So I wanted a black substrate without the aquarium marketed price tag, so I bought 3 bags of Black Diamond 20/40 sandblasting abrasive after reading a lot about it. I read dozens of forums before making my purchase (most people seemed to be of the thought that it is okay for use in aquariums).
Well the sand looks a little angular and I am a bit concerned about using it because I will have geophagus red head tapajos in the tank. I started washing the first bag of sand and noticed an oily residue on top of the water. I immediately noticed some black residue on my fingers. Well I stopped and looked it up online. Got 3-4 forum pages in and everyone said its normal and recommended a few ways of cleaning it up. So I continued washing. Got half way through the second bag and got a cut on my finger as I was sweeping my hand through the bucket to stir everything up. The cut didn't break the skin, so I kept going. Less than a minute later, a piece of sand got caught between my finger and the bucket wall and actually impaled me. The sliver of sand was buried under the surface of my skin like a wooden splinter. I easily got it out, but have stopped washing the sand (at least for now).
I am basically looking for some advice on whether to continue with the black sand as planned or to scrub the sediment project in favor of something that will not end up killing my geos (which are not going to be cheap). I can kind of understand how the sand splinter happened since it was between my finger and the bucket and I was applying pressure to sweep my hand through the sand to stir it up, but it is still concerning.
Any thoughts? I have gotten good advice on here so far and I trust many of the members on here.
Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Well the sand looks a little angular and I am a bit concerned about using it because I will have geophagus red head tapajos in the tank. I started washing the first bag of sand and noticed an oily residue on top of the water. I immediately noticed some black residue on my fingers. Well I stopped and looked it up online. Got 3-4 forum pages in and everyone said its normal and recommended a few ways of cleaning it up. So I continued washing. Got half way through the second bag and got a cut on my finger as I was sweeping my hand through the bucket to stir everything up. The cut didn't break the skin, so I kept going. Less than a minute later, a piece of sand got caught between my finger and the bucket wall and actually impaled me. The sliver of sand was buried under the surface of my skin like a wooden splinter. I easily got it out, but have stopped washing the sand (at least for now).
I am basically looking for some advice on whether to continue with the black sand as planned or to scrub the sediment project in favor of something that will not end up killing my geos (which are not going to be cheap). I can kind of understand how the sand splinter happened since it was between my finger and the bucket and I was applying pressure to sweep my hand through the sand to stir it up, but it is still concerning.
Any thoughts? I have gotten good advice on here so far and I trust many of the members on here.
Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
