Cheap black aquarium sand?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
MHcblues119

MHcblues119

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2007
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Essex, New Jersey
Ok so i know poolfilter sand is the cheapest way to go if you want sand...but i really dont want the light sand...Right now my tank bottom is painted black with the MFK logo in white...so it looks really cool...but its not very natrual and i heard sand helps with large bioloads? So does anyne know where i can get cheap black sand?
 
I don't know where to get cheap black sand, but if you're going to use it, here's a warning.. Some of it is magnetic, so if it gets into your filters or powerheads, it'll stick to the impeller magnet and grind the thing to pieces. It's bad to get any kind of sand into pumps like that, but magnetic sand will be impossible to get out even if you disassemble the thing and try to clean it. The 'Tahitian Moon Sand' is definitely magnetic- I tested it. Keep your intakes high, and turn off the equipment when doing water changes and whatnot.
 
if you have enought bio media in your filters then you dont need substrate to help with that. but if you want it, i'd go with Color Quartz if you can find it. "Black Beauty" is also another option, although its more of a really fine gravel. looks like crushed obsidian or something like that
 
3M quit making the ColorQuartz stuff late last year, so whatever's still around is all that there will ever be. I should have bought some when I had the chance..
 
i was in the same struggle, and stumbled upon this site > www.zoosand.com

It shows its aquariums safe and they have many colors for a decent price and free shipping. When I get to it, I want to get some black/ red from there.
 
Procambarus;4329577; said:
I don't know where to get cheap black sand, but if you're going to use it, here's a warning.. Some of it is magnetic, so if it gets into your filters or powerheads, it'll stick to the impeller magnet and grind the thing to pieces. It's bad to get any kind of sand into pumps like that, but magnetic sand will be impossible to get out even if you disassemble the thing and try to clean it. The 'Tahitian Moon Sand' is definitely magnetic- I tested it. Keep your intakes high, and turn off the equipment when doing water changes and whatnot.
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I don't think TMS is magnetic. I have it in my tank and I use a magfloat but I'm never seen any evidence that it's magnetic.

This is an alternative to colorquartz
 
3M doesn't make Colorquartz any more, but it appears that another company started making it in an almost identical fashion, including the same colors, same two grades (named differently though: F-grade is the same as Colorquartz's old S-grade and Q-grade is the same as their old T-grade), and same distributor. It's called Spectraquartz now. Here's a link to their website: http://www.spectraquartz.com/

You can get it from a number of places, one of which is N.T. Ruddock. Their price list is found here. Notice that it's about twice as expensive as the old Colorquartz and you can get quotes for blended mixes of different colors just like you could with Colorquartz.

It's also worth noting that, although they have a picture of them using it in an aquarium (I think they re-used the old Colorquartz pic), it does not say that it's safe to do so like the old Colorquartz did. I know they are applying the color to the quartz in a supposedly different manner, although their description of the process sounds the same, just with different wording. It is still guaranteed to be chemically inert and pretty much permanent (so it shouldn't leach into your water like some Walmart substrates :irked:).

IF this is pretty much identical to Colorquartz, as it appears to be, I highly recommend it - but I have not tried this new stuff, so I can't say that it is the same. I love my Colorquartz. It's heavy so that it doesn't get stirred up into the water column often, and when it does, it settles quickly. It doesn't fade. It doesn't change your pH. It's non-magnetic. It's not sharp (at least not the smaller grade). Basically, it's substrate heaven in my mind. :drool:

Edit: ^ he beat me to it. Footnote: the price list on N.T. Ruddock is for 50# bags.
 
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