I am going to wash it today and start putting it in tomorrow. I'll let y'all know how it goes....
 
Take lots of pictures!

The stuff that floats, just net it out. If you do get a dust film from the initial setup, just use paper towel to wipe off the film.
 
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There goes the finale! Let me know what y'all think....
 
Hope you didn't use something like Black Beauti. As most Sandblasting sand has very little sharp pieces of Iron that rust out and might hurt corals. If you are going Fish only you should be good but wont be able to have inverts. GL.
 
Well it's called black diamond and I've had it set up with the sand and some rock for a few weeks with an eel and so far so good. Yes it's a fish only. I'm barely learning how to maintain for fish. I doubt I'll be able to do corals and such for a while. It seems too complicated. I put some cleaner shrimp and crabs and turbo snails in there yesterday and so far so good. Thanks for the heads up though... Do you have a reef tank?
 
It looks good Dennis, but Joe and Kuyatwo are correct. The reasons they mentioned are the reasons I choose not to use Black sand in my setup.
 
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