Black sand for a DSB OK?

[Mab]

What do you all think of using a combo of Seachem "Gray Coast" Calcite and CaribSea "Tropic Isle Tahitian Moon" Sand for a new DSB (5-6 inches, injected with Indo-Pacific Sea Farms "livesand activator" package) this is going in a 55 reef, fish & inverts, no coral.

Keep in mind that eventhough this is sugar sized sand, it is not Aragonite or even from marine origin I.E: mostly synthetic - silicates, although the calcite does have a mild buffering capacity accoring to the manufacturer.

I want the black sand look but is is bio-functional? will the critters like it and flourish? will I have a diathom problem from potential silica leach?

Thanks a lot for the help.

[Mickadee]

it works for all intended purposes but the maintaince is alittle higher I had all black samd in a 55gal and looked good for a little while but it started to look crappy after a couple of months (showed everything that hit bottom) the fish that like to dig holes in the sand or hollow a spaces out can take it all the way to the bottom of the tank even in a DSB.. mixing I havent tried so I cant tell you anything there..
good luck
Mike

[Jimbo]

Hi,

Voted for another option, because a chemist told me that silicates will leak out in saltwater. This is controversal, but why take the chance.

Have a great evening!

[Brooke]

It's fine. We have this in our 38g which is attached to our reef. It is not an extra deep sandbed however..maybe 2". You do lose the buffering ability, but you are already aware of that. You can add buffer to the tank in other ways. Like Mike said..it won't stay pristine black on top forever, and the occasional light turkey basting in dead spots will help get the detritus up and out. Otherwise, it should function similarly to an aragonite sand bed. I don't know anything about the seachem product, so I can't say if you should do the mix or not.

Brooke

[Mab]

Thanks Mike Jimbo and Brooke for your kind responses. So far so good.

Joe

[jegel]

I wouldn't worry about the silicates leaching into the water. I just read an article abou this. The glass your aquarium is made of (unless you have acrylic) melted silica sand. the problem is they add compounds to the glass so it will melt at lower temp so its easier to work with. These compounds make it less pure and easier for diatoms to pull the silica out. Basically your aquarium will contibute more to leaching silicate than the sand will.
However all this happens in such small amounts it really doesn't make a difference.

I'm no scientist but this seems to make sense. Argonite sands will break down as they release trace elements and buffer the water. After a while more argonite needs to be added. I've never heard of this happening with silica sand.

Like brooke said, you don't get the buffering as you would with argonite sands.

HTH

[Alice]

I was under the impression that buffering was minimal anyway at the pH which we keep our tanks.