White sand or Black sand??

[monkeysee1]

Hi again everyone!
I'm going a bit more minimalist in my tank and have a my (much simpler) rock design picked out. Fish and my inverts. NO CORALS.
I, along with the aquarium consultant at the LFS I'm hiring agree it's time to change the sand bed.
I love the Tropic Eden White Miniflake Aragonite. The fine white is beautiful. But I also think think that Black Hawaiian sand is really cool.
The guy at the LFS store is discouraging me from the black sand and says it will REALLY darken my tank too much, scratch the glass and may look initially but will look like crap over time. Is he right?
Should I stick with white??
I'm taking votes.
I'm NOT going bare bottom - it's bad for inverts. Just a bit more minimalist with my 10 fish that I love - I want to keep ALL of them, with my inverts too (snails, feather duster, emerald crabs, urchins, shrimp, etc).
SO is he right??

 

[Pslreefer]

I like the black sand , however some of the grains in it will get magnetized to your glass algae scaper

 

[FamilyTank]

White

 

[Crooked Reef]

I have a 90 gallon reef with white sand and a biocube 29 dwarf lion tank with black. It darkens the tankeven with a powerful light. I don’t have an issue with scratching the glass, but I use a scrub pad and not a magnet on that tank. It does show detritus a lot more than you would think. When it is time to change it, I will go with white.

 

[Chad_P]

White. Had white in a prior tank, went through all the trouble to switch to black and ended up not liking it.

Fluorescent colors popped but tank looked too dark and always looked dirtier than white. Never had an issue with it sticking to algae scraper, I used Tahitian moon sand which I liked the best out of all the blacks.

Sold the 93 and started up a 180 gallon. Went with all white sand [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[laverda]

Black looks shape when new. It quickly loses that look and looks dirty. Just like a black car, every bit of dirt (detrius) stands out.

 

[Lancerman]

go for white

go for white

I've had this dilemma but following the sage advice of those before me, opted for white sand. To me, it looks more natural, and I wont have to worry about it magnetizing. If you do decide to get black sand, look at petco, they have the live sand for ~$10 for a 10lb bag last time I checked(might have went up). But ultimately its up to your needs and preferences. Do what makes you happy!

 

[monkeysee1]

Thanks for all your advice guys!
I went with white Tropic Eden!

 

[Conigs]

White

 

[skulls1075]

good choice. that’s what i use.

 

[hkgar]

It is your tank. Do what you like.

Why care about we like?

Why do people ask what they should like?

Or, is your question really - what are the pros and cons of black versus white sand?