Is there a Coral/Motile Invert Safe Black Sand? CaribbSea Hawaiian, Yes Or No?

[Fish Fan]

I just looked up my order from 2019, and this is the product I used.

What could be helpful is running a big magnet through it first to remove any iron, then rinsing it. But dry sand doesn’t make me flinch either way, you can always add bacteria afterwards.

Thank you!!!

I'm glad I asked, that was NOT what I was talking about. I have this stuff:

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-arag-alive-hawaiian-black-aquarium-gravel-20-lbs-2153490?store_code=943&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla_with_promotionlocal&cm_mmc=PSH%7CGGL%7CCCY%7CCCO%7CPM%7C0%7CaxsvnXfjRWFFwpetHmZu75%7C%7C%7C0%7C0%7C%7C%7C21467366052&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAhP67BhAVEiwA2E_9g3Bgw9khy9pqd9OrB6Fvl-4NczjSgm5lDgfgp1XFRFmFO7cPqK7NURoCaxMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

But, I definitely have seen the sand you used, and maybe that's just what I'll do.

 

[Fish Fan]

@Randy Holmes-Farley It looks like this is the sand @Reefer Matt used, and it's hard to argue that his tank wasn't successful. Would you mind taking a look here and see what you think please:

Aquarium Sand - Aquarium Sand - Nature's Ocean®

 

[Reefing102]

Back in the day…read 2008ish…I ran Caribsea Hawaiian Black. While I can’t comment on chemical make up, I did find it was magnetic however during that time I successfully kept various softies and anemones. I did find it made the tank “appear” dark and when I switched back to white sand, the tank was much more visually appealing to me. Not sure if that’s really any answer to your question or concerns but I wouldn’t hesitate to run it again and given the prevalence we have now with many bright sand dwelling corals, it could make for an excellent contrast.

 

[Fish Fan]

Back in the day…read 2008ish…I ran Caribsea Hawaiian Black. While I can’t comment on chemical make up, I did find it was magnetic however during that time I successfully kept various softies and anemones. I did find it made the tank “appear” dark and when I switched back to white sand, the tank was much more visually appealing to me. Not sure if that’s really any answer to your question or concerns but I wouldn’t hesitate to run it again and given the prevalence we have now with many bright sand dwelling corals, it could make for an excellent contrast.

Thank you for your reply and help!

 

[FishyHotel]

Not sure if this is helpful or not but the LFS I go to started having heavy metal issues on their 240L tank with black sand and had to switch out the sand to sort their problem.

 

[Fish Fan]

Not sure if this is helpful or not but the LFS I go to started having heavy metal issues on their 240L tank with black sand and had to switch out the sand to sort their problem.

Thank you, that's helpful for sure

Could I ask, was this a new tank or an old tank? And do you know what sand they used specifically?

Thank you again!

 

[Mschmidt]

Thank you!!!

I'm glad I asked, that was NOT what I was talking about. I have this stuff:

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/caribsea-arag-alive-hawaiian-black-aquarium-gravel-20-lbs-2153490?store_code=943&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla_with_promotionlocal&cm_mmc=PSH%7CGGL%7CCCY%7CCCO%7CPM%7C0%7CaxsvnXfjRWFFwpetHmZu75%7C%7C%7C0%7C0%7C%7C%7C21467366052&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAhP67BhAVEiwA2E_9g3Bgw9khy9pqd9OrB6Fvl-4NczjSgm5lDgfgp1XFRFmFO7cPqK7NURoCaxMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

But, I definitely have seen the sand you used, and maybe that's just what I'll do.

I had this stuff in my 10 gallon nem tank without issue. But that was after it lived a year or so in the sump of my 100 gallon reef. I had issues there but it was more likely me rather than the sand.

I'd probably go and do it again as I liked the dark with the nems and platinum clown. Coulda been a better tank, coulda been worse.

 

[Fish Fan]

I had this stuff in my 10 gallon nem tank without issue. But that was after it lived a year or so in the sump of my 100 gallon reef. I had issues there but it was more likely me rather than the sand.

I'd probably go and do it again as I liked the dark with the nems and platinum clown. Coulda been a better tank, coulda been worse.

Thank you for sharing!

Just to be 1001% sure, did you use the CaribbSea Hawaiian Black or the Nature's Ocean sand motioned previously?

@Randy Holmes-Farley I'm so sorry, I'm sure you have more important threads to attend to, but if you could please take a look at the Nature's Ocean product, it's claimed to be aragonite, but I thought all black beach sand was lava and would have some metals (though I didn't think that was problem until now). The Nature's Ocean product suggests that it includes trace elements that [dusting off my very rusty Chem minor] would dissociate into metal ions that they bill as essential. Could anything here be of concern?

"Essential Trace Elements Aquarium Live Sand
Provided
by Bio-Activ Live®
Aragonite
Zinc Sulphate, Calcium
Chloride, Manganese Chloride,
Cobalt Chloride, Copper
Sulphate, Sodium Molybdate,
Strontium Chloride, Nickel
Chloride, Potassium Bromide,
Sodium Silicate."

^From the Nature's Ocean website.

Thank you very much for you time and help!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There’s no chance that black sand is aragonite. It’s shocking that they say it, even if it’s just the way the name a product rather than an actual claim of composition.

