# Lookin for BLACK sand that also buffers water please.



## ash01 (Feb 24, 2008)

Hi i have just bought a 300 ltr Juwel and was wanting to change from Coral Sand to something else that is dark and buffers the water.

I was looking into Carib Sea Cichlid sand but i don't like it as much when you see it in peoples tanks as it looks no where near as dark as what it shows on their website.

I was wanting to try and find out if there is a black/v.dark substrate out there that also buffers the water like the Eco Complete does?? Also i would prefer if it wasn't super fine sand as i don't want it all getting suck up my siphon lol i still have bad memorys of when i had silica sand, bad days lol

I will keep my fingers crossed that there is a type of sand out there like this.

Ashley :fish:


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## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

I'm not aware of any pure black sand that also has buffering characteristics. 
You could mix some Carib-Sea Tahitian Moon Sand in with the Cichlid sand and get it pretty dark. That, or you could use pure TMS and put some of the crushed coral inside a canister (or in a media bag inside a HOB filter). IME, crushed coral doesn't do all that much to raise PH anyway. As long as your PH is between 7.5 and 8.5 (assuming your talking about Africans) I wouldn't worry about it. Just my 2 centavos.


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## ayruadumas (Dec 13, 2005)

Sea Chem has a product that is black and buffers. But it looks more like a washed out black and not very dark. I use it in a salt tank and it buffers my water nicely.


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## Kramerpit (Jun 23, 2008)

what does it mean to "buffer" the waters? Sorry Im new to the hobby.


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## Tula (Sep 9, 2007)

What about just using a black substrate that you like and then adding crushed coral to your filter to buffer the water.

I put some crushed coral in a stocking and put it on top of the media in my HOB filter. If you have a canister filter you can usually fit the stocking into one of the compartments.

What's the PH of your water, do you need to buffer it?


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## ayruadumas (Dec 13, 2005)

Here is the substrate I was refering to.

http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... Coast.html

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/GrayCoast_faq.html


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## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

ayruadumas said:


> Here is the substrate I was refering to.
> 
> http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... Coast.html
> 
> http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/GrayCoast_faq.html


...but that's gray (?)


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## ayruadumas (Dec 13, 2005)

Doh  How about "light" black? Thats as close to a black buffering substrate that is available. I could be wrong though. There might be something else, not as "light" black as the graycoast, that buffers...........


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