white sand vs black sand

R

rattler86

Guest
Which do you think looks better in a reef tank black sand or white sand.Feel free to post pics!
 
rlablan

rlablan

Active Member
I really wanted black sand in my reef but was advised against it, because Everything little thing shows and it always looks dirty.... I went with the white sand, and recently I painted my background black. NOW I UNDERSTAND! Every little piece of everything shows. I have a mandarin and all those little pods are everywhere!!! If that doesn't matter, then I say go with the black, unless there is some serious danger to which I am unaware.
 
M

mr.reef

Guest
i have white in my 125 and black in my 10g and i like the black better.
 
bender77

bender77

Member
I wanted black in my nano-cube, but DH said it was already too dark and talked me into white (kind of still wish I did black anyway) My new tank will have a mix of black and white. Hopefully I'll have pictures tomorrow. A quick google, this is what it will look like
 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
IMO, Grey sand looks the best and most natural and you won't really notice if it gets dirty unlike white sand. :) Here are a few pictures of the sand I have in my tank. (These are old pictures, don't mind the hair algae.)
Close up

Far away
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Black shows everything...and I mean everything, so it always looks nasty..if it stayed black and CLEAN it would be awesome. White sand looks natural, and fish poop, snail snot, and detritus won't show. JMO
 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
I got it from the beach/ocean and I washed it real good.
I have 400 lb of the gray sand sitting in rubber made tubes in the backyard.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/3090888
I got it from the beach/ocean and I washed it real good.
I have 400 lb of the gray sand sitting in rubber made tubes in the backyard.

You cheated! I can't buy it??? That is so wrong...I am no where near an ocean. Bummer. It looks awesome all the same...

But why mention it if the OP can't purchase it?
 
coral keeper

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3090892
You cheated! I can't buy it??? That is so wrong...I am no where near an ocean. Bummer. It looks awesome all the same...

But why mention it if the OP can't purchase it?

LOL I can send u some if you pay shipping.

Idk. LOL
 
carne0714

carne0714

New Member
I used a 120 pounds of Black Sand from Caribsea. It was the purest live sand that I could find.
It makes the fish and rock stand out!
I get the occasional white and brown debris but I just pick it out.


 
jas1

jas1

Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/3090900
LOL I can send u some if you pay shipping.

Idk. LOL
Hey CK would you really send some if I pay shipping?!!!! I've been wondering what type of substrate to use in my 125
 
chaseter

chaseter

Member
fyi, white sand helps to reflect the lighting from your bulbs and that will help keep your photosynthetic organisms happier and healthier.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
One thing to know...
We did one of our tanks with black sand and one problem we kept running into was that the sand has something in it magnetic and it got into and locked up our powerheads almost weekly.
Not sure if all black sand is that way, but whatever we used was...
 
rlablan

rlablan

Active Member
The black sand looks great in the magazines. If this were my tank, I would go white or maybe the gray. Reason being is that maybe it looks great for the first month or two and then it looks hideous because of algae, or waste or maybe it isn't settling in right. Then what do you do? You would have to disturb all of the critters and their habitat to get it out. You would probably have to drain the tank, redo all of your aqua scaping and Then go buy more sand. Sounds like a hassle to me but That's just my opinion.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i like white sand way better. IMO it looks more natural for a reef setting...even though there are different colored sands in reefs also. and it dosent show gunk like the black.
 
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