The chemicals mentioned above are presumably trace elements they intentionally add to all their products. Those are not the specific forms that would dissolve out of sand.

 

[Fish Fan]

There’s no chance that black sand is aragonite. It’s shocking that they say it, even if it’s just the way the name a product rather than an actual claim of composition.

The chemicals mentioned above are presumably trace elements they intentionally add to all their products. Those are not the specific forms that would dissolve out of sand.

Thank you for your help! I didn't understand how it could be aragonite either.

Do you think it's reef safe and OK to use?

Thanks again for your help and time!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you for your help! I didn't understand how it could be aragonite either.

Do you think it's reef safe and OK to use?

Thanks again for your help and time!

I don’t know. Sorry.

 

[Fish Fan]

I don’t know. Sorry.

No worries, thank you for your help!

 

[Mschmidt]

Thank you for sharing!

Just to be 1001% sure, did you use the CaribbSea Hawaiian Black or the Nature's Ocean sand motioned previously?

@Randy Holmes-Farley I'm so sorry, I'm sure you have more important threads to attend to, but if you could please take a look at the Nature's Ocean product, it's claimed to be aragonite, but I thought all black beach sand was lava and would have some metals (though I didn't think that was problem until now). The Nature's Ocean product suggests that it includes trace elements that [dusting off my very rusty Chem minor] would dissociate into metal ions that they bill as essential. Could anything here be of concern?

"Essential Trace Elements Aquarium Live Sand
Provided
by Bio-Activ Live®
Aragonite
Zinc Sulphate, Calcium
Chloride, Manganese Chloride,
Cobalt Chloride, Copper
Sulphate, Sodium Molybdate,
Strontium Chloride, Nickel
Chloride, Potassium Bromide,
Sodium Silicate."

^From the Nature's Ocean website.

Thank you very much for you time and help!

it was the Carab-sea Hawaiian black, the suspect one.

 

[Fish Fan]

it was the Carab-sea Hawaiian black, the suspect one.

Thank you for clarifying!

 

[FishyHotel]

Thank you, that's helpful for sure

Could I ask, was this a new tank or an old tank? And do you know what sand they used specifically?

Thank you again!

I’m not sure of the age of the tank or the specific sand unhelpfully . I just remembered the change and had asked why they changed things up and that’s what the told me. I know that it had been at least moved in the last year so I’m not sure if that would have changed things one way or another.

 

[Fish Fan]

I’m not sure of the age of the tank or the specific sand unhelpfully . I just remembered the change and had asked why they changed things up and that’s what the told me. I know that it had been at least moved in the last year so I’m not sure if that would have changed things one way or another.

Thank you, that's good to know. I appreciate you replying here!

 

[Tahoe61]

I used Caribsea Hawaiian Reef Blend in my cycling IM 14 gal recently. Today while doing maintenance I noticed black sand particles on the magnets of my wavermaker. At the time I thought that's strange. It's purely coincidence that I read this thread today. Tomorrow I will be changing out the sandbed.

 

[Fish Fan]

I used Caribsea Hawaiian Reef Blend in my cycling IM 14 gal recently. Today while doing maintenance I noticed black sand particles on the magnets of my wavermaker. At the time I thought that's strange. It's purely coincidence that I read this thread today. Tomorrow I will be changing out the sandbed.

Thank you for stopping by my thread!

Yes, that was a well known issue with this sand, that it has very small pieces that are iron or other metals, which will attract to the magnetic impellers in your pumps. I had hopes of sifting the sand to remove those small fines.

Follow up: Did you change out your sand bed today, and what (if anything) did you replace it with?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Tahoe61]

Thank you for stopping by my thread!

Yes, that was a well known issue with this sand, that it has very small pieces that are iron or other metals, which will attract to the magnetic impellers in your pumps. I had hopes of sifting the sand to remove those small fines.

Follow up: Did you change out your sand bed today, and what (if anything) did you replace it with?

Thank you for your help!

Going to get Aragonite today, I really don't care if it's "live" or not. If I had the patience I would think about going bare bottom, and I still might change my mind. This little IM 14 gallon is roughly 2 months old.

I used the same bag of black sand in another small set up. It was a macroalgae tank. The one fish, a Neon Dottyback and the macro algae did fine. The hermits and snails not so much.

I really missed the connection on this one. Had I not thought it was strange to see the black sand on the magnet I would have probably kept wondering why hermits and snails struggled.

 

[Fish Fan]

Going to get Aragonite today, I really don't care if it's "live" or not. If I had the patience I would think about going bare bottom, and I still might change my mind. This little IM 14 gallon is roughly 2 months old.

I used the same bag of black sand in another small set up. It was a macroalgae tank. The one fish, a Neon Dottyback and the macro algae did fine. The hermits and snails not so much.

I really missed the connection on this one. Had I not thought it was strange to see the black sand on the magnet I would have probably kept wondering why hermits and snails struggled.

Thank you for your reply!

My tank here is an IM 25 Lagoon AIO, and I wanted to go bare bottom. I haven't filled the tank yet, but when I look into it I can see the foam mat underneath, and to me it look kind of splotchy and gray, not really black. So I started to think about sand again.

I wanted something "different", but I just don't know about this black stuff....