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Black Sand

mlgt

Member
Joined
28 Jun 2009
Messages
1,151
Location
London
I am interested in changing from black gravel to black sand.

However wanted the users opinion on which is the better ones to look out for?

Its for a 125l tank and wasnt sure if it was worth reusing the black gravel and mixing it with sand but think it would look a bit weird.

Anyways bottom line (get the joke?) is that I want to find a variation of black sands on the market and the costs.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.
 
Unipac do "limpopo black" it's good but unlike most Unipac products, it must be washed first.
 
So

http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ts_id=1737 - £26.99 each (7kg each) so I will need 3 bags for 120l

limpopo black - £15.99 per bag - 12.5kg per bag. I will need minimum 2 bags, but possibly 3 bags will at 37.5kg

Either way I am looking at spending at least £75 to fill my 125.... ouch... especially the 125l tank I am picking up costs £75 lol!!!

hmm.. need to think twice now :(

Gravel + sand together will look silly right?
 
mlgt said:
Gravel + sand together will look silly right?

If they are the same colour then I guess it would look fine.

Every time you touch it though the sand will fall further down between the gravel though... I mixed fine pea gravel with courser pea gravel... a year later you could not see any of the finer gravel at all.
 
£48 isnt too bad, but to make a decent 2.5-3cm covering I would need at least 3 bags.

Also forgot I shouldnt have cut my background to size :( Now I need another one ... hehe..

This fishkeeping hobby is expensive :(
 
mlgt said:
This fishkeeping hobby is expensive :(

Yep! Ijustify it by thinking how much pleasure I get and how much time the tank occupies. As in the gravel will be in there for years(?), and the tank will give you pleasure over that period of time. Makes it feel chepaer that way :lol:

(I just bought enough Akadama for covering my 160l tank and also potting all my emersed plants in another 3 foot tank - £25 all in. Shame it comes in brown not black, but for the money I am chuffed)
 
I coudlnt agree more. Its such a satisfying feeling just watching the hard work come on every day/week/month.

Although I wouldnt say I have been in the tropical fishkeeping hobby for long I dont know why I never ventured into this earlier :D

Ive been keeping koi for years and got hooked after looking at my friends attempts at aquascaping and giving him ideas I went into this myself :)

Im going to take my time setting up the new tank so will invest in some proper black sand.

However I will pass by a LFS which uses such sand to make a comparison with gravel. What I might do is use the gravel underneath and create a more raised profile for certain objects.

Thanks for the replies though guys. And if there are cheaper alternatives I would like to know.

Rik
 
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