Black sand?

[Rare Cichlids]

has any here used black sand as a substrate? I am wanting to try it a few tanks in the near future but don't know much about it. Liek where can I get it? I have seen it in the "That Pet Place" catalog but it is nearly a dollar a pound and I'm going to need 200 lbs or so. I've heard of a black sand blasting sand called Black Beauty. Has anyone else heard of this brand?

[JamisonBWolsh]

See if your LFS will order it for you? I know someone who ordered the CaribSea Black sand. Supposedly, its a REALLY nice substrate.

[latazyo]

how about you get black sandblasting sand (like I have) for 3.47 for a 50# bag and save yourself 185 dollars

I bought mine at Menards

[Rare Cichlids]

The CarinSea sand is the sand that was $1 per lb.

I just talked to my uncle about it an hour ago (he does sandblasting), and he confirmed there is a black sand called Black Beauty that I can get for about $3 per 100 lbs. just a couple miles from my house. So now, if I could get some info on the Black Beauty sand I would be grateful. Latazyo, is this what you have? How does it affect the water hardness and pH? And is it jet black? Do you have a picture of your tank?

Thank you

[slipknottin]

black beauty is agronite sand. It will bring your Ph up to 8.2ish.

[latazyo]

to be honest, I haven't checked the pH, I will and I will get you a pic in a few weeks, but black beuty doesn't really sound familiar, I willgo to Menards and find the exact name of it (I am home for the holidays, so my bag is sitting in another city, but I will look at the Menards here and get the brand name of it for you)

[Rare Cichlids]

Raiseing the pH to that level would be fine, as the fish are Central American lake cichlids that come from rather hard and salty water.

Thanks Latazyo, that would help a lot. Does your sand look really black or is it greyish, because I am wanting very black sand if possible. I'm so glad I found out more about the blasting sand, as I was going to have to wait a while if I went with the CaribSea because of price. Actually now that I found out how cheap the blasting sand is, I may be buying few hundred more pounds for other tanks.

Thanks everyone

[latazyo]

I felt the same way, it all started when I found 50# of pool filter sand (brown and black mix) for 12 bucks, then I found even better, I have a 75g with white sand and the 20g with black sand

and I was pretty picky about the pitch blackedness of the sand, it had to be very black and this is a good sand, again II"ll give you some pics in a few weeks whenever possible

[Rare Cichlids]

I found some info that states Black Beauty as being copper slag, very high in iron, sharp, very small, and magnetic. Which would not be good for aquarium use. On the same page the guy says he prefers 3mm Quartz Silica blasting media for his aquariums.

[JeffP]

Copper slag abrasive products include Kleen Blast and Tru-Grit which are two of the most common. Black Beauty and Black Pearl are recycled coal slag abrasives. All these abrasives contain various minerals/metals. Their content is highly variable. The physical form of the blasting media is a function of the way the material is processed as well as its chemical properties (hardness, structure, etc.).

I tried to find useful information on aquatic toxcity from black beauty but couldn't find much that was directly useful. Studies often don't (or couldn't) distinquish between fly ash, bottom ash, and slag with slag being the most inert of the three. Other people's experience with black beauty is probably your best bet here.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Get Onyx Sand by Sea Chem, it's nasty.

[Rare Cichlids]

Originally posted by NJ Devils Fan
Get Onyx Sand by Sea Chem, it's nasty.

Is that supposed to be good? :)

Anyway, It would cost me several hundred dollars for that, and I know that there has to be some kind of good cheap sand available somewhere.


Thanks for the info JeffP. Can you recommend anything?

[inxs]

I have used Black Beauty in my planted tanks and found it quite inert - my ph 6.7 (pressurized CO2).

No real problems with it except that it is quite fine and shows off mulm in exposed areas, so you need to vaccum it regularly to make sure it stays cleanlooking and black.

I have kept amano shrimp and ghost shrimp in the tank, they are both very sensative to heavy metals and I haven't had problems.

[Rare Cichlids]

Thanks, Inxs. But actually the thing that I am most concerned about now, is that on the other page I was reading, the guy mention he had a fish die from injesting the sand, and it was cutting through its stomach. That worries me as I wouldn't be surprised if some of my fish got a mouthful of something once in a while. I think what I'll do is go around to a few blasting places and get about a cup of each kind of black sand, and then do various tests on them to find out how suitable they would be.

[JeffP]

Read everything with a grain of salt. I guess anything is possible...even substrate sand cutting through fish stomachs. With regard to your other reference page, consider who did the "autopsy" and how the cause of death was determined.

To borrow one of WetmanNY's sayings...I'm "somewhat skeptical.":)

As far as leaching goes, IMO it's probably not a major issue with black beauty. I can tell you that the federal govt and many state governments have special programs in place to recycle slag-related wastes: abrasives (like black beauty), road bed additive, soil amendments in agriculture, etc. Leaching concerns seem to be of most concern for fly ash and bottom ash which are chemically and physically different than slag (which is what black beauty is made from). However, leachate problems could be a concern under highly acidic conditions (pH2/3) but these are obviously not tank conditions.

My suggestion is to buy a bag and see how you like it first hand. Put some in a white or clear bucket or spare 10G if you have one and see how you like the look of it wet. Setup one tank and go from there.

[christopher1260]

i use coarse black sandblasting sand. i have had it for about 2 months now and have had no casualties. also, it is really cheap. i highly recommend it.

[Rare Cichlids]

I found this page that has a lot of good info
http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/sand.html#1