3M Color Quartz?

[johno27]

You can also try some local landscape supply places. I found my sand that way. It is "coarse quartz" came in an 80# bag for under 20 bucks. I am not sure if that is the color you are looking for though

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[HULON]

tons of companies on Line Alan alot of companies call it crushed glass now sky is the limit on colors nowand guys quartz is GLASS LOL!!!!!

 

[keepinfish]

I've used it for about 4 yrs. I love it. When spotfin posted a picture of the bag of white 3m lots of people said the chemicals aren't safe, at the time I've had it for a year or two. I don't think I've had any issues from using it either. I AM a big fan of the black, but there are many colors.
Anyway, it is cheap to buy but as shadow said it's not cheap to ship it though. db what color are you looking for. I have some samples at my office I'll shoot you a message with pictures of some of the colors tomorrow.


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[DB junkie]

Enough white for 40 ft2 and enough black for 16ft2??? lol

Do they have to ship from point X no matter what or can I just pick the stuff up from a distributor without paying shipping? They have one in the cities and I'm up there next week.......

The rep at Estes that I talked to today was the one that said it wasn't approved for fish use. He didn't say it was unsafe, they just laughed at the use (aquariums) and told me that nobody used it like that. When asked what the problem would be that would make it "un" approved and he said the ceramic coating might be iffy, but that they've never really tested it like that.

I got the impression the guys I talked to hadn't been there long. Maybe change of staff or merging of some kind? Did everything change when Estes got the 3m stuff or vise versa?

I wonder if the blue sand would match the tank background???? LOL

 

[spotfin]

I used the 3m S grade in brown for a short time. Yes, the grains are coated with some unpleasant substances. I think the sand works fine in aquariums, but my concern was and still is that rays ingest sand and the digestive process removes the coating from the sand grains. I found grains of the 3M sand in the gut of a dead ray that had very little color left on them.
I switched to Estes Ultra reef in black and observed one of my rays pooping out a pile of sand. After looking closely, there were several grains in the pile that were white (the black coating was gone). Further observation revealed lots of white sand grains scattered throughout the tank. I now use fine gravel that I collected from a local river.

 

[keepinfish]

I used the 3m S grade in brown for a short time. Yes, the grains are coated with some unpleasant substances. I think the sand works fine in aquariums, but my concern was and still is that rays ingest sand and the digestive process removes the coating from the sand grains. I found grains of the 3M sand in the gut of a dead ray that had very little color left on them.
I switched to Estes Ultra reef in black and observed one of my rays pooping out a pile of sand. After looking closely, there were several grains in the pile that were white (the black coating was gone). Further observation revealed lots of white sand grains scattered throughout the tank. I now use fine gravel that I collected from a local river.

Do you think it could be possible that the rays hold sand in there digestive tract for some time? Or even get small bits of sand from the fish and worms they eat? The reason i ask is my bare bottom tank always seems to get sand in it.

 

[ShadowStryder]

Do you think it could be possible that the rays hold sand in there digestive tract for some time? Or even get small bits of sand from the fish and worms they eat? The reason i ask is my bare bottom tank always seems to get sand in it.

I would assume they get sand in their gut from night crawlers and mussels since they are full of dirt/sand, When I was bare bottom I used to find sand on the bottom and that was the only place I could figure it came from.

Spotfin, how long was the 3M in with the ray that passed? I am not sure if any of my rays ingest the T grade. I know I see them blow it out their spiracles when feeding. I do know that the S grade tended to stick to the foods where I haven't seen the T grade do it. But that doesn't mean they don't ingest it though. My problem is I never see their waste, it never settles or sits on the bottom so impossible for me to try and observe if they are passing decoated granules.

 

[spotfin]

Do you think it could be possible that the rays hold sand in there digestive tract for some time? Or even get small bits of sand from the fish and worms they eat? The reason i ask is my bare bottom tank always seems to get sand in it.

Yes, I would agree that they hold sand for awhile and some sand could be passed along from worms.

I would assume they get sand in their gut from night crawlers and mussels since they are full of dirt/sand, When I was bare bottom I used to find sand on the bottom and that was the only place I could figure it came from.

Spotfin, how long was the 3M in with the ray that passed? I am not sure if any of my rays ingest the T grade. I know I see them blow it out their spiracles when feeding. I do know that the S grade tended to stick to the foods where I haven't seen the T grade do it. But that doesn't mean they don't ingest it though. My problem is I never see their waste, it never settles or sits on the bottom so impossible for me to try and observe if they are passing decoated granules.

I had the sand in the tank for a couple of weeks. The T grade may be too big to digest. The gravel I have now is < 2 mm and the rays often spit it out their spiracles.

 

[DB junkie]

Update......

I just got off the phone with a place up in the cities that has the Ceramaquartz stuff...... Thousands of pounds of black and white in stock. Didn't ask about the other colors. IF anyone wants to contact them, just use the 1st link in this thread, go to distributors, and it's the only place in Minnesota.

I'll be making a trip in a week or 2 and am more then willing to grab what I can transport if anyone wants some......

 

[dxdx]

nice... be sure to post up pics when its in your tank.