# Sand Options



## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

so im poking around, and im seeing tahitian moon sand for like 22 bucks for 25lbs...im wondering if anyone has used THIS stuff instead as a substitute at a fraction of the cost...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200022824_200022824


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

wow, it's even $1 cheaper than the pool filter sand I got.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

I haven't used it personally, but I know of a lot of people that have and they really liked it. I have used silica blasting sand, just not in black -- nice uniform grain and it's heavier than play sand, so it settles right away if it gets kicked up.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

sweet i think im gonna give this stuff a try on my 75g african tank. doesn't sound toxic.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Nope, silica sand is completely inert... My brother was actually thinking about trying this in his new African cichlid tank, so if you do get it, be sure to post some pics.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

yeah man...im getting the tank tomorrow...probably setting it up immediately...but it's gonna have to cycle for a bit. i'll definitely post up pics.


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## sleepybuddah (Nov 6, 2010)

Where can you buy silica blasting sand?


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## sick of chiclids (May 25, 2010)

i've not used it personaly, but i've heard that it has shap edges that can be harmful if injested. on the same note joe is far more experianced than i.


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## JeFFLo (Aug 29, 2003)

im looking for some black silica sand also..not that expensive petsmart stuff. didnt find any in home depot or lowes. anyone know where to find it? maybe a pool supply store?


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

tractor supply, blue seal...agricultural stores should carry some.


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## bricklr (Aug 14, 2010)

sick of chiclids said:


> im looking for some black silica sand also..not that expensive petsmart stuff. didnt find any in home depot or lowes. anyone know where to find it? maybe a pool supply store?


IMO Black is bad.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2011)

why is black bad....?


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## thundergolf (Mar 13, 2009)

I just added some of this to a tank of mine. The stuff comes in a couple of grades, i went with fine. 
I think it looks great!! I couldnt be happier.
It doesnt seem to be as sharp as some had mentioned, but again i got the fine. Medium grade may have a sharpness to it.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2011)

just went and bought for my new 125gal.... think 150lbs is gonna cover the tank???


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

i went with pool filter sand...post pics though guys, i wouldn't mind a change necessarily.


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## bricklr (Aug 14, 2010)

c_granger21 said:


> why is black bad....?


The expensive black "moon" sand is fine.IMO... Don't use the black sandblasting sand"black beauty" I think it's called. Very sharp "shards of glass" type sand, and has petro products that will seep into your water over time. White silica sandblasting sand is OK.


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## thundergolf (Mar 13, 2009)

c_granger21 said:


> just went and bought for my new 125gal.... think 150lbs is gonna cover the tank???


150lbs would be plenty. It filled my 180g just fine. 
I will post pics tommorrow.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2011)

i got "black diamond" sand... havent put it in yet... waiting to set up my filter and paint my background....


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## Piranha feeder (Jun 15, 2010)

sleepybuddah said:


> Where can you buy silica blasting sand?


I bought my whitish silica from Home Depot. It was weird cause same company same bag size same lettering and numbers but one bag is very fine sand and another is medium. I got medium the first time then went to buy more not knowing the differences and got fine particles. So I had to go through like 10 bags sticking my hand into every bag trying to find the medium particles... Anyway Home Depot has it here.


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## thundergolf (Mar 13, 2009)

Here are pics of my tank. Not the best quality i used my phone. Also still in the process of building a canopy and adding new trim to the tank. 
This is the black beauty blasting sand (fine grade).


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

that's a nice setup...substrate looks good.


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## Piranha feeder (Jun 15, 2010)

Looks pretty nice!


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## bricklr (Aug 14, 2010)

thundergolf said:


> Here are pics of my tank. Not the best quality i used my phone. Also still in the process of building a canopy and adding new trim to the tank.
> This is the black beauty blasting sand (fine grade).


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

im curious to know where you get that idea from bricklr. i've read all around the internet of great experiences with this sand, other than it gets dirty quickly...it is majority silica based, and the rest of it's composition is metallic oxides. there's no petrol to seep. are there any experiences you can specifically cite that point to this substrate as being dangerous towards fish or aquatic life?

also, nobody said the tahitian sand is not good stuff...but lets face it, for a dollar a pound, it's way overpriced. it's sand afterall. if i had a 10g tank, i wouldn't mind spending that money, but for a 75g, 120g, 150g tank, there's no way im dropping that kind of money on sand. this presents a viable alternative, and thus far, hasn't been proven to have adverse affects on aquatic life or health of the fish...


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## thundergolf (Mar 13, 2009)

I spread the sand around using my hands it wasnt any more abraisive than normal sand. I read several other forums and research before adding it to my tank. All the reviews were positive in other forums.
It was a little dirty at first, water was cloudy for about a day.


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## bricklr (Aug 14, 2010)

r1dermon said:


> im curious to know where you get that idea from bricklr. i've read all around the internet of great experiences with this sand, other than it gets dirty quickly...it is majority silica based, and the rest of it's composition is metallic oxides. there's no petrol to seep. are there any experiences you can specifically cite that point to this substrate as being dangerous towards fish or aquatic life?
> 
> also, nobody said the tahitian sand is not good stuff...but lets face it, for a dollar a pound, it's way overpriced. it's sand afterall. if i had a 10g tank, i wouldn't mind spending that money, but for a 75g, 120g, 150g tank, there's no way im dropping that kind of money on sand. this presents a viable alternative, and thus far, hasn't been proven to have adverse affects on aquatic life or health of the fish...


Thought it was common knowledge this stuff was bad. I really wanted inexpensive black sand too, but
IMO. Anything that could possably harm my fish,I will not use. I saw a close up photo of this stuff, and what it does to the insides of your fish. I can't validate the petro part, but the pics don't lie.


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## BuckeyeGuy777 (Oct 30, 2010)

i used it and i loved it


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## TheSpaz13 (Apr 9, 2010)

I know what bricklr is talking about and I've seen pics of black beauty too, magnified the stuff looks pretty bad, but I think that was the more corse grade. The more fine the sand the better off y should be


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

i mean here's the thing...sand is also an abrasive, and used in sand blasting...i think it's to the benefit of this thread that whatever pics you're talking about are shown so that if in-fact this substrate is not in the best interest of the fish, it can be determined as such by other members here. i've seen people slam products for one reason or another, but i often reserve judgement until i see the actual proof.


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## JeFFLo (Aug 29, 2003)

3M has this stuff called spectra quartz which used to be color quartz. its like black sand they have two types the fine grade and medium grade. just call their customer service and they'll hook you up with a dealer. 50lb bag was about $22 last time i checked. was gonna pick some up but never had the time to.


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## TheSpaz13 (Apr 9, 2010)

This wasn't the page I was looking for but it's got some info.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php

Ill keep looking for the page I'm thinking of


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## 65galhex (Nov 5, 2008)

I just bought 4 bags of this for my 150gal. I look forward to the black sand as i had white pool filter sand before.


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