"Black Sand"

N

Navyblue

Medium Fish
#1
Feb 24, 2004
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#1
Hi guys,

In LFS here I saw a black colour substrate, its particle size is about 1-2 mm, roundish particles (as oppose to angular particle of sand), smooth and shiny appearace.

Any of you guys know about this? Does it leach nutrient? Or calcium? Or impact on pH? What is it made of?

Thanks for reading...
 

AndyL

AndyL

Large Fish
#3
Oct 22, 2002
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Calgary AB
#3
It could also be Seachems Tahitian moon sand...

Also sold less expensively in the freshwater section (in larger bags too) as Onyx sand. Seachems marketing - don't ask...

It will buffer your ph levels up, I believe it's a form of aragonite.

Good stuff for SW tanks or FW planted tanks.

Andy
 

Last edited:
N

Navyblue

Medium Fish
#5
Feb 24, 2004
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AndyL, Are you sure that Onyx and the Moon sand is exact same stuff? and not just look similar?

I saw the above described sold in clear plastic bags without labelling.

I saw another type of black sand with angular particles, 1-2 mm, dull appearance, also without labelling. Do you guys know about it too?
 

AndyL

AndyL

Large Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
908
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Calgary AB
#6
Yup, if you do a search on aquabotanic's forum, there was a discussion on it. Including emails from seachem's customer support confirming that they are the same product, just marketed differently (Thus the different price - so they say).

Andy
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
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#7
Alternatively there's a bunch of black coated silica sands kicking around for sale that the description also matches exactly. What's the brand?
 

N

Navyblue

Medium Fish
#8
Feb 24, 2004
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#8
wayne,

what is it coated with? enamel?

the one I've seen doesn't seems to be coated, it looks like some sort of river gravel due to its roundness and shine. it is quite heavy compared to normal sand. No label, no brand, and the best of all, the LFS guy doesn't know anything about all the substrate he sells.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#10
Oct 22, 2002
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#10
I tihnk it's epoxy. If they're small , wound and shiny it sounds like one of these rather than tahiti moonsand, however I could easily be wrong. At then end of the day the best thing would be to test a sample ith a weak acid and see if it fizzes - you'll know then if it CaCO3, though you won't know if it's calcite or aragonite
 

Purple

Purple

Superstar Fish
#11
Oct 31, 2003
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#11
I've got a tank with something similar in it - round coloured "pebbles" - about 3 or 4mm. Comes in a variety of colours, including black. When placed in the tank, I found some of the stuff they are coated with floating around where it hadn't taken to the pebbles properly during the manufacturing process. Feels like epoxy to me.

Someone on here recently said that this coating does wear off with time, tho it is non-toxic, and it would take quite a bit of wear and tear to get it to come off. If it was me making the stuff - i'd use clay granules as a base rather than a true stone as it would be easier to get that round shape.

So - artificial pebbles - unlikely (by design) to react to much in the tank
 

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