First, sorry for the long post. Well yesterday I filled my tank(72g bow) as an initial test for leaks, all good there. So after draining, I got into the task of washing the 3M black S grade Color Quartz. This stuff is fairly fine and soft to the touch, yet very heavy in the water. I used a large stainless steel bowl and did small (~5 lbs) batches by hand in it. I used warm water generally and it did take me 2-2.5 hrs to do it all. I will say that my hands did turn black from doing this, as I really got into churning and moving it quite a bit. I did notice a slight graying of the water as I cleaned and I continued to clean until it seemed that there was little to no discoloration. I would but each batch into the tank after it was done, and it about 3/4" deep. I may add a little more depth. I hope that I have cleaned it enough or that filtering during the fishless cycle will remove anything I missed, as I've read about a slight sheen on the water by others who have used it. I had also ordered Tahitian Moon sand before I had read about the sharpness of it, so I put a small batch of it in the bowl after the 50 lbs of CQ. It also seemed to gray the water slightly. My hands didn't get discolored, but I did only 1 batch. TMS is definately more coarse and rough edged and I can see why it would not be used for soft bellies like corys. It is also much shinier. I dumped the small batch into the tank also and mixed it around, and if it wasn't sharper, I would add more, as it gives a nice contrast. I am expecting some Estes sand this week, and I will compare that also. I've read that this is nothing more than branded CQ, but we will see.
