Anyone here have a reef with black sand?

[livinlifeinBKK]

I've always been curious about black sand and it seems like it would look really cool but I'd like to hear from you guys' opinions about how the finished tank looks...is it generally used alongside white sand or by itself?

 

[Jon's Reef]

FYI... black sand is magnetic. It will stick to your glass cleaner.

 

[NashobaTek]

I have the caribsea black Hawaiian and it's not just black sand. It's a salt and pepper look. Personally I like the look.

 

[NashobaTek]

FYI... black sand is magnetic. It will stick to your glass cleaner.

I have not had it stick to any of the magnets yet. So it may not all be that way and I've had it in my tank for almost 2 years

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I have the caribsea black Hawaiian and it's not just black sand. It's a salt and pepper look. Personally I like the look.

Thanks for the pic! It looks pretty cool to me too...maybe I'll try it out on a nano tank to see if I can use it like you did.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I have not had it stick to any of the magnets yet. So it may not all be that way and I've had it in my tank for almost 2 years

I bet it makes some of the corals really "pop" because of the contrast.

 

[NashobaTek]

It certainly makes the fish stand out, and the few corals I have.
Everyone has white sand. Lol But like I said it's not a solid black it's salt and pepper.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It certainly makes the fish stand out, and the few corals I have.
Everyone has white sand. Lol But like I said it's not a solid black it's salt and pepper.

I've never considered myself a very creative kind of guy so before I try it on a nano tank I wanted to see what others had been able to do.

 

[mindme]

Done it before, won't do it again. It makes your tank very dark in appearance. Which also makes your tank feel smaller. I did black sand in my 25g cube and it just never felt right. I changed the sand out and put in white sand, and wow everything really started to pop.

It's not as bad when your rocks are white, but there is no contrast once they darken up a bit.

But, if you are going for a look where you don't have much sand showing and you have bright colored corals, the black will probably look good and make those corals pop. Think of a black light poster. But larger areas just don't work well IMO.