i am going to be buying a new tank by the end of the summer (90 gallon) and i have been tossing around the idea of using black sand. only thing i have come across was a few people telling me that the black sand is magnetic and will screw up my vortech, any truth to this? if so which type of black sand would you guys recommend.
black sand
- Thread starter Jarrett
- Start date
- Location
- Howell, NJ
Dont do it. It will look like garbage after a few months.
- Location
- Howell, NJ
Do you have a good clean up crew? Sand sifting stars, snails and sand eatting gobies
- Location
- long island
Did you ever think of going bare bottom? You can increase the flow in the tank by 40% which is better for the corals.
Just a thought
Just a thought
yea i was tossing around both ideas bare bottom or black sand, i deff dont want to do white sand again. i do have a clean up crew but they don't get the job done well enough for me. only problem with bare bottom is i have an engineer goby that i don't want to part with, i don't know if he will be able to burrow under anything if i go bare bottom. i guess no one heard about black sand being magnetic and screwing up vortech pumps? i thought it was kind of random and weird but figured id ask.
Good advice, that what exactly do I do now, go back on bare bottom, i was running 6 years w/No problem, dosing Carbon, like Biopellets ,Vodka,Vinegar,Vitamin C etc. and lots of sand , not good, in special DSB (that my opinion). Very good point about "increase the flow in the tank" means, more food around Corals, more O2, more clean tank, less chance for "detritus factory", more health for tank, corals grow strong, even Monti grow more 3D, more vertical. Yes is Not looking the Best , but is healthy and free of problems.
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- Location
- long island
Jarret,
I would buy a container that can hold sand and add some rocks over it the goby will hang out in there.
I would buy a container that can hold sand and add some rocks over it the goby will hang out in there.
I had a nano (16) running with 'live' black sand.
1. I transfered 50% of the water from my main tank and 4 medium sized rocks that had been in there, plus added a bag of the sand from my dt in a pouch to the back of the nano.
waited 2-3 wks expecting that I could put coral in, no problem..i I put kenya tree in to test...nope. died in 2 days. Didnt expect that as I've set up mini tanks the same way before using the reg aragalive sand with no problems.
I don't know if it was the sand or something I did but I've set up tanks like that before with no problem.
2. after 3 months of running the system, the kenya test babies were fine and I had only 3 clowns and some macro.
the sand was gross looking.
any possible thing that was on the sand bed made it look gross.
I had more nassarius snails and nerites than really necessary in a low stock 16g too.
it looked nice in the beginning though.
1. I transfered 50% of the water from my main tank and 4 medium sized rocks that had been in there, plus added a bag of the sand from my dt in a pouch to the back of the nano.
waited 2-3 wks expecting that I could put coral in, no problem..i I put kenya tree in to test...nope. died in 2 days. Didnt expect that as I've set up mini tanks the same way before using the reg aragalive sand with no problems.
I don't know if it was the sand or something I did but I've set up tanks like that before with no problem.
2. after 3 months of running the system, the kenya test babies were fine and I had only 3 clowns and some macro.
the sand was gross looking.
any possible thing that was on the sand bed made it look gross.
I had more nassarius snails and nerites than really necessary in a low stock 16g too.
it looked nice in the beginning though.
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- Location
- Hamilton NJ
I had black sand in a pico once, very bad idea...
First month it looked like a showroom tank!
Then it looked gross after several months, just debris and whatever else.
First month it looked like a showroom tank!
Then it looked gross after several months, just debris and whatever else.
- Location
- Deer Park,Long Island,11729
- Location
- Long Island
There was just a thread here about this and i posted many pics from my previous tanks..let me try to find it...
- Location
- Long Island
Here it is
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/149404-black-sand.html
Ive had it on my 20 gal for very long, no issues. Had it on my 80, liked it. Just switched to white now because i had an emergency(nephew threw play dough in my tank killing lots of corals overnight) and i ran to the lfs and only found white(which i like too).
The main thing is there is three types of black sand.
1- A really fine one that is horrible, makes a mess and goes in your pumps;
2- another (hawaiian black by caribsea )which is ok, but the new batches are coming with lots of fine white mixed on the bottom of the bag, and the size of the sand is kind of fine too which makes it a bit messy, /you end up with a black/white look
3- the one ive had before which is also caribsea, but the grains are larger, sort of like small pebble size. They are pitch black and the appearance is awesome. They used to come more in the small 10lbs bags, and when i ordered that size, the right kind would come. When i ordered 20lbs, the fine/white sand mixed one would arrive...
Here is a pic of my tank with it on its best days, around 6 months after the tank was set up:
This is the kind you want, with bigger granules
When i had it in my 80 Gal:
If my LFS had the right black type when i went looking after the emergency WC, sand change, i would 100% ditch the white for it.
But if it is not the correct kind, dont do it. Just like with anything in this hobby, you must really look for what you want. Sometimes it pays off. The color pop with black sand is unmatched.
Hope that helped!
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/149404-black-sand.html
Ive had it on my 20 gal for very long, no issues. Had it on my 80, liked it. Just switched to white now because i had an emergency(nephew threw play dough in my tank killing lots of corals overnight) and i ran to the lfs and only found white(which i like too).
The main thing is there is three types of black sand.
1- A really fine one that is horrible, makes a mess and goes in your pumps;
2- another (hawaiian black by caribsea )which is ok, but the new batches are coming with lots of fine white mixed on the bottom of the bag, and the size of the sand is kind of fine too which makes it a bit messy, /you end up with a black/white look
3- the one ive had before which is also caribsea, but the grains are larger, sort of like small pebble size. They are pitch black and the appearance is awesome. They used to come more in the small 10lbs bags, and when i ordered that size, the right kind would come. When i ordered 20lbs, the fine/white sand mixed one would arrive...
Here is a pic of my tank with it on its best days, around 6 months after the tank was set up:
This is the kind you want, with bigger granules
When i had it in my 80 Gal:
If my LFS had the right black type when i went looking after the emergency WC, sand change, i would 100% ditch the white for it.
But if it is not the correct kind, dont do it. Just like with anything in this hobby, you must really look for what you want. Sometimes it pays off. The color pop with black sand is unmatched.
Hope that helped!
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