Black sand… suggestions

[Magnum Man]

I was looking at the seachem flourite, but it was suggested that it was too sharp for Cory’s… the tank I’m setting up probably won’t ever have Cory’s in it, but ya know, never say never…

So looking for suggestions for a black sand that might work…

I did find this… Froghouse black aquarium sand, on Amazon ( sorry, can’t link it from my phone)

And I see that seachem also offers a black clay “gravel”

Anyway what’s out there that would be safe for Cory’s if I decided to add some down the road???

 

[Lcc86]

There was a recent thread discussing this but essentially black sand isn't good for cories as it causes them to darken up, like a bit of a stress response. I'm not sure about other bottom dwellers but if you do plan to add cories eventually black sand probably isn't a good idea.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

I was looking at the seachem flourite, but it was suggested that it was too sharp for Cory’s… the tank I’m setting up probably won’t ever have Cory’s in it, but ya know, never say never…

So looking for suggestions for a black sand that might work…

I did find this… Froghouse black aquarium sand, on Amazon ( sorry, can’t link it from my phone)

And I see that seachem also offers a black clay “gravel”

Anyway what’s out there that would be safe for Cory’s if I decided to add some down the road???

I've heard that black sand isn't the best for Cories because it makes them change their colors and can stress them out? Someone do correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Back in the fold]

I got that Seachem Flourite once and it’s everything @Byron said about it which isn’t good . It is sharp and granular in a fractured sort of way and I noticed that snails don’t particularly care to venture onto it . Not worth the price . I also bought some black sand at PetsMart and I noticed on the bag “Made in China”. Why in the world does sand have to come from overseas and what do they do to it to make it black ? It never has washed completely clean to my satisfaction and it’s been three years . Someone here recently posted that black sand shows the dirt and they are 100% right about that . I wouldn’t buy it again . Plain old play sand or pool filter sand is cheap and works great .

 

[Magnum Man]

Well… like I said in the 1st post, I don’t plan on ever putting Cory’s in this tank… the fact is, I’m looking for black sand for the Tilapia breeding tank… sand for the male to make a nest, and black sand, as it’s vastly different in color from the eggs, so that I, and the mothers can easily see them to pick them up

I suppose I could use regular play sand, but “I” would rather have black

 

[Magnum Man]

And not really trying to side track my own thread… but isn’t it a natural instinct of most fish to camouflage… many fish, including pleco’s, can change colors so much from their surroundings, that they often get classified as another species… do we really know that black sand stresses out Cory’s??? Maybe they are actually happy, as I’m sure a lot of the dirt / mud from their natural habitat is darker

 

[Byron]

We’ll… like I said in the 1st post, I don’t plan on ever putting Cory’s in this tank… the fact is, I’m looking for black sand for the Tilapia breeding tank… sand for the male to make a nest, and black sand, as it’s vastly different in color from the eggs, so that I, and the mothers can easily see them to pick them up

I suppose I could use regular play sand, but “I” would rather have black

You can acquire inert black aquarium sand. Flourite is not the same. Its benefits to plants I consider nil over regular inert sand, I tried it once. And with cichlids, you have to be careful about the roughness of the sand, they feed from the substrate.

 

[Byron]

And not really trying to side track my own thread… but isn’t it a natural instinct of most fish to camouflage… many fish, including pleco’s, can change colors so much from their surroundings, that they often get classified as another species… do we really know that black sand stresses out Cory’s??? Maybe they are actually happy, as I’m sure a lot of the dirt / mud from their natural habitat is darker

The basic background colour of each Corydoras species allows it to blend in with the habitat substrate. This is how the species evolved. Fish can change colours due to several environmental factors, and of course courting/spawning with some. If you look at photos and videos of cories in their habitats, it is quite evident that the fish blend in very well. Some species have black dorso-lateral bands which resemble twigs and sticks. Unless the fish move, they are more camouflaged to predators above them, fish or birds. When fish attempt to change their colour or pattern due to environmental issues, it is almost always negative. And all things negative cause stress, which weakens the immune system and makes the regular life processes more difficult.

 

[Uberhoust]

I have used and currently using Seechem Black Florite Sand. It has a number of issues most which have been noted by others above.

• It is sharp. Examined it under the microscope and it is very angular. Bad for cories
• It compacts perhaps too well. My plants don't do better in in than normal scan or gravel.
• Requires a significant amount of rinsing. I would suggest I had to rinse about 10% or more of the volume away
• It is expensive.
• The fines are light and slightly magnetic. This means if you slightly stir up your sand and some goes into the filter it can be trapped on the magnetic impeller of filters where the water reaches the impeller before the filter. It has damaged one of my impellers and drive casings on one of my AC filters.

I am currently using it in a Shrimp tank where I am using an air driven sponge filter. In this application it does work ok. The shrimp walk over the sand rather than sliding so the angularity does not seem to affect the shrimp in a negative manner. Depending on the lighting it is more of a dark gray in color.

 

[Magnum Man]

I've decided to go this route...

Amazon.com

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Are you planting the tank? If you're not you're wasting money buying the above. I personally use limpopo black sand...its a fine gravel in texture. I don't have Corydoras in my tank so I don't know how they'd fair

 

[Magnum Man]

I looked for that, & didn't find it in the US...

I did find this Aussie sand here though...

Amazon.com

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I looked for that, & didn't find it in the US...

I did find this Aussie sand here though...

Amazon.com

That's a shame, I really like the limpopo. The one you've linked to should be OK although it's annoying when they don't give you a picture of the product to check grain size and texture. I'd avoid anything with added nutrients if you're not going to plant the tank, that's just a recipe for a bum-ache

 

[Uberhoust]

I personally use limpopo black sand...its a fine gravel in texture.

I also looked for it as well and it is not available, reasonably, in NA.

But in the continental US you might want to give garnet grit a try. It is hard to get here in Canada, but there are suppliers in the US. I thought alluvial garnet might be a good choice, it is heavy and stays down, rounded, and has a dark reddish color that might look really good in an aquarium. I panned approximately a pound out of the Slocan river years ago, but not enough for a fish tank. The only issue I could see with Garnet is that it is harder than glass so you would have to be more careful about scratching the glass during cleanings. If I could get it on Vancouver Island I would give it a try.

 

[Magnum Man]

with just a quick search, all I could find in Garnet sand was sand blasting media, with pretty "sharp" edges, or tumbled stones from pea rock size & up, but those were quite e4xpensive and bigger than I was looking for...

I expect a lot of the price increases we are seeing on sands, are shipping cost, both global, & local, because they are heavy items