Black Sand? Which Brand?

[jgaepi]

I had fiji pink in an old tank. I'm trying to set up a new one after 5 years. Wondering what the modern take is on black sand? And which brand? They're both easy to come by so it is just a matter of which one? Looks like Caribsea has a wider spread of grain size. From .5 to 3.0. Where as the Natures Ocean has a spread of 1.2 to 1.8.

And there was a lot of past discussion on magnetism. Has that been fixed over the years? Thank you.

 

[jgaepi]

Bump

 

[Scurvy]

Im using the Caribsea Hawaiin and am mostly happy with it. Aside from the occasional grain that sticks to the scraper I like how colors pop against the black. Its too rough to keep any sand sleeping wrasse in.

Im using in an LSP/Zoa tank. Don't think I’d use it in an SPS system.

 

[Rams54]

I bought a bag of half white sand and half black sand. I don't remember the name, but the black part is magnetic, so be careful.

 

[DownSouthBandit]

I've been using the Caribsea Hawaiian Black substrate since I swapped into a 75 a year ago and liked it. As stated it is magnetic and if your scrapper drops on the sand it can be a PITA to get the small pieces off of it so it doesn't scratch your glass.

 

[William Robinson]

Black sand is volcanic debris mostly. It is "sharp" in contrast to our normal pink and white sands. If you go that route ensure you do not keep sand sifting fish like a Diamond Goby etc. Black sand tanks do have amazing color pop though... The two pictures below compare them