Sand

[Mast33]

Hey everyone. I was wondering what your opinion was on the Hawaiian black live sand was. Was thinking of putting that in my 150 gallon. Thank you

 

[Reefing102]

I can’t say anything specific about the Hawaiian black sand but I can tell you I’ve ran black sand before. It’s great for contrast, however makes the tank seem very dim as all the light is absorbed instead of reflected

 

[CMMorgan]

There are a bunch of threads about this... the general opinion (including my own) is that 90% of the people who have done it, wound up breaking down the tanks to pull it out. There are a few outliers that will swear that they never had a problem. Black sand is high in Iron and Silicates. I had perpetual problems with diatoms, then dinos.... it was a never ending cycle of siphoning, blackouts ... finally the E-shopps rep at my LFS asked me what I had for sand. He and the shop owner said black sand was my issue.... I replaced the sand and my tank was great after that. I had a 45 --- this could be a real headache in a 150.
Good luck in your venture.

 

[Young@Heart]

Never Used the Black Sand. But did use Black Crushed Coral. If you are going to have a goby or other sand sifter - think about the size of the sand grains.

 

[Bad Company]

I ran it in a tank and it made the tank look very dark. No reflection off the substrate to illuminate the underside of the fish. Not a fan.

 

[dwair]

I've had it in a Nano tank before, It looked great, but the issue I had was its magnetic. My algae scraper pulled bits up and I nearly scratched my glass countless times. For that reason I'll never run it again, was more trouble than its worth.