# Flourite black sand and 3m colorquartz



## Choco (Dec 8, 2007)

I've never used colorquartz so I can't comment on that or the difference.

I used flourite black sand in 2 of my tank, the size and texture is very similar to sand you find in the beech, maybe a little bit finer than beech sand.

After you rinsed it a few times, you can get rid of majority of the extremely fine sand. I can actually vac the bottom of a HC carpeted tank lightly with flourite black sand without sucking up the substrate.

Pretty sure the smaller sand particles would come up if you stir and stuck the vac into the substrate tho.


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## oakleyhoma (Aug 13, 2008)

Aha, that's helpful. What vac do you use? I think I'll need one that doesn't take water out very fast, so I take my time and target the crud without pulling out 80% of the water. I hate to be dense, but what's HC? I'm actually a botanist, but am not yet learned with regard to FW aquarium plants, much less their acronyms! Also, what depth sand do you have for the ... HC?


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## revernance (Jun 19, 2008)

The grain size is a bit smaller than the sand @ the average beach. It seems to hold plants rather well. I was able to suck up the sand with a regular gravel vacuum. If you have a powerful filter close to the substrate, the sand might get sucked up too. 

It is definitely smaller than 3M colorquartz.

BTW, HC= Hemianthus callitrichoides It's one of the smallest foreground plants we have available. I have it growing in a nano tank with fluorite black sand and it's growing great!


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## speakerguy (Jul 1, 2004)

I am going to mix some 3M CQ T grade with some Flourite Black (not sand). I haven't opened the bags yet but can tell you how the size compares when i do.


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## dragonthoughts (Sep 24, 2008)

I'm using 3m colorquartz s grade and it can be vacuumed with a standard python siphon vac with little trouble. I actually had more difficulty not sucking it up when I just used the hose and tried to skim over the top.
It does not float and even 2" cories sifting through it doesn't lift it very far from your tank bottom. Nor will stirring it with a stick.
My EG would be if your filter intake is 2 inches above your substrate you'll have few if any problems. My powerhead/sponge sits directly on the QC and I haven't had any get into the sponge case. I't only been a few weeks but it's looking good.

of course if you just wanted fluorite info, sorry, I have none of that.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I have a mix of all 3 (CQ T grade, Flourite black, Flourite black sand) in my 90gal, plus there's a thread in this forum somewhere with pics where I show the size difference... called Black Substrate Options or something like that.

I'm going to mix the black sand and CQ T grade in my 10gal this weekend. I know that the CQ will work its way to the surface over time b/c it's significantly larger than the sand. I like the mix personally.


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