Black sand, whats the deal????
- Thread starter grubsnaek
- Start date
grubsnaek
Active Member
Originally Posted by Flricordia
http:///forum/post/2822320
The bacteria will grow on any thing. You just heard wrong is all. The only problem with black sand is that it does not reflect light so if you have corals they will not recieve as much lighting as they would with white sand. But if you have good lighting it would not matter.
Originally Posted by grubsnaek
http:///forum/post/2822337
my lighting will be 150w of VHO and another 150w of halide. so is that enough for say softies and some LPS
edit: i know the lighting is enough for the actual corals. but with possibly using black sand on this project. is 300w of VHO/halide enough for a DT with black sand in a 29g
so would my lighting be enough???
http:///forum/post/2822320
The bacteria will grow on any thing. You just heard wrong is all. The only problem with black sand is that it does not reflect light so if you have corals they will not recieve as much lighting as they would with white sand. But if you have good lighting it would not matter.
Originally Posted by grubsnaek
http:///forum/post/2822337
my lighting will be 150w of VHO and another 150w of halide. so is that enough for say softies and some LPS
edit: i know the lighting is enough for the actual corals. but with possibly using black sand on this project. is 300w of VHO/halide enough for a DT with black sand in a 29g
so would my lighting be enough???
johnnyd
Member
Originally Posted by petjunkie
http:///forum/post/2823270
Your ph would have to be around 5.0 for your sand to do any buffering, at which point everything would be dead.
It's a nice myth that's well spread around but that doesn't make it true. The ph has to drop ridiculously low in order to dissorve aragonite. If we needed sand to do our buffering how would all the bare bottom tanks be surviving? My levels have always tested out fine and very close to my tanks with regular sand.
very good point i didnt think of the tanks that are bare bottom. any one know what the PH runs at on tanks with no sand/bare bottom? with that said i guess black sand is safe to use. ill most likely use black sand when i set up my 90g next month.
http:///forum/post/2823270
Your ph would have to be around 5.0 for your sand to do any buffering, at which point everything would be dead.
very good point i didnt think of the tanks that are bare bottom. any one know what the PH runs at on tanks with no sand/bare bottom? with that said i guess black sand is safe to use. ill most likely use black sand when i set up my 90g next month.
natclanwy
Active Member
I think my point was missed, you do not need the sand to buffer the water it only helps to stabilize the PH. Sea water has a natural PH of approx 8.2 so saltwater will eventually equalize to 8.2 unless there is a strong source of base or acid to pull it out of line. Aragonite sand has a PH of approx 8.2 also so it will react with water that has a PH of anything less than 8.2, it doesn't matter whether it is 8.1 or 5 it will start to break down which will buffer the PH back up to 8.2 and release calcium as an added bonus. In case you missed it I am currently running my tank with 100% quarts silica sand which is inert (has no effect on PH up or down) so my sand bed has no buffering capacity to raise my PH if my calcium and alk levels get out of whack essentially the same effect as running a bare bottom tank.
I recently have been battling a low PH (7.8) since I changed salt brand, what I found was my calcium (360ppm) and Alk (6 DKH) were low. Once they were returned to normal levels my PH came up to 8.2 and has been holding ever since. Its not that it can't be done, its like I stated earlier something to keep in mind and to make adjustments as necessary.
I recently have been battling a low PH (7.8) since I changed salt brand, what I found was my calcium (360ppm) and Alk (6 DKH) were low. Once they were returned to normal levels my PH came up to 8.2 and has been holding ever since. Its not that it can't be done, its like I stated earlier something to keep in mind and to make adjustments as necessary.
natclanwy
Active Member
You may not have to dose much depends on how heavily stocked you are with corals especially livestock that grows very fast like monitipora SPS, digitata SPS, and tridacnea clams. Also depends on your salt and your water change schedules. You may be able to keep up your calcium levels just by doing regular water changes and using aragonite sand doesn't guarantee that you won't have to dose calcium it just helps stabilize your PH if you get things out of whack.
If you like the look of black sand go for it, another thing to be aware of is many types of black sand are hard on burrowing livestock because the particles are very sharp. Sorry not trying to talk you out of it just ran across that info while looking up black sand.
