Black Sand vs. Fiji Pink

[kinetic]

Can you give me some advantages and disadvantages of Black Sand? Regular white / fiji pink sand?

 

I'm considering going for black sand in my next setup, 82gallons. Here are some advantages / disadvantages I'm thinking about, though I know there are more.

 

1. If it happens to get a bit dirty, harder to notice than on white sand. Ideally of course you should have enough flow going everywhere to eliminate dead spots. But still.

 

2. It provides a lot more contrast with your colorful corals and fish!

 

3. Looks very original, and taking pictures of corals etc., you won't be getting that extra bright glare from white sand.

 

 

 

Some questions:

1. Can you get black sand as fine as the usual special grade aragalive etc?

2. Does it provide the same advantages as fiji pink and arag?

3. What disadvantages does it have over fiji pink?

4. Maybe I should go BB with a black colored bottom?

 

Thanks!

[kinetic]

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...ategory_id=1677

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...ategory_id=2409

 

the first doesn't look too black to me? The second is really black. Any idea what grade it is?

[SaltCreep]

I have the tihitian(sp?) moon sand in my tank. It is pretty fine grains I'd say like sugar sized. Sure you notice things on it easier but to me that's one of the biggest benefits. No second guessing where in the tank gunk is collecting. Syphon the crap out and your back to pure black sand and a clean bed.

[kinetic]

I have the tihitian(sp?) moon sand in my tank. It is pretty fine grains I'd say like sugar sized. Sure you notice things on it easier but to me that's one of the biggest benefits. No second guessing where in the tank gunk is collecting. Syphon the crap out and your back to pure black sand and a clean bed.

 

any pictures?

[apophis924]

Go with the indo-pacific black. it is not all black more like a mixture of black and white, But it looks very nice and nautral. The black adds a very good visual contrast to your tank bottom. As far as the Tihitian moon. It is all black and looks great UNITL waste and detrius starts to accumulate. Plus the sand is so fine that it took me days before it all settled. even after repeated rinsing. If you are planning a high water flow set up, this tihitan moon stuff will makle a small dust storm. It looks great but it is too high MX and a PIA for my taste. I use the indo pacific black it looks good and works great. But to each his own.

[Brokken]

I have the Tahitian Moon Sand in my tank. Didn't take long to rinse and within a day or so any sediment that was left in the sand had settled. Some people don't like the look of it, but I think it's very cool and a nice contrast against the rock.

One thing: Black tends to absorb light so that your tank may not look as well-lit as it would with white sand.

[JGard]

I have that black pacific sand, which is black and white. I'm running PC 130W, one 10k and one Actinic

http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/data/500/TankNov.jpg

[bpatrol]

is that black sand calcium based? i think its silica based and will not help with ph buffering and breaking down waste..so consider it dead sand..looks nice though but it shows and crap on it like a black car would.....

 

I have that black pacific sand, which is black and white. I'm running PC 130W, one 10k and one Actinic

http://www.nano-reef.com/gallery/data/500/TankNov.jpg

[JGard]

is that black sand calcium based? i think its silica based and will not help with ph buffering and breaking down waste..so consider it dead sand..looks nice though but it shows and crap on it like a black car would.....

 

It was bagged as live sand when I bought it...

 

But yeah, it does show crap fairly easily.

[kinetic]

I guess I'll stay away from the black sand in my 82 gallon. but for my 4 gallon nano I might consider it, since I will only 4 snails and 2 hermits, and one goby/shrimp.

 

any pix of tahitian moon?

[Lingwendil]

All my nano's up to now have been black sand, and I actually think I'll change to LS now. The black does provide nice contrast, and crap stands out very well so you can clean, as shown in this pic:

[adinsxq]

calcite dissolves best at a mid 7 pH while aragonite continually reacts with the bio-film layer to somewhat help replenish dissolved calcium ions at pH 8.2

[Darold]

I have fiji pink in my 20L, and Black "Tahitian Moon" sand in my 5.5g. The black sand shows debris considerably. It is also very very fine grain, so if you plan on having a lot of flow, I would suggest a black painted barebottom. Black sand with a black background makes white xenia or other bright colors look really dramatic. fairly bland GSP and mushrooms look radioactive (not due to lighting).

 

Old pic, and actinics are on, but here is the debris buildup with Tahition moon sand:

[Brokken]

I guess I'll stay away from the black sand in my 82 gallon. but for my 4 gallon nano I might consider it, since I will only 4 snails and 2 hermits, and one goby/shrimp.

