question about the black moonsand

[rhino509]

so whats the deal with the black sand i have seen labeled "black moonsand"? i have not seen any tanks that have had black sand.i have seen pics of indonesian reef that had black sand,but never in a tank.i take that back,i have seen it in a nano tank.does it not have the same benefits as using the aroganite or other types? the only thing i have thought of is that maybe it holds the heat too well,other than that......any thoughts?

 

[bboy aqua]

ive heard that it doesnt have the buffering ability as the aragonite sands

not sure if it actually holds in heat but if it does i would think it would be minimal

i guess people get it just for looks but i dont exactly "dig it"

 

[smy168]

I have tried black sand in a reef system years ago, not sure if the quality of sand has changed but when you wash a handful of the black sand you'll find a oily residue that is pretty difficult to get rid of (takes lots of washing). Second issue I had was that the corals and some fish didn't react well with the sand. The animals natural ability to blend and hide are lost when their colors can't blend with their surroundings. I also found my montis weren't getting the appropriate reflective light that it would normally get for under-growth.

JMO...I would stick with what works.

 

[arts007]

also some of your upwards reflection of light from the black sand is lost, every bit counts

 

[zma21]

If you want the bottom of your tank black, just buy some starboard and paint that black. Then put it on the bottom

BB would be safer than the moon sand IMO.

 

[rhino509]

hmm,not sure what to think then,i have seen pictures of the indonesian reef and there is black sand there.a city or body of water called Bali(not sure if thats the city or body of water).have also seen misc. pics of indonesian beaches with black sand.so i know its out there in the natural,just havent seen much info on it(substrate specific).hmm not sure what to think then.i thought about it a bit,the reflectiveness from the white sand is almost non exsistant underneath corals anyways,where theres a coral,there will be a shadow under it.and as far as their ability to blend,fish arent white.or black for that matter.so that shouldnt be an issue(exeptions do exist im sure....anglers and such)
now dont get me wrong,i dont know everything(by far) its just i dont see why it would be a problem,i just havent found enough info on it either way.and as far as buffer,you talking about ph correct? the gravel in a fresehwater tank doesnt buffer anything and they do alright.....just my thoughts,if anyone knows more about this that would be great.
smy168,you said you have tried,what happened exactly,you said fish didnt react well....how so? was there any bad reations to the water parameters(spikes/drops)? im not trying to disagree with anyone,just trying to educate myself as much as i can about this hobby.thanks for reading,keith

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Btw, aragonite supposedly doesnt even really buffer water with as high ph as ours as it doesnt dissolve. With that said, ill still be using a good aragonite sand in my bed, but plenty dont with no bad results that I know of. I say go for it. There is nothing wrong with being different, and if you really wanted to be unique, find out exactly what lives in the black sand regions, and only put those in the tank. Then you could truely say you have an indonesian volcano reef!

 

[Dubbin1]

Black sand looks really cool for a while then it gets dirty and stays dirty.