Black Sand

Twinklecaz · Oct 31, 2011

Where do you get it from and which in your opinion are the best ones?

Also is there anyting I should know about it (like it lowers PH or something)

Jamepsss · Oct 31, 2011

Twinklecaz said:
Where do you get it from and which in your opinion are the best ones?

Also is there anyting I should know about it (like it lowers PH or something)

I'm using Eco Complete which is more of a fine gravel with Caribsea Black sand on top. The Caribsea sand is very black and effective but not as fine as playsand. You don't need to wash it either. In my other tank I have Unipac black sand which is very fine but not very black.

Neither affect PH as far as I know.

Twinklecaz · Oct 31, 2011

I like the look of your tank with the slighly off black sand. Is that the unipac black?

I want to get some of the plant substrate to go underneath the sand to see if I have better luck with plants this time. That's Eco Complete is it yeah?

KrystaK · Oct 31, 2011

My friend has black sand in her tank and it looks so good that I ordered some today, She has the CaribSea stuff. Anyways her's doesn't support plants so I had to find some that supports live plants, it's the same brand.
The only problems she's had have been her bottom feeders, they stir it up when they get playful and it gets sucked into the filter and clogs it because it's so fine. She's on a well and has a pH of 7.8. Mine is the same. My tank has gravel and is a pH of 8.0, and her's goes to 8.2 so it does raise pH, but what she has is supposed to because she has fish that prefer a more basic environment. CaribSea does make a sand that isn't supposed to affect pH, but neither of us have tried that. Hope it helps sorta...

Jamepsss · Oct 31, 2011

Twinklecaz said:
I like the look of your tank with the slighly off black sand. Is that the unipac black?

I want to get some of the plant substrate to go underneath the sand to see if I have better luck with plants this time. That's Eco Complete is it yeah?

Yeah that's the Unipac. You could put it on top of Aquabasis (which I think is better) but it would probably sink through to the bottom of Eco Complete.

Twinklecaz · Oct 31, 2011

LOl I just reading your 200l journal and I got the impression the Aquabasis(the one made by JBL?) was good. I like the idea you just have to top it up with the balls after 6 months-a year. I've also pinched some of your plant ideas

Krystak thanks for the warning! I don't want my PH to go any higher so I'll look out for that, thanks.

Jamepsss · Oct 31, 2011

Twinklecaz said:
LOl I just reading your 200l journal and I got the impression the Aquabasis(the one made by JBL?) was good. I like the idea you just have to top it up with the balls after 6 months-a year. I've also pinched some of your plant ideas

Krystak thanks for the warning! I don't want my PH to go any higher so I'll look out for that, thanks.

Yeah JBL Aquabasis worked really well for me under playsand. Plants went mad, not had the same success with Eco Complete yet, still figuring out which plants like it.

Oh, Aquabasis is supposed to last 3 years before you need to recharge so I never did.