If you like the look of black sand go for it, another thing to be aware of is many types of black sand are hard on burrowing livestock because the particles are very sharp. Sorry not trying to talk you out of it just ran across that info while looking up black sand.
johnnyd
Member
Originally Posted by grubsnaek
http:///forum/post/2824332
hahahahahaha SOLD!!! jognnyd after reading your post. if you re-read it, i pictured you like ohh yeaaaa. happy as hell you realized it. hahaha i mite try it......something different....
Hell Ya! lol, i would do it if you like the look in gonna do it with my 90g and have a black backround. i have MH lights so lighting wont be afective much. same as you grub i have sump i use one of the chamber as a sand bed with live white sand.
http:///forum/post/2824332
hahahahahaha SOLD!!! jognnyd after reading your post. if you re-read it, i pictured you like ohh yeaaaa. happy as hell you realized it. hahaha i mite try it......something different....
Hell Ya! lol, i would do it if you like the look in gonna do it with my 90g and have a black backround. i have MH lights so lighting wont be afective much. same as you grub i have sump i use one of the chamber as a sand bed with live white sand.
grubsnaek
Active Member
i have time to think, but with a 29DT w/15g sump. my water changes will be weekly. prolly 10g changes. my equipment will be fine. the skimmer going on this tank is rated up to a 180g. (ETSS reef devil). overkill i know, but worth it. plus i dont want to put the skimmer in my shed for no reason when i can put it to use.....
grubsnaek
Active Member
natclanwy your not pushing me away from it. i have alot of sand that i can use. and to be honest i am prolly gunna go with live white sand, but i am looking to set up a 5g nano. so i mite go with the black sand in there. i am going to make a small chamber to have some live white sand and live rubble w/ macro....
petjunkie
Active Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2824431
I think my point was missed, you do not need the sand to buffer the water it only helps to stabilize the PH. Sea water has a natural PH of approx 8.2 so saltwater will eventually equalize to 8.2 unless there is a strong source of base or acid to pull it out of line. Aragonite sand has a PH of approx 8.2 also so it will react with water that has a PH of anything less than 8.2, it doesn't matter whether it is 8.1 or 5 it will start to break down which will buffer the PH back up to 8.2 and release calcium as an added bonus. In case you missed it I am currently running my tank with 100% quarts silica sand which is inert (has no effect on PH up or down) so my sand bed has no buffering capacity to raise my PH if my calcium and alk levels get out of whack essentially the same effect as running a bare bottom tank.
I recently have been battling a low PH (7.8) since I changed salt brand, what I found was my calcium (360ppm) and Alk (6 DKH) were low. Once they were returned to normal levels my PH came up to 8.2 and has been holding ever since. Its not that it can't be done, its like I stated earlier something to keep in mind and to make adjustments as necessary.
I didn't miss your point at all, the fact is your sand will not in break down until the ph drops dramatically to the point of tank death, it's not going to make a difference either way, it makes a nice selling point for companies but it's simply not true. The ph is the same in my black sand tank as my regular sand tank, same as the tank I ran barebottom for a period. Kinda like how they say you can't use silica sand because you'll get algea. False, but often repeated.
http:///forum/post/2824431
I think my point was missed, you do not need the sand to buffer the water it only helps to stabilize the PH. Sea water has a natural PH of approx 8.2 so saltwater will eventually equalize to 8.2 unless there is a strong source of base or acid to pull it out of line. Aragonite sand has a PH of approx 8.2 also so it will react with water that has a PH of anything less than 8.2, it doesn't matter whether it is 8.1 or 5 it will start to break down which will buffer the PH back up to 8.2 and release calcium as an added bonus. In case you missed it I am currently running my tank with 100% quarts silica sand which is inert (has no effect on PH up or down) so my sand bed has no buffering capacity to raise my PH if my calcium and alk levels get out of whack essentially the same effect as running a bare bottom tank.
I recently have been battling a low PH (7.8) since I changed salt brand, what I found was my calcium (360ppm) and Alk (6 DKH) were low. Once they were returned to normal levels my PH came up to 8.2 and has been holding ever since. Its not that it can't be done, its like I stated earlier something to keep in mind and to make adjustments as necessary.
I didn't miss your point at all, the fact is your sand will not in break down until the ph drops dramatically to the point of tank death, it's not going to make a difference either way, it makes a nice selling point for companies but it's simply not true. The ph is the same in my black sand tank as my regular sand tank, same as the tank I ran barebottom for a period. Kinda like how they say you can't use silica sand because you'll get algea. False, but often repeated.