Poll: Black Sand? Yes, No, NEVER!

[Gungo]

Living on an island with beaches that some have white sand, and others black sand, I personally prefer the white sand. I don't know, black sand looks like nasty.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Always used white sand, but recently went bare bottom, so wouldn't even consider black sand

 

[Rcpilot]

Considered it once many years ago, for a FOWLR predator tank I had. I thought the black "wouldn't show the dirt" as bad. Kinda like a black car. My thoughts were large predators in a large tank were gonna make a large mess and it would be unsightly on a white sand bed. I ended up going bare bottom because for that tank, it made sense to keep all the waste floating and swirling until it found a drain, overflow or another mouth.
I was 16 - made sense at the time.

 

[Captain Quint]

I used the CaribSea Hawaiian Black in once but didn't use it long. Some of the magnetic particles would collect to the wetside of an MP10 inner magnet which would grind into the PH magnet. I had to disassemble frequently to clean the magnet of the PH which was pretty time consuming.

I admit I also became bored with the look. Not to say others do. Just didn't seem to be the norm for me.

 

[Zack33]

I used a combination of black sand and Fiji Pink sand, in an Upside Down Jellyfish display tank once, and it looked really good!!! Was about a 50-50 mix between the two sand types.

 

[JBKReef]

Currently have the Black Hawaiian on my 93 cube. Its been in the tank from the start, going on 9 months now. I have enjoyed it, and like you said it helps make the corals pop and keeps the sandbed looking clean regardless if it actually is. The new concerns over heavy metals in the tank is interesting and will considering doing an ICP test now.

 

[Brew12]

Currently have the Black Hawaiian on my 93 cube. Its been in the tank from the start, going on 9 months now. I have enjoyed it, and like you said it helps make the corals pop and keeps the sandbed looking clean regardless if it actually is. The new concerns over heavy metals in the tank is interesting and will considering doing an ICP test now.

I put a sample of Black Hawaiian under the electron microscope, also, and it looked pretty good. What I can't speak to is how consistent it is as a product. I think doing an ICP test is a good idea, especially if you feel your tank isn't as healthy as it should be.

 

[TheEngineer]

The only reason I would never used black sand is that every brand I've seen has a ferromagnetic component that is attracted to you magnetic glass cleaner. You pick up these bits and now scratch your glass (and if you have plexiglass, forget about it!)

This. I had the caribsea Hawaiian sand. It was definitely magnetic and I’m fairly sure it was part of the reason I had so much trouble with weird algae growth and coral deaths in the tank. Ripped it out and rebooted with Fiji sand.

 

[Cherub]

I had black sand and as previously stated it was a mixture of black and brown. Almost like it was rusty. I hated it with a passion and eventually just started another larger tank with white sand. Never again

 

[JBKReef]

I put a sample of Black Hawaiian under the electron microscope, also, and it looked pretty good. What I can't speak to is how consistent it is as a product. I think doing an ICP test is a good idea, especially if you feel your tank isn't as healthy as it should be.

Thanks Brew, its something to consider. If there have been any issues with the tank health its due to my poor husbandry and beginners lack of experience. Things seem to be stabilizing more and more every day. That being said doing an ICP can at least rule out contaminants from anything up to this point.

To the topic at hand, I've not had any issues with the sand being magnetic I keep a magnet cleaner in the tank and only due to my incompetence on one occasion has sand ever stuck to the magnet.

Attached are some top down photos of the tank I just snapped.

 

[cracker]

I just don't like the look, that's all .

 

[Humblefish]

I tried black sand once in a 29 gal (pics below):

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Would anyone with black sand mind providing their cleaning schedule(s)? I have it but I'm concerned that it's so coarse that a lot of detritus is getting stuck. I added some Nassarius snails but I'm not sure they're able to bury and/or get out since it's so dense. Has anyone had black sand with a sand sifter? That's where I'm leaning but I'm, again, concerned that the sand is too dense & coarse for the fish.

 

[sfin52]

It's not just high levels of iron you need to worry about. Black sands are typically processed lava rock. You are at the mercy of whatever happened to be in the lava flow at the location your future sand was collected from. For one member here, the problem was a combination of high nickle and vanadium. We were able to confirm the sand as the source via an electron microscope. He went from not keeping anything alive to having a thriving tank once he changed his sand out. While I'm sure most black sand is safe and that these metal veins being incorporated into the sand is rare, it is something to consider. If you do go the black sand route I would highly recommend sending out a Triton test after the cycle but prior to stocking.

I remember that tank of death to coral. Glad you voiced the findings was going to pull you in.

 

[Timfish1]

Used it, looked nice but it won't stay black in a reef system very long. It is interesting to see how fast limestone is decomposed in a reef system though.

 

[Chukthunder]

I put the Hawaiian black in my 55 with bleached coral, it's a stark contrast. Not for everyone.

 

[Reef-junky]

Thinking of going the salt and pepper look my self. Another thing you can do to make a tank pop is use negative space. Stuff like this

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

Have the carrib sea black sand in two tanks and love it. Our first tank we had figi pink and we replaced it with the black. The white sand always looked so dirty but the black hides all the hunk better. You do have to be careful to make sure you don’t get sand stuck in your magnet cleaner but we love the way it looks so it’s worth it for us.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I don't like the look of black sand, so I haven't used it and never plan to.

 

[rkpetersen]

I voted other. The jury is still out for me, I'm using black sand (Carib-Sea Indo-Pacific Black) for the first time in a 6 month old 100g setup. Overall I would say things are going 'well', but there have been some unexplained deaths so of course I find myself reviewing all possible sources of concern, including the sand.

Pro -

Looks nice, high contrast with colors, hides detritus.

Con -

Not really 'sand', as we usually think of it. Actually mostly a volcanic basalt. No buffering capacity at all (not that regular aragonite sand has much either, at typical pH.)

Very hard, lightweight, sharp-edged, ferromagnetic grains - perfect for scratching aquarium glass and damaging pump impellers.

In addition to iron, contains and leaches a variety of other metals - nickel and vanadium, in particular, can sometimes accumulate in high concentrations. I am monitoring mildly elevated levels (so far) of these elements in my tank with periodic ICP-OES tests. Nickel seems stable but vanadium has been rising. Others have seen much higher levels of these elements with black sand. Significance is unclear but definitely implicated in tank problems for some people.