# 3M Colorquartz T-Grade Black Sand



## llee37 (Dec 10, 2013)

I so happen to have 1 bag of 3M Colorquartz T-Grade Black Sand which i bought 7 years ago. I know that 3M no longer in business. I have a 60 gallon tank (48Lx15Wx18H). Will one 50lb 3M Colorquartz enough to cover my tank? If not then, I am screwed. I will need another bag.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd say yes, especially if you are doing mbuna and have a lot of rockwork to put in before the substrate.


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## llee37 (Dec 10, 2013)

Thanks DJRansome, I am planning on lake malawi mbunas.


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## llee37 (Dec 10, 2013)

What color substrate brings out the color of the fish. Black or White?


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## iridextr (Feb 8, 2013)

3M just stopped making the sand, they're still a ludicrously giant company. Anyway, just mix that sand with another black sand. Personally, I can't stand the look of uniform grain size, and prefer to mix my sands with another one similar. It looks much more natural IMO.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

There are differing opinions on which color is best. Some say white washes out some colors while others say that black can darken normally bright looking fish. I've witnessed the latter. Perhaps something tan would work best.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

llee37 said:


> What color substrate brings out the color of the fish. Black or White?


I'm on the fence. I have white crushed coral in my 90 gallon tank, and black t grade color quartz in my 180. I'm happy with both! But if I was forced to chose one for strictly making my fish look their brightest, i guess I'd go with white. But I don't think you can go wrong with either color. The appearance of both are easily changed. Going with lighter rock against the black, or darker rock against the white will create different effects. The back ground color also plays a huge roll.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

llee37 said:


> I so happen to have 1 bag of 3M Colorquartz T-Grade Black Sand which i bought 7 years ago. I know that 3M no longer in business. I have a 60 gallon tank (48Lx15Wx18H). Will one 50lb 3M Colorquartz enough to cover my tank? If not then, I am screwed. I will need another bag.


One bag should be about perfect. I haven't done a lot of research into it, but if you need more, a similar product is still made by another company under a different name.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

As noted above, there are some other companies making products that are almost identical in appearance to the 3M Colorquartz. I am currently using the Estes' brand PermaColor Trowel-Rite which is similar to the 3M S-grade product. More than likely the Estes' Super Trowel-Rite is a similar size to the 3M T-grade product but you'll have to verify that.

Spectraquartz makes similar products in F-grade and Q-grade and I've used the F-grade also.

There is also a product called AquaGems made by Colored Aggregate Systems that I haven't seen yet but I think there is a thread on this forum about it somewhere. You can use the Search feature to locate it.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Deeda said:


> As noted above, there are some other companies making products that are almost identical in appearance to the 3M Colorquartz. I am currently using the Estes' brand PermaColor Trowel-Rite which is similar to the 3M S-grade product. More than likely the Estes' Super Trowel-Rite is a similar size to the 3M T-grade product but you'll have to verify that.
> 
> Spectraquartz makes similar products in F-grade and Q-grade and I've used the F-grade also.
> 
> There is also a product called AquaGems made by Colored Aggregate Systems that I haven't seen yet but I think there is a thread on this forum about it somewhere. You can use the Search feature to locate it.


Deeda, do you know if any of these alternatives have larger grains than T Grade Colorquatrz? I'm guessing T is the largest size grain out of all of them???


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I don't know if they have a larger grain size in stock but it wouldn't hurt to call and ask. I sent you a PM with the contact info.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Well, I picked up some Estes' brand PermaColor Trowel-Rite in white yesterday as I'm thinking about combining it with black 3M that I already have. Unfortunately, i didn't catch deeda's statement that Trowel Rite is comparable in size to s-grade 3M. I wanted T-grade comparability which looks to be Super Trowel Rite. I repeatedly asked them for T-grade and explained I wanted a replacement for 3M. They assured me it was the courser stuff and when the bag stated "trowel" I assumed I was good to go. I was going to rinse it tonight, and now i'm frustrated because I dislike small grains  And my project will not be able to be finished over the weekend.

