# Sand Blasting Stone



## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

Does Sand Blasting Stone come in black or dark gray? I've use number 1 and 3
size sand blasting stones , can get a 50lb bag for like $20. I had good luck with laying a layer of Latrite and capping it with a mix of both sands and grew everything ounce it aged .


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

A pretty common substrate is the coal slag blasting grit. usually something like 'black diamond', 'black beauty', 'black blast' or whatever. seems to work pretty well if you can find it at a supplier near you.

I don't know the grit sizes off hand, but I'm sure folks will drop in and let you know what works for them.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

Where should I look ? What kind of supplier?


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## Merth (Sep 9, 2012)

Tractor supply has it and I think it's a 40-60 grit


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## beginragnarok (Dec 19, 2011)

Check this out. http://www.dawson-macdonald.com/contact-information.html :smile:

Otherwise, Google sandblasting supply and look in your local yellowpages results as well. Make a few calls and I'm sure you can find what you are looking for. 

I use Black Beauty blasting grit thanks to recommendations from here. It is primarily black with some green mixed in.

-Zach


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Try also masonry and rock sorts of stores.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Tractor Supply, and 20-40 is the correct grit. Black Diamond is the brand. $7.99 for 50lbs. Lots of folks here use it (myself included).


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

m00se said:


> Tractor Supply, and 20-40 is the correct grit. Black Diamond is the brand. $7.99 for 50lbs. Lots of folks here use it (myself included).


 I have a local store and was looking at there web site, How is there size compared to Eco Compleat ? Does it holds the plants down alright? Do you have a pic of your tank sub.?


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I am not familiar with Eco Complete, personally. Maybe someone else could help you there. 20-40 is coarse sand-like. I hope these pix give you an idea.

http://i.imgur.com/Rgutr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/5yPAy.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bkExz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3S10P.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RWuF0.jpg


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

m00se said:


> I am not familiar with Eco Complete, personally. Maybe someone else could help you there. 20-40 is coarse sand-like. I hope these pix give you an idea.
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/Rgutr.jpg
> http://i.imgur.com/5yPAy.jpg
> ...


 Nice pic, It is smaller than Eco, I guess I could cap it off with Eco.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Why? You can plant in this stuff just fine...


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## Lolie (Dec 1, 2012)

Im cursed, blaster sand raised my ph to where I had to remove it....all 50 lbs of it.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Lolie said:


> Im cursed, blaster sand raised my ph to where I had to remove it....all 50 lbs of it.



You bought this exact stuff and had a pH change? You are the first/only one who has reported this to have happened.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

m00se said:


> You bought this stuff and had a pH change? You are the first/only one who has reported this to have happened.


Did you have to rinse this before adding it to the tank?


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I rinsed it very briefly. That shouldn't make a difference one way or the other though. I could have just dumped it in and let the dust settle. There wasn't that much of it.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

m00se said:


> I rinsed it very briefly. That shouldn't make a difference one way or the other though. I could have just dumped it in and let the dust settle. There wasn't that much of it.


 How much did you have to use? What size tank? I got a 110g tank 60x18x24


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I used 100 lbs on a 40b to give approximately 3-4" depth


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## Azarakiah (Sep 22, 2011)

m00se said:


> I used 100 lbs on a 40b to give approximately 3-4" depth


 damn mose u uses 2 bags? lol i only used like half a bag on my 40b..


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## Azarakiah (Sep 22, 2011)

also i picked a bag up here, and it was clean, did it in fl with a bag and it was oily as hell ended up trashing the tank and restarting it


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

yes, 2 bags...you sure you had Black Diamond and not Black Beauty when you had that oil problem?


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## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

I just picked up 3 bags for my 125. I started to wash the black diamond tonight, I could have skipped this step I think, but thought it was a good idea. It also very slow going with the washing.

I think 3 bags should be enough for my setup as I have 1.5 inches of miracle gro.


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## Merth (Sep 9, 2012)

Washing the black diamond is a must IMO. It has quite a bit of floaters and it leaves a pretty funky residue.


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## beginragnarok (Dec 19, 2011)

+1 Merth

"Washed and ready to use" on the package means it's ready to sandblast your components...not clean to aquarium standards.

I rinse it thoroughly - lots of oil residue and very minute prticulate. Paint screens (as in a screen filter to rid paint of lumps) works really well for this. 5gal size by the way.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

I've hear that needle like pins are in these bags? 
Hey Jim PA still using this Black Diamond ?


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## niko (Mar 8, 2006)

Must have been 10 years ago there were some posts on the net about Black Diamond having 2 issues. Both of them connected with the production of the stuff which results in bags with varying composition:

1. Sharp edges of the particles.
Cories cut their whiskers on them.

2. Toxic ingredients whose toxicity varies depending on the source of the material. 

But these were old posts, 10 years ago. I'm sure now things are clean, organic and always low-fat :icon_smil


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

So would x3 50lb bags be enough to get 3-4 inch in my 18x60x24 tank


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

100 lbs gives me 3-4" in a 40b.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

So 4 bag's? to cover 18x60 tank foe 3-4 inches ?


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I would say, yes....it would give you a pinch over. You can use that to set up that other tank you didn't realize you wanted.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

Will this compact after time? It's a little fine to my taste , I was looking for something more coarse like #3-#5 The only pace I saw here was at couple of pet stores and they are going for $20. for Tex Blast , I just can't fine it else where.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

http://www.tractorsupply.com/black-diamond-20-40-blasting-media-50-lb--3905403

http://www.tractorsupply.com/StoreL...Id=10551&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&strId=1450

It will not compact.


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