Alternative Black Substrate? - Page 3 - Substrates

El Exorcisto · 08-18-2008, 08:59 PM

I use Black beauty blasting grit in my 10 gallon and it's really great stuff. I swear it's the same stuff that's packaged as Tahitian Moon. Here is the chemical makeup according to the manufacturer:

Silicon Dioxide= 47.20%, Aluminum oxide= 21.39%, Titanium dioxide= 1.01%, Ferric Oxide= 19.23%, Calcium oxide= 6.80%, Magnesium Oxide= 1.47%, Potassium Oxide= 1.60% and Sodium Oxide= 0.62%

There's nothing there that scares me about it at all, and it holds plants great.

hoppycalif · 08-19-2008, 10:08 AM

That black blasting media has sharp edged particles, so it isn't good when you have cory catfish in the tank. When I used it I loved it, but I couldn't keep any cory alive for long. 3M Colorquartz Black is probably a better choice, if you can find it.

HockiumGuru · 08-26-2008, 05:36 PM

How much of the 3M Colourquart would be recommended for a 48x18x18 planted tank? 1 or 2 of the 50lb bags? I'm assuming 2, but want to make sure before I try to get some. I have a parent that works for 3M, so I can get it super cheap

marrow · 08-26-2008, 08:05 PM

Buy two bags. One bag wont do it. I recently did a 125 and was surprised how dense this stuff is. I predict that you will use all of both bags. Some people complain about cleaning it but I just put it in a big rectangular (40 gals. or so) tupperware container added a little detergent, shoved a hose to the bottom of the container and gave it a bit of a stir and left the hose on low so there was a constant but slow overflow. I checked it a few hours later and it was clean. They spray it with a light oil to reduce dust and the detergent takes care of that. It holds plants extremely well especially if you are used to SMS or Schultz AS.

Newt · 08-27-2008, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newt

Eco Complete is man made from natural products. If you know how marketers think then you can decipher what they 'claim'. Its all natural but not naturally occurring.

I was contacted (PM) by a Caribsea Rep and I have been corrected. It is a naturally occurring and a mined product. They should state this on the packaging and their website instead of saying "all natural". I had tried to get an answer to this thru their website but never got a response. Then the 'issues'/'bad batches' came out on the boards and assumed it was man made from naturally occurring materials.
Nature usually is consistant with batches, man isn't.

HockiumGuru · 08-29-2008, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overfloater

I had Colorquartz in my Mbuna setup. It works great. I even used it in a planted tank for awhile and plants grew fine as well. Colorquartz is inert but it is a little dirty out of the bag. They also have an S grade that is similar to sand in size.

You didn't mention Tahitian Moon Sand. It's not as cheap as Colorquartz but looks nice.

Potentially dumb question: What is the plant in the third picture here? I'm having a hell of a time focusing on the picture to tell. If i'm not mistaken its a mat folded up to show the substrate, but I can't be 100% sure. Anyone know for sure what it is?
Thanks.

Newt · 08-30-2008, 07:20 AM

looks like the roots of glosso

CaptainNemo · 09-03-2008, 01:28 PM

Back to the blasting grit for a second. First off, I'd never even thought about putting that in my tank. I once saw what blasting grit did to the faces of some cichlids that liked to sift through it, and that sealed it that I'd never put it in my tanks.

However...
Today I was at Tractor Supply and it just happened that someone had spilled some at the checkout and it looked pretty good. I got to thinking. So here's an idea:

I have an electric cement mixer. Could I tumble blasting grit with some granite cobbles or something to round the sharp edges? Is this practical, and how long would anyone guess it would take? Is there anything chemically this stuff does to my water that I don't want? Any ideas on how to tell when it's not sharp anymore, short of buying some test corys and seeing if their barbels get worn off?

Like I said, this got me thinking...

El Exorcisto · 09-09-2008, 08:25 PM

I've blasted with Black Beauty/Diamond. It recycles for a long time before it loses its edge. I'd be worried about putting it in any tank with cories, or anything that tends to live near the bottom. I'm willing to curve my fish choices based strictly on loving the look of it in my tank.