Interestingly enough, now that i'm doing more research, it appears Estes Cerama Colorquartz is the true direct replacement for 3M Color quartz. The Cerama ColorQuartz has a 10 year warranty and states "ceramic coated". The Perma Quartz has a 5 year warranty and is stated as an indoor non uv rated product.

The distributors site only lists the Cerama Quartz in 2 smaller grades. So I may be out of luck ether way.

Although it appears both are fine for aquarium use, Cerama Quartz seems to be the product I'm looking for. It seems Perma Quartz is just sand, as where ColorQuartz is ceramic coated. At least that what i gather. It seems to me Cerama Quartz is a superior product. Do we care for aquarium use? Maybe not, but it's roughly the same price either way.

Oh well, I just thought I'd share this info for anyone looking to purchase the same product as 3M, so they don't make the mistake I made. For now, I'll have to decide to mix smaller grains or wait until Monday to see if I can get exactly what i want. But I'm sure they will not allow me to return my opened bag of PermaColor


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Well you can always sell off your unwanted product at one of the auctions.

I tried mixing the smaller Estes PermaColor Broadcast Medium with the slightly larger Trowel-Rite and it just gets 'lost' in the larger stuff.

If you find a place that carries the comparable T-grade size, post it to this thread. I don't use it but it may help others interested in the larger grain size.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Deeda said:


> I tried mixing the smaller Estes PermaColor Broadcast Medium with the slightly larger Trowel-Rite and it just gets 'lost' in the larger stuff.


Yes, that's exactly the same problem with the 2 grades I have. The smaller stuff goes to the bottom.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Well, they would not consider taking my 50 lb bag of white trowel grade (20-40 mesh)back since it had been opened. Which is kind of what i expected, so I'm not too surprised or let down. If anyone local is interested, send me a pm, I'll sell it for 10.00.

They do not stock Cerama Quartz. I actually forgot to ask if i could order it.. .stupid me! I thought about calling them back to change my order, but i'm not going to bother them. It seemed to me when I tried rinsing the small stuff I had bought, it wasn't anywhere as dirty as the 3M had been, so i decided to give it a shot.

They actually put me in touch with a salesman and i spent some time in his office learning the details. I felt stupid for bothering him for a walk in order of 1 bag, but they didn't seem to mind and treated me well  The salesman had no clue what I was talking about when i started comparing it to 3M, and telling him all the different stuff Estes makes, so he said it might be a good learning experience for him also 

I also learned that there is another grain size called "dock......something"...., that is being discontinued. It was something like 7-12 mesh. it sounded like something I would really like, but I didn't ask what colors were available because as mentioned above, different grain sizes of 2 different colors tends to let one color fall to the bottom and not really be seen anyway.

They do not stock Super Trowel Rite (12-20 mesh) at all, BUT they will order it for you, even in small qty's of only 1- 50 lb bag. There is no extra charge if you pick it up at their facility. That is amazing to me. You can also have it drop shipped to your location, but then they will pass the actual freight costs onto you. Interestingly enough I work within 2 miles of them and I still could not get free shipping to my work. So they must have a really good deal worked out with Estes on freight, or they just plan to piggy back it along with another shipment.

So I ordered one 50 bag of Super Trowel in white which I should have in about 1 week.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for the update. I also found the office people very helpful when I've been there though I tend to interrupt their lunch time.

The larger product they make is called Estes Dek Rok and the literature states it is 3 - 4 mm semi-rounded aggregate with an opaque finish. I've never seen it and since it's being discontinued, it's a moot point.


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## mnnice (Dec 21, 2013)

What kind of store did you buy the sand at? I looked for a name of a store but couldn't find it. I want to set some tanks up with sand for my cichlids but don't want to pay the high pet store prices.. Thanks for any help!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It's not a retail store but a distributor that sells to contractors and the public. The name of the company is N.T. Ruddock. You would probably be better off looking for a distributor that is in your area. To find a local distributor, search the manufacturer's website for a local distributor of the product.


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## mnnice (Dec 21, 2013)

Ok thank you!


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