Who's got black sand?

DmitryB · May 30, 2026

Does anyone use black sand in their tank? I'm curious to see it and hear any downsides people have experienced. How does it look under blue light? Does it help things pop visually or the opposite? (I'll be getting sand for my upcoming aquarium and I'm deciding on what sand to go with. Black sand is intriguing...!)

Muppy · May 30, 2026

I have never used it, but a quick search will show that it is notorious for leaching iron as well as sticking to magnet scrapers and causing scratching on the glass.

Ks4726 · May 30, 2026

Skip it. Its nice for a second but absorbs all the lighting instead of reflecting it back up making the tank look darker, all the debris like fish poop, uneaten food, etc just sits on top and is ugly. Plus all the pieces of live rock that come off mixes in it so its a black with a white mix over time. And when you do water changes it gets siphoned up easily. I made the mistake and have been trying to siphon it all out of my one tank. Here is an video i had of it to show it under blues. And it scratches acrylic easily.

DmitryB · May 31, 2026

Ks4726 said:
Skip it. Its nice for a second but absorbs all the lighting instead of reflecting it back up making the tank look darker, all the debris like fish poop, uneaten food, etc just sits on top and is ugly. Plus all the pieces of live rock that come off mixes in it so its a black with a white mix over time. And when you do water changes it gets siphoned up easily. I made the mistake and have been trying to siphon it all out of my one tank. Here is an video i had of it to show it under blues. And it scratches acrylic easily.

That's a beautiful set up! I do love the look of it, but sounds like a nightmare to deal with. Too bad!!

Ks4726 · May 31, 2026

DmitryB said:
That's a beautiful set up! I do love the look of it, but sounds like a nightmare to deal with. Too bad!!

Thank you. I like the look too, but there were downsides. I did research before hand, people said the same but i choose to ignore it. My other tank has a white sand bed so i had to do the opposite, but honestly ive been siphoning it out slowly. Ill never get it all out but im making a small dent