Sand color

BigMack · Aug 18, 2018

I'm in the process of setting up a new system after moving... I'm toying with the idea of using the black Hawaiian sand for something different... anybody got any pictures of a tank using black sand?

trido · Aug 18, 2018

Black sand is cool, but make sure it doesn't have any iron ore in it or you will scratch the glass. Guaranteed.

Dan Korczak · Aug 23, 2018

Huh. I’m curious if black sand will still look good years down the road.

trido · Aug 23, 2018

Dan Korczak said:
Huh. I’m curious if black sand will still look good years down the road.

Mine looked fine a couple years old. It might not be as crisp, but surely not grey. Black sand looks real cool and is definitely not common in the hobby. It makes corals on the sand bed pop, but there is also no reflective value to it either. As with everything there are pro and cons.

mikes686 · Aug 25, 2018

I added a dsb with 12 bags fine white live sand and 4 bags of black and 4 black and white. I love the contrast.

trido · Aug 25, 2018

mikes686 said:
I added a dsb with 12 bags fine white live sand and 4 bags of black and 4 black and white. I love the contrast.

I ended up doing that after a system reset and loved it more than the all black sand. I liked the salt and pepper look because no matter what, the sand never looked dirty or bad. Pure black and pure white always look less than new.

Now I keep a blend of fine and gravel white sand. Mostly it keeps the massive flow of an SPS system from moving the sand into huge piles.

mikes686 · Aug 26, 2018

trido said:
I ended up doing that after a system reset and loved it more than the all black sand. I liked the salt and pepper look because no matter what, the sand never looked dirty or bad. Pure black and pure white always look less than new. Now I keep a blend of fine and gravel white sand. Mostly it keeps the massive flow of an SPS system from moving the sand into huge piles.

We have an sps dominant tank and we definitely have a few piles, fortunately we also have over 200 pounds of live rock that block without creating huge dead spots.

Crabs McJones · Aug 26, 2018

Dan Korczak said:
Huh. I’m curious if black sand will still look good years down the road.

trido said:
Mine looked fine a couple years old. It might not be as crisp, but surely not grey. Black sand looks real cool and is definitely not common in the hobby. It makes corals on the sand bed pop, but there is also no reflective value to it either. As with everything there are pro and cons.

My uncle has a 54 gallon column tank that is pushing 5 years old, and he used black sand in it from the beginning. That sand looks today like it did the first day he added it (minus some algae

)

Mebbid · Sep 8, 2018

I have black sand in my reef, it's nice looking but overall, I prefer white sand.

The black stuff doesn't buffer as well and overall it makes the tank look a little darker and dirtier.