• We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Sand vs. Bare Bottom

3m was intended for pools correct and it can be used in our tanks correct. Its hard to find...and if im not mistaken it might be getting discontinued (dont quote me on that). It is also a PITA to clean from what I understand. That was one of the selling points to me for the estes...I just dumped it out the bag. I dont know if its your ONLY choices for black sand but I know that the 3m S grade and the estes have a nice rounded uniform shape to the grain size making it look good.

Also I think estaes makes something that is not for fish tanks called medium broadcast sand or something like that. If you call the estes or a distributer they will tell you that the ultra reef sand is used for tanks and has some special coating on it...but the broadcast sand is cheaper...and the person telling me about it also said it was not different and was fish tanks safe for cheaper. I didnt look much into it just in case...but I think they were using the stuff for FW rays and they are very picky about the water. Might be something to look in to too....
 
I might have to try some of this stuff in a tank...it has 16 colors...more than the ultra reef stuff. Here is a brake down of whats in it and a number for estes on the top right corner to start to track it down near you.
http://www.permacolorquartz.com/pdf/EstesPermaColorQuartzGranules.pdf

and some more info on it

http://www.permacolorquartz.com/pdf/MSDSFLOORINGSAND.pdf

and this is the guy that told me about the broadcast sand...he is on here too.

http://www.captiveaquatics.net/forums/showthread.php?p=6971

Again I have NOT used the broadcast sand but it seems like its fine.
 
Well I agree gravel does give the tank a better look but doesn't mean bb tank aren't good looking at all, personally I can accept bb tank tho' not many ppl like it... this is one of my bb tank, can't beat those awesome looking planted tank but I kinda like it simple...

Amazon01.jpg
 
I like BB tanks too...but sometimes some fish dont like it so much. One thing you can do is paint the bottom of the tank black and it will help with the fish and it will look like your black background...nice and shiny black. Only thing is if your tank is big and has bracing on the bottom of the tank rather than a wide open sheet of glass it might not look right painted since you cant paint between the bottom bracing and bottom glass. Also with the bottom painted you will see the silicon like a sore thumb if it matters...or you can get a tank with black silicon.

I know we are making it easy to decided huh lol
 
I have a tank with blue bottom and back and the fish like it much better than clear and it's extremely easy to keep clean.
 
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