tahitian moon sand or black substrate

F

famman

AC Members
Aug 16, 2002
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Los Angeles, CA
Does anyone have black onyx or black tahitian moon sand in their tank?

Does it look dirty all the time? It it easy to clean or vaccuum?

I've tried regular sand, but it collects debris too fast and it's a little hard to keep clean plus my wife hates the color.

thanks
:)
 
I have Onyx sand from SeaChem. It's not black, but a gray color. I like the look of it and it's great for live plants. I could see where a light color of gravel or sand would be harder to keep looking spotless. Also, I think the darker substrates help bring out the colors of your fish.
 
Hi Andy,

tell me more about your tihitian moon sand experience. I just put 2 washed 20lb bags in my 55 gal. I'm interested in how well plants like it as well as how hard it is to keep clean.

thanks
:)
 
I dont keep plants, but it seems quite easy to clean. If you have good mechanical filters or power filters, you could jsut stir the sand up a bit the make the poop and uneaten food get sucked up into the filter. I dont use a python for vacuuming so i just stick the vacuum end into the sadn and then replace it later. The sand stay at the bottom of the bucket so i dont lose much. I wouldnt say its too hard to clean. Might have the "dead spot" problem but htat happens with almost all subtrates taht i used.
 
Thanks Andy16

Anyone else use Tahitian Moon Sand?

thanks
:)
 
I just started using tahitian moon sand. In with my kuhli loaches tank and my eel tank. If you dont wash it REALLY good it turns your water sort of black. Just wash it in a bucket with water. Swish it around a couple of times then dump water out and fill it up again. Just keep doing that till the water is clear.

Then it looks awesome nice black sand and clear water!:)
 
I have Tahitian Moon in my 20H. I don't have live plants in that tank, but with such a fine substrate, the plants would probably not stay "planted," and would constantly keep floating out. In my experience it is not difficult to keep clean, I use a small siphon and keep the flow as slow as possible to avoid pulling the sand out. Additionally, I just stir the sand up, I don't push the siphon down into the substrate.

If you get the black water problem from not rinsing it well enough, get some Kent ProClear and use that; you will have crystal clear water in a couple of hours.
 
Sand

I would like to use sand in a cichlid tank would this work?

I've used small rocks and of course they love to dig and dig so I'm now using larger rocks and so far they haven't been able to move it.

But black sand would look great in the new tank I'm setting up. Would it be a problem with the fish digging up the sand?

How does sand effect your pH? if it does
 
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