 

any pix of tahitian moon?

 

 

Unfortunately, you can't see much of the sand given the coraline and the fact that most of my bed is covered with zoanthid and ricordea mats.

But what I CAN see looks nice.

[kinetic]

 

Unfortunately, you can't see much of the sand given the coraline and the fact that most of my bed is covered with zoanthid and ricordea mats.

But what I CAN see looks nice.

 

LOL at that point it doesn't really matter sweet tank tho

[kinetic]

i think i'm going with tahitian for my 5 gallon =)

 

i'll do weekly water changes, so my calcium should be fine. plus i'm only keeping softies and maybe one or two LPS.

[reefman23]

is that black sand calcium based? i think its silica based and will not help with ph buffering and breaking down waste..so consider it dead sand..looks nice though but it shows and crap on it like a black car would.....

 

Before you start doubting the buffering of a particular sand consider this post. Dr. Shimek is a reliable source.

 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=279502

[MillerLite]

is that black sand calcium based? i think its silica based and will not help with ph buffering and breaking down waste..so consider it dead sand..looks nice though but it shows and crap on it like a black car would.....

 

If it truly is silica sand...cant say this would be good to prevent diatom growth!!! You may run into the same problems as using play sand. Is it aragalive type sand?

[Philip]

thinking about it in my 20. Like the look but will probably regret it later

[kinetic]

I took the plunge! I added oolite sand first, but it was so yellow, I want something really extreme, so black sand it is. I might not have any critters, just softies so no detritus will collect:

 

 

[Philip]

I took the plunge! I added oolite sand first, but it was so yellow, I want something really extreme, so black sand it is. I might not have any critters, just softies so no detritus will collect:

 

 

 

Looks nice!

 

it's the detrius buildup I worry about, I'm lazy so I might not siphon it out too often

[kinetic]

I siphon so much anyway, I doubt this will cause me more trouble. I spend like an hour or more on my tank a day anyway (not out of need, but just because I love the hobby of taking care of it).

 

At night when I'm done with work on Friday nights i'll siphon it all out.

 

Plus i might not be keeping any fish at all, nor crabs, so I won't have that much detritus buildup.

[jasolution]

Here is a picture comparing Arag-Alive Indo Pacific live sand to Arag-Alive Fiji Pink live sand in my nano.

 

I prefer the look of the Fiji Pink when it is clean, but the Indo Pacific definitely is more forgiving to detritus and other matter.

 

 

Jason

[71vwbug]

i just bought some black dry reef sand today 2-5lb bags for 10 bucks

[Imaexpat2]

The Tahitian Moon sand is pretty awesome looking in a reef tank, making everything with any color at all really stand out. I liked it so much after trying it out in one of my nano tanks that its about the only substrate that I use these days. Using the black sand also makes my tank really stand out too. Just about everybody and there brother has some shade of white sand in there tanks, but its not everyday that you see one with black sand. I started using it about 3 years back and dont see too much of a chance of changing anytime soon on a new tank set up.

 

Now there are a few down sides...If your lazy about cleaning or got fish in the tank then you might want to reconsoider using this sand. crude shows up big time on the jet black sand. This is a double edge sword in that while its easy to locate and siphon off . If your the lazy sort then crude will quickly build up to problem levels in short order. Since I only have live rock and corals this hasnt been much of an issue for me.

 

The other issue with this sand is that it is not calcium based as its volcanic ash. When first using this sand I struggled for a while at trying to maintian Calcium and Ph levels in the tank. This was easily alleviated once I started dripping Kalkwasser on a regular basis and/or using a refugium tied into the tank with a oolitic sand bed.

 

It doesnt reflect light beings that its black unlike the white sands do. I find that Im using a bit more intense light with these tanks than I would have if using white sand.

 

The other down side is that uless there has been a recent change that Im unaware of is that it only comes as dry sand, not live. I have found this to be of little concern with good live rock being added to the tank. I have a gazillion worms, pods and other critters now in my sand bed and thriving rather well. Im going to assume to that what ever bacteria was in my live rock is now on my sand too. It would be nice for diversities sake if it was available as live sand.

 

Make sure you use a floating magnet...I droped mine and it wasnt the floating type and apparently some of this sand was attracted to it. Once on it there is no way of getting it all off which will result in scrached Glass or Acrylic if you try and use it anyways.

 

JME on this subject....