Hawaiian Black Sand...Yes or No?

[madweazl]

I've been using Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand (black) for about 15 months now and while some particles will stick to a magnet, my Triton results came back with 0 iron. I did have fairly high levels of tin and I'm not exactly sure where that came from but there was a fitting with a metal screw in the water (since removed) so that could have been part of it. I'll do another Triton test in a few months and we'll see where things go from here but so far, I dont have any reason to believe the sand is causing any issues (SPS are doing great).

 

[rstrann]

All my tanks have Hawaiian black sand, with the oldest being 5 year old sps tank. No issues at all. Pretty sticks and tables growing as fast as they can

 

[scuzy]

Black sand rocks. Only minor issues with it sticking to magnet.

 

[bsagea]

Has anyone had back sand for more than 2 years.

I have had Hawaiian Black substrate in my cube for over 3 years and Tahitian Moon with a mix of white in my 70 gal for over 5 yrs. I would never go back to the white. Everything pops with the black. As far as the tank being "darker", I don't think that's true at all. Both tanks have a similar substrate and also have metal halide with t5's and t5 leds bulb so lots of pop. Carib Sea Hawaiian Black is aragonite. The magnetic sand is Tahitian Moon. I have used that as well and would not go back to that one because of the magnetic quality. My Oceanic half-round has white sand and I really dislike it compared to the black but way too much work to try and change that out right now.
bsa

 

[madreefer11]

Black sand FTW!!!!!!! Use Hawaii Black and you will have no problems.

 

[Reefbuds]

Hey man I've use the black Hawaiian sand in my 55 mixed. Granted it's 2 bags black Hawaiian and 1 bag of the fiji. I've had great results with it, altho I'm pretty sure it's just the looks as to the difference. Live sand is live sand for the most part man


It does look fantastic tho

 

[Reefbuds]

Has anyone had back sand for more than 2 years.

I'm almost at 2 years with it. Seems to be doing better than ever!

 

[Reefbuds]

Where would you all suggest for me to get Live Rock from?

Most a local LFS carry the Real Reef Rock. Snatch some of that if you can. Some grow their own which is fine too. Just make sure it's aged. If it smells like cucumbers get it, if it smells like vomit leave it alone

 

[Kryssie]

Doesn't the " Black Sand " have a curse ?
http://www.snopes.com/luck/pele.asp

I know this is an old post, but this explains so much about why my tank seemed cursed.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Since we're digging this thread up from the grave... I went with the Caribsea Naturals Tahitian Moon black sand. Its a super fine particle but doesn't blow around too bad. It moves but doesn't cause a dust storm. It's fine enough for any goby, shines under the lights and isn't hard to keep clean. Its made from an intert silica, not silicates that cause diatoms, but more like glass.

View attachment 20180402_122822.jpg

 

[madweazl]

I've been using Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand (black) for about 15 months now and while some particles will stick to a magnet, my Triton results came back with 0 iron. I did have fairly high levels of tin and I'm not exactly sure where that came from but there was a fitting with a metal screw in the water (since removed) so that could have been part of it. I'll do another Triton test in a few months and we'll see where things go from here but so far, I dont have any reason to believe the sand is causing any issues (SPS are doing great).

Sent another sample to Triton in November of last year and the tin had dropped down to zero so it likely had something to do with the fitting I found. Tank has been up 22 months now and everything is doing great.

 

[Kryssie]

Since we're digging this thread up from the grave... I went with the Caribsea Naturals Tahitian Moon black sand. Its a super fine particle but doesn't blow around too bad. It moves but doesn't cause a dust storm. It's fine enough for any goby, shines under the lights and isn't hard to keep clean. Its made from an intert silica, not silicates that cause diatoms, but more like glass.

View attachment 20180402_122822.jpg

This is the sand I’m considering for my next build. I’m concerned about the possibility of gyres blowing it around and any magnetic properties it may have. Yours looks great!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

This is the sand I’m considering for my next build. I’m concerned about the possibility of gyres blowing it around and any magnetic properties it may have. Yours looks great!

Completely non magnetic. Its glass, not iron like the Hawaiian. I originally had the Hawaiian black sand, but after opening one bag and seeing it stick to my magnet scraper I pulled it out. Its also completely black, no other colors. The Hawaiian is only about 80% black with some red and white mixed in.

I have one Jebao PP8 on minimum and one SW4 on max and if I point the PP8 at the sand it'll move, but not stir up into a cloud. The SW4 is too weak to do any of that. With gyres directing most of their flow laterally across the surface of the water, I think you'd be fine. Its really not dusty at all, not like aragonite sand. Its much harder material that doesn't grind up into dust as easily. I've been happy with it.

 

[Naoxyn]

Any thoughts on what could be used as a sand partition? To have areas in the tank have black sand and a... cove like area with white sand?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Only thing coming to mind is a short glass wall in the tank, like the drop off tanks. The top part has a 2" or so lip to keep the sand in the top part from all blowing down to the bottom.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I have it in both my tanks. I absolutely love it and will never go back to white sand. I had white sand in one tank and replaced it with black. I think the white sand gets way dirtier looking overtime, the black masks a lot of the gross stuff. It is slightly magnetic but it’s not a problem with either of the glass cleaners I have because the magnet doesn’t get close enough.

 

[Dragon52]

I had The Hawaiian Black sand in my 185 & took it out because it's coarser than the white sand, couldn't keep any sand sifters because of that. Now using white

 

[BowFrontReefer]

Thoughts about using Hawaiian Black Sand. Getting ready to upgrade my 75 to a 180 and was looking for something different. Are there any Pro's/Con's?

This is Tahitian moon sand. It’s different than the Hawaiian black sand. It’s magnetic. So your algae scraper will catch some in it. It gets dirty often too.

 

[Karie]

I'd had three reef tanks so far. First one was a 90 gallon with Hawaiian black. It is a coarse substrate. I love the color. You don't see the algae accumulate on the bottom very much. It doesn't blow around at all but you can't keep some sand animals. Bummer. It does darken your tank. Absolutely! In fact I had a hard time keeping par for some corals and clams. And in addition, some particles are magnetic in it and will stick to your magnetic cleaner or get caught in your cleaning sponge and scratch acrylic.

My second tank was normal white sand (don't remember which color). It had a finer texture that would blow around but the part I didn't like was the algae that I could see on the sand between cleaning days. I felt it looked dirty most of the time.

For my third tank, I went back to the black. I think the colors of the reef and fish show up so much more but I am back to the magnetic particles and the lower par. This time I did the Tahitian Moon. I like the sand size better, although it does blow. But it doesn't show the algae as much and the colors pop. I hate the magnetic part. I have to be super careful at subsurface line when I clean. Now I just keep my clams up high close to surface of water and hope they won't fall. But they do great up there.

It's a trade off. No right or wrong. Just different. This tank had been up since August. First time trying to take picture of tank, please be kind.

 

[Karie]

See I did it wrong, Oh well