Black sand is Evil!

Not sure if you read my other posts in the filtration section. I had a tank crash due to power failure and my neglect. So when I redid the tank I wanted to try black sand. Big mistake!!! I don't know if I got a bad batch or what. It was nothing but cloudy for over a month. I thought it was a bacterial bloom. It only seemed to get worse. I could barely see my fish, although they were ok! The advice was to leave it alone. I tried. I got so disgusted I tore the tank down again. Put all rocks and livestock in a tote. I bought caribsea aragalive aragonite reef sand. What felt like a nightmare came together really well. Everyone's back in and things look wonderful!!! I'm so happy I changed out that Blacksand!!
Here's before

And now!!


iPhone doesn't do it justice. Looks great!

 

Tank looks very awesome! So sorry to hear about the experience with black sand. I have read where it can be hard to keep clean but I really like the look of it. This gives me a heads up to stick with my regular sand

 

That's crazy. Your tank looks awesome. What kind of light is that?

 

Thanks! It's a reefbreeders led light. 36" long. Awesome light and the guys are great there.

 

Just saying, it was probably not the sand or sand that was meant to be washed.

 

i just purchased a 30g cube that I was going to use black sand.....what was the brand that you used. I really like the looks of it

 

I'm going to respectfully disagree, I put black sand in my tank without washing it, and it only stayed cloudy for 24 hours or so.

 

I think he is saying whether it was live sand and bad or dead sand and not rinsed properly.
If it was live maybe someone left it out in the sun all day, or it could have been expired.
I wouldn't condemn black sand because of one bad experience. There has to be a reason.
Tank looks great but I think you will find the need to raise those lights a bit.

 

It was Tahitian moon. Can't remember the brand. It was pretty fine. I did rinse it first. I thought the black would look really cool too, I wish it would've worked out! It's so nice to see in my tank now though!

 

Vinny- I'm not condemning the black sand. I wish it was still in there! It was dry sand that I rinsed. I don't know what went wrong.
As for the lights, they should be suspended but that's not possible right now. I don't have the lights running on full power and I've had them since January. Eventually when I upgrade I went them hanging in a canopy