Black Sand and Coral Keeping Question

avery155

Reefing newb
As you may know I am slowly seting up a 90 gallon tank. With some coral keeping in mind how much more difficult is it going to be to keep corals when using black sand instead of white? The lighting will be a 6 bulb 48" t5 setup.

Now I might get asked what type of corals I would like to keep, but I do not know (mainly because I do not know what that light system can support and I do not want to get attached to something that I can not keep)

So is there going to be drawbacks to the black sand vs white and what types of coral would I be able to keep with that light setup down the road? I'm currently torn between black, white or gray sand.
 
I had Black sand in both of my tanks and I liked it very much. I did replace it because I wanted something different. White colored substrate makes for a brighter tank. Also the black sand shows every little piece of rock rubble and shells, etc.
 
I like how it looks too. It may also have the effect of making your tank look a little smaller than it actually is. Black is slimming, you know! :)
 
I liked the fact that all my corals' colors "popped" out against the black. It is really stunning in person. The other than is that the light isn't reflected into your face when you're looking into the tank. In other words it's easier to look at.
 
Thanks Navarchus. That was my Red Sea Max. I had a lot of luck with that little tank. Water quality is easy to maintain with water changes and I used the Nano Part A & B.
Almost everything seemed to flourish in that tank. Because of my success I decided to upgrade to the Zero Edge only to loose everything with a big heater malfunction and tank boil. But it's a hobby! :)
 
Hey! Would you expect anything less from me? Your RSM looked great BTW! What are you doing with it these days?
 
Nice tank David.... I do like the black sand. Kinda wish I would of put that in mine. I mixed black and white. Mine just looks like dirty sand now ... You lost everything you had in there ? You had a nice set up.
 
Wow that definatly looks like it was an awesome setup! It also looks like you had no problems keeping corals with the black sand. I am now leaning towards the black sand seeing that it looks so nice and since I don't think it will keep me from keeping any corals. I have heard some rumors that the black sand may be magnetic and if there is a sand storm it plays some havoc on your power jets. So before I get it I will have to investigate to see if it is magnetic.
 
Wow that definatly looks like it was an awesome setup! It also looks like you had no problems keeping corals with the black sand. I am now leaning towards the black sand seeing that it looks so nice and since I don't think it will keep me from keeping any corals. I have heard some rumors that the black sand may be magnetic and if there is a sand storm it plays some havoc on your power jets. So before I get it I will have to investigate to see if it is magnetic.

I have never heard of any of these things. Urban myths maybe?
 
They could be urban myths, and I sure hope they are. I really think a black background and black sand will look amazing! *crosses fingers I should be able to pick my tank up Friday!
 
It is now a FOWLR tank. But I made a mistake in putting some Xenia that I thinned out of the Zero Edge. It's now tripled in size. :grumble:
So are you telling me that you have xenia in BOTH of your tanks? :grumble::grumble::grumble: You should post up some current pics.... oh nevermind... :mrgreen:
 
Avery,you wont have any problems with black sand.And it does look great.It'll really make the colors of the rock,corals,and fish stand out.
 
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