Evil Black Sand

[lbannie]

Not sure if you read my other posts in the filtration section. I had a tank crash due to power failure and my neglect. So when I redid the tank I wanted to try black sand. Big mistake!!! I don't know if I got a bad batch or what. It was nothing but cloudy for over a month. I thought it was a bacterial bloom. It only seemed to get worse. I could barely see my fish, although they were ok! The advice was to leave it alone. I tried. I got so disgusted I tore the tank down again. Put all rocks and livestock in a tote. I bought caribsea aragalive aragonite reef sand. What felt like a nightmare came together really well. Everyone's back in and things look wonderful!!! I'm so happy I changed out that Blacksand!!
Before

After

My iPhone doesn't do it justice. I'm so happy!

 

[btldreef]

Ah man, that sucks.
I noticed using black sand definitely did not clear up as quickly as "white" sand did. Just curious, did you use live/wet sand or dry sand with the black?
Glad it's better now

 

[islandkoa]

That's good things got back to normal. Although I've never heard of black sand, I've heard of black "mud" for refugiums that's to be layered beneath a layer of sand. Did you use that perhaps?

 

[lbannie]

It was dry Tahitian moon sand. I rinsed it before I put it in. It was petty fine. I don't know what the problem was but over a month seemed way too long to be so cloudy

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Islandkoa http:///t/396244/evil-black-sand#post_3529861
That's good things got back to normal. Although I've never heard of black sand, I've heard of black "mud" for refugiums that's to be layered beneath a layer of sand. Did you use that perhaps?

Just a word of warning for anyone reading this:
Do not put that miracle mud in anything, not even in a the refugium. Miracle mud does work, and it makes the corals look so happy, then if you ever (and sooner or later we all do) get a single drop of hair algae in the tank...BAM!!! You will never overcome it. The miracle mud feeds it like wind to wildfire, and it doesn't wear out. No amount of water changes will help, no amount of phosphate remover will work, no amount of keeping the tank in darkness, as soon as you turn on the lights it grows anew, and twice as fast.
I know this is not the issue, and this is a rabbit trail off the original posted thread. However since Miracle mud is seldom mentioned, I figured it's a good time to try and educate folks.

 

[btldreef]

It was dry Tahitian moon sand. I rinsed it before I put it in. It was petty fine. I don't know what the problem was but over a month seemed way too long to be so cloudyA month is way too long.
I've used black sand, but only the wet version. My big complaint was that it quickly faded to gray :-/

 

[islandkoa]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/396244/evil-black-sand#post_3529883

Just a word of warning for anyone reading this:
Do not put that miracle mud in anything, not even in a the refugium. Miracle mud does work, and it makes the corals look so happy, then if you ever (and sooner or later we all do) get a single drop of hair algae in the tank...BAM!!! You will never overcome it. The miracle mud feeds it like wind to wildfire, and it doesn't wear out. No amount of water changes will help, no amount of phosphate remover will work, no amount of keeping the tank in darkness, as soon as you turn on the lights it grows anew, and twice as fast.
I know this is not the issue, and this is a rabbit trail off the original posted thread. However since Miracle mud is seldom mentioned, I figured it's a good time to try and educate folks.
I currently have mud (under a layer of sand) in my refugium and really haven't noticed a hair algae problem. To the contrary, I've had more of an algae problem on my previous setups where my skimmer wasn't adequate (poor quality/size), insufficient water flow/cleanup crew, or the lights were MH vice leds. Since establishing my current 55 setup, I have added live rock containing coral and some hair algae, on occasion but the hair algae "died off", giving way to coraline algae. It took about a month or so, but the hair algae never spread and just dissolved. Not saying that the mud can be a contributor to hair algae growth to some extent but at least in my system that "contribution" was offset by the other factors.(skimmer et al).

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Islandkoa http:///t/396244/evil-black-sand#post_3529891
I currently have mud (under a layer of sand) in my refugium and really haven't noticed a hair algae problem. To the contrary, I've had more of an algae problem on my previous setups where my skimmer wasn't adequate (poor quality/size), insufficient water flow/cleanup crew, or the lights were MH vice leds. Since establishing my current 55 setup, I have added live rock containing coral and some hair algae, on occasion but the hair algae "died off", giving way to coraline algae. It took about a month or so, but the hair algae never spread and just dissolved. Not saying that the mud can be a contributor to hair algae growth to some extent but at least in my system that "contribution" was offset by the other factors.(skimmer et al).
Regular refugium mud...or miracle mud? There is a difference.
My story:
I wanted to have turtle grass in my tank for my seahorses, so I used miracle mud as an under layer, right in the display, and added another couple of inches of the same in the refugium chamber, below in the sump. I was so amazed at how great my corals looked and grew, the turtle grass was growing all happy and healthy.......I didn't understand why nobody was using the stuff for their tanks.
I must admit that my HA bloom was not under regular circumstances. My power was off for 4 days, and my seahorses wouldn't eat in the dark, so I raised the blinds and allowed natural sunlight to hit the tank, doing so saved my seahorses, but allowed the hair algae to develop, and once it was there, it got a good foothold. Nothing stopped it, I couldn't figure out why, no matter how many water changes, darkness, and rock scrubs...nothing worked. I even got a GFO reactor, I also raised my magnesium to a certain level (forgot the magic number now) because BTLDreef told me that was a miracle cure for getting rid of HA. . The miracle mud fed the turtle grass and the coral and caused them to be so happy and growing so nice...but once I had the fast growing hair algae in there being fed by it...it was game over.
LOL...At least I got my answer as to why nobody else used it. Later in the new 56g, I discovered the wonderful macroalgae, Caulerpa Prolifera, it looks like turtle grass, the horses love to hitch and play in it, and it keeps the water parameters pristine. I still have a big container of miracle mud, free to anyone who want's it, just pay to have it shipped. I will never put it in my tank again, and I don't recommend that anyone else do so either.