Advice? Opinions on black sand

I would avoid it if you plan on any sand dwelling creatures. It's not aragonite and is very rough or sharp compared to natural aragonite sand. It's basically ground up lava which is why it comes from Hawaii. It won't dissolve in vinegar.

 

I wanted to do black sand as well on the 125 I just setup. After much reading and talking with a few experienced people I ended up going with white argonite.

 

I set up a tank with black sand in the past. Looks cool at first but will never stay black. Not sure about the invert thing, but I won't go back to it.

 

I am considering it and I did a Google search on it and most of the reviews were positive. The type I am considering is the hawaiian black and not the others I have seen. tanks I have seen had a really cool look.

 

What really turned me off was when someone told me it was magnetic. So as your powerheads blow it around they will pick it up and could stick in the powerhead causing it to fail. There is also a good chance it will stick to your magnafloat and scratch the glass. I don't know what the possibilities of this is but it was enough to keep me away from it. Although I think it would look BA in a tank.

 

Seen a combo of white and black is pretty cool. I think black sand is partially magnetic so be careful when cleaning the glass if you use a magnetic cleaner.

 

I had it in a tank like ten years ago and I swear it was magnetic! Would literaly stick to the mag float like it was metal shavings. Would have to scrape it off. I know normal sand will stick to mag float but not like this stuff did. I think I got it from foster and smith as African chchlids sand.

 

I use it in a 20 gallon and don't have any issues with it. I'm not sure I would do it on a larger tank because I don't have any sand sifting creatures in mine.