dark Sand Substrates

[Randy or Deb Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

I just got back from a week-long trip, so pardon me for posting a
response well after this issue came up.  

I have been able to purchase a pitch-black substrate called "Black
Beauty."  It is a sand blasting material which is inert and comes in
various fine grades.  The coarsest grade is almost too fine for my
Python unit.  I once picked up a grade which is as fine a sand.  I have
noticed that some fish (e.g., Bleeding Hearts) turn  noticeably darker
when kept over a black substrate.

So if you want black sand, look in the yellow pages for sand blasting
supplies and ask about ""Black Beauty."  I paid $12 for a 100 pound
bag.  Remember, the finer the grade, the harder it is to clean of its
dust.

- --Randy

Erik Olson wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 1 Nov 1997 IDMiamiBob@aol.com wrote:
> 
> [Light sand freaks fish out.  Darker gravel is better]
> ...
> > the texture of the two substrates.  In my experience, I have yet to see
> > gravel dark enough in color to approximate the dark bottoms of their native
> > waters.
> 
> Hey, that reminds me; a couple weeks back Dave Soares told us he found a
> very dark, almost black, play sand at plain-old home centers that worked
> great for his fish.  We've been casually checking to see if we can find
> such a thing at "our" home centers here... but sounds like such a thing
> might give you the best of both worlds: sand for the fish to sift through
> and that won't let eggs get stuck in the cracks, and dark colored so they
> won't be skittish.
> 
> It is definitely working in our Tanganyikan tanks, which have been set up
> with locally-gathered dark beach sand for about 2 months now... so I can't
> wait to try it with a non-calcerous sand for the Apistos.
> 
>   - Erik
> 
> ---
> Erik D. Olson                                            amazingly, at home
> eriko@wrq.com
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------