Which substrate to choose?

[rizmaher]

Hello , I am just getting back into the hobby. I had a live rock tank more than 10 years ago and had it running for several years and took it down after getting married. I just recently bought a 14 gallon BioCube and was trying to pick a substrate. I was planning to go with Hawaiian Black from CaribSea. I would like to get some feedback from anyone that has used this sand.

 

[tehawesome]

I've seen it start to turn more of a grayish color after awhile. Do you want to use black?

 

[acroholic]

I have had it long term and love it.

 

[rizmaher]

Yes, I would like black. This is the only one I have found at the half a dozen shops I have visited, the grains are a little larger than I would like. I just hope it is as good as a ph buffer, and an environment for bacteria as other sand.

 

[slayers911]

I have seen this in all of Acroholic's tanks and it look great! When I set up my 125 I am switching to the black.

 

[jef4y]

Maybe a stupid question, but does it affect the heat in the tank?

 

[tehawesome]

Maybe its cuz we don't take care of the top of the sand? I like the black sand idea though. Another pretty sand to look at is bimini pink. Its white with chunks of pink shells, looks better than fiji pink imo.

 

[bobz]

I have it in my 55G and the only drawback is that is very fine sand. If you want to keep a pistol shrimp / shrimp goby pair it is not the best choice since it does not work well for their tunnels. Mine is mixed with some larger coarser sand now

 

[acroholic]

JeF4y;543232 wrote: Maybe a stupid question, but does it affect the heat in the tank?

I don't think it makes a big difference heatwise, but dark colors do absorb more heat than white, but I would think that the water would remove any heat from the substrate as fast as it hits it.

There have been questions about losing some PAR because the white substrate supposedly reflects light back up into the tank, I guess for the corals to make use of, but AFAIK this is just anecdotal.

Here is my tank build thread with lots of pictures showing the Hawaiian Black substrate starting on page 2:

 

[jase75]

I like the Caribsea substrates. I put the Arag-Alive in mine and it minimized the cycle I had. Ammonia and nitrites barely registered then was gone after a week or two. Keeping some sand-stirring critters will keep the sand from discoloring too.

 

[jehuggin]

I used the hawaiian black and am very happy with it, though I did mix it with Fiji Pink and Bahama Oolite.

I mixed because I was concerned with some loss of color by using black only.

 

[nimrod107]

I used the CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand since it's a heavier grain and if you have pretty high flow pointed towards the sand lighter grains tended to shift a lot. Personal preference though.