Compared to other sand I personally found it to be light. I didn't really notice until I started to clean it with the siphon. It was really easy to suck up.
Black diamond blasting sand
- Thread starter Irecruitfish
- Start date
Compared to other sand I personally found it to be light. I didn't really notice until I started to clean it with the siphon. It was really easy to suck up.
Here's a pic of the film. The other angle is not good because there is low water level in the tank so its difficult to see the layer of sand.
This stuff is the best in color imo. I have been using it for about 3 years now and that is the only down side. I learned the first time so now when I use I rinse and rinse and rinse because it does have a lot of powder on it. And when you put new stuff in it does sit at the top but if you just tap it it'l fall. If you get it clean you honestly can' beat it. I recently got a bag of bat geo black because I did not want to sit there washing the black diamond and the bat geo doesn' compare at all. For black sand black diamond is honestly the best regardless of price.
It' never this bad for me and I to just used it in a new 125 gallon tank. I don' think you rinsed long enough.
Yeah your right I have my work cut out for me while getting it rinsed in the tank.
The best way to rinse the sand, at least what I have found works the best for me, is to use a 5 gallon bucket and fill it about a third full with the sand. Then, fill the bucket up with water until it’s overflowing. Once you get to that point, keep the hose on and run the end down through the sand until it hits the bottom of the bucket. Repeat this all over the area of the bucket multiple times, all the while letting anything that gets mixed into the water overflow out of the bucket. This is what I did with my Black Diamond sand and it took me about five minutes per bucket. You can see in the pictures I posted earlier that this process washes the sand quite well.
Good advice...I wish I could of rinsed outside but I'm in Chicago so was stuck rinising in my sink.
I like your system of cleaning the sand. I’m going to do that when I switch to sand.
It lets the water do the work. As you push the end of the hose through the sand, it fluidizes it, which allows all of the small debris in the sand to easily be washed away.
Like many folks I have the Black Diamond Blasting Sand, but I did not rinse it or put it right in the tank.
I first sifted it through a window screen to remove the dust and fine grains. I wound up with a much nicer coarser sand, but tossed about 1/2 in the garden as too fine. (Please, wear a dust mask so you don't get silicosis.)
I found that by sifting it instead of rinsing it, I removed nearly all of the oil, which is mainly attached to the dust, and I didn't get the dirty oil scum & floating dust so many folks report.
Most of what remained was easily wicked off with a paper towel. Tank settled down quickly, as my overflow skims the top into a sump. I put a fine floss pad on top for one day then rinsed it out.
I was worried my Corydoras would find it too harsh, but not so. Their whiskers are sharp and fine.
I first sifted it through a window screen to remove the dust and fine grains. I wound up with a much nicer coarser sand, but tossed about 1/2 in the garden as too fine. (Please, wear a dust mask so you don't get silicosis.)
I found that by sifting it instead of rinsing it, I removed nearly all of the oil, which is mainly attached to the dust, and I didn't get the dirty oil scum & floating dust so many folks report.
Most of what remained was easily wicked off with a paper towel. Tank settled down quickly, as my overflow skims the top into a sump. I put a fine floss pad on top for one day then rinsed it out.
I was worried my Corydoras would find it too harsh, but not so. Their whiskers are sharp and fine.
