Black Sand

Does anyone have black sand? If so,is there an advantage, or a disadvantage to having it?

How much does it usually run for and where is a reliable source to purchase it?


Thanks for all the help

 

I have it

I used CaribeSea Black Hawaiian Live sand...It fail course with some smaller sand size particles.
I have used CaribeSea products for substrate for years

It is black argonite

Here is some pics
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/pierceeyes-50-reef-6-months-75780-3.html

 

would you say that there is any advantage or any disadvantage?

 

Personal choice i would say

I love the way it make the colors stand out, I also painted the back of my tank black

 

I know some of the black sands actually leach magnesium into the water and can help coral growth. Not sure which ones though. Anthony Calfo was talking about it at our recent fall fest.

 

thanks for the help if you think of anything else please let me know!

 

The main disadvantage is it doesn't reflect light. Rather, it absorbs it. That can make it harder to illuminate some corals. This is only a minor thing so I wouldn't say "no" to it just because of this.

 

I think it is also a personal choice. I would wonder if it shows detritus quicker than white sand? Sort of like the "black car seeming dirty quicker" school of thought.

 

I have a MAJOR DISADVANTAGE!!!

I have black carib sand in one of my tanks and there are magnetic (metal) constituents in the sand. I placed this sand in there, because all the other tanks are white.

One day I was using the magnetic cleaner and I pulled it from the glass to make sure there wasn't any sand under there, and I did this very close to the bottom of the tank, and the other magnet did not float to the top, but instead laid there on the bottom. I was able to pull it out, and it took me 30 minutes of cleaning it to figure it was a loss, so I took it to PetSmart and exchanged it.

I took pictures, because I knew at the time, most folks would think I was tossing about ruse than truth.

Just my experience. And of course, black aborbs light wavelengths.

 

Well I disagree that it aborbs the light from corals.....even if they sit in the bottom they will get the light before it absorbed into the sand.

Think about corals in the South Pacific that live in old black sand from volcanos....yes I know they are not toal black as corals die off and breakup into white sand/CC but the theory is still the same.

I actually notice less detritus so far

Here are a few pics