post pics of your black sand setups here

[bboy aqua]

I wanted to see some pics of people who use black sand in there tanks
Im consedering using it if it looks nice

[smorrow5773]

I have yet to know of anyone that keeps it looking good after a month or so. I love the look, but once the rock starts shedding, the pods start moulting, and general detritus it really starts to look bad.

[bboy aqua]

Ive seen some nice tanks with black sand in them but cant find those pics
I want to see some badly

[stilltryn]

i'm starting a new 75 w/black & tan sand. only 2 weeks old so it's still new. going on vacation so i will not stock it until i get back. i'll have pics. then if you still want them

[demonboy279]

the detritus wouldnt build up anymore on black sand than white. so as long as you have a good cleanup crew and good flow i think it should look great. ive seen several pics of blacksand tanks that looked awesome. sure after a month or so your sand will start gettin stuff on it and look bad just like white sand does. ill tell ya right now mine has white sand in it and it started looking sick because of detritus and the such. just keep it clean and itll stay great. i hope you get some pictures i would love to see them myself.

[smy168]

I've seen a few black sand reef systems but they're very specific to a species and those species tanks are high water movement systems. The basic systems I've seen with black sand look horrible. Additionally, white or base color sand functions as a reflector for light, meaning your lighting system will magnify a bit off the sand for the underside of your corals, black sand won't do this. I think the reason you're not getting any pics are because most people don't use black sand. detritus is detritus, every system gets it and eventually every system will look messy because of it but in the end it's about the benefits to your system.

Give it a shot, your success would be a great thing to share for reefers but I didn't do black sand from experience of other reef enthusiasts and from a fear of coral loss (which equates to dollars spent). I was very gung ho when I started this hobby, i wanted try everything that people said I shouldn't and thousands of dollars and years later, i understand why.

Good Luck.

[cb9tunerguy]

i had some black substrait in my tank for about two weeks. it does not reflect the light well.

before:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid205/p0852f6aea76a66f2303885667bee80fc/ef0b60d3.jpg

after:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid207/pddd8d5b47535d9799fa98b474a46e300/eeb4cc33.jpg

i am so glad i switched to a sand substrait. i think it looks much better