# Tahiti Sand and fluorite?



## Gir

I have the black moon tahitian sand or whatever it is they sell at the LFS, and its very nice imo. I want to do half of that and half flourite. Has anyone done this before? Is this a good idea or bad idea ? I will supliment with liquid fertilizer but wanted a good base that wont look too bad, and wanted to reuse the black sand since it was a fortune !


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## MatPat

I've mixed Tahitian Moon Sand (TMS) with Eco Complete and it looks pretty good! I don't know how the color would look with flourite and TMS. If you put TMS sand on top of the Flourite it will look fine but as they mix it may not look so good. I'd suggest you try a little bit in a small glass and see how it looks. Give it a good mix to simulate what will happen after a few months in the tank.

Why not just use the sand and forget about the flourite? I think as long as you add fertilizers to the water you probably won't need to worry much about the substrate. I have a ten gallon set up this way since February. The substrate is 100% Tahitian Moon Sand with no other substrate supplementation and the C. spiralis, C. lutea, Anubias nana, Dwarf Sag, Water Sprite, and Java Ferns are all growing nicely, though a bit slower than a CO2 injected tank. I do add Flourish once a week or so along with Excel for fertilization.


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## James..........

*Tahitian Sand*



Gir said:


> I have the black moon tahitian sand or whatever it is they sell at the LFS, and its very nice imo. I want to do half of that and half flourite. Has anyone done this before? Is this a good idea or bad idea ? I will supliment with liquid fertilizer but wanted a good base that wont look too bad, and wanted to reuse the black sand since it was a fortune !


Tahitian sand is black. Rather than Flourite, why not use it with Seachem Onyx sand? It isn't as dark as the Tahitian sand (more of a dark grey), but it would blend in nicely and it is capable of growing beautiful plants.

James Purchase
Toronto


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## Sir_BlackhOle

I have a 20L with flourite on bottom moon sand on top. The flourite drifts to the surface after moving plants around and what not. Actually, I kinda like the look of it!


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## MatPat

Do you have pics of your setup Kevin? I'd be curious to see how it looks and it would probably help Gir make a decision.


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## Gir

Thanks for the replies. 
I would also be interested in some pics of your TM sand with the flourite mix. I could do onyx, didnt even think about that. The reason Im not going to do just the sand is I only have about 1.5 " base right now and wanted to go to 3". I will be running 4 40 watt home depot specials in he 6500K range ( as Ive heard those are a good range for beginners) and probably some type of home brew co2 injection. I am very excited for this setup 

on another note, will I need to stir the sand regularly after I get it setup to prevent the gas build up if I combine the sand I have with the onyx stuff ?


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## Sir_BlackhOle

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow.


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## Gir

Sweet thanks !
And an update, I will be running 110W CP lights instead Ive decided !


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## aquaverde

TMS does form some bubbles in my aquarium. I never stir it intentionally to get rid of them, and this has been pretty much undisturbed for nearly a year:








On the other hand, the rest of the aquarium is a mix of eco-complete and Volcanit. This is a shot of part of the divider, a pagoda stone, with some eco on the TMS. The fish kick it down there, and other things happen. The eco always comes to the top, and I use a seive at wc to separate the eco/Volcanit/snail shells from the TMS. Notice how large the eco is next to the TMS.


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## aquaverde

*a substrate comparison pic*









Top: Eco, Onyx sand, Volcanit, Flourite
Bottom: TMS, Bonsai dirt


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## Sir_BlackhOle

Dang I completely forgot about this thread....ill get the pics up tonight!


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## Gir

Wow, thanks for the pics all (looking forward to yours still blackhole). Im starting to think its a good idea to mix them together. Either eco or flourite. I dont mind if it rises to the top, I think it adds texture. I was mainly worried that the black sand would just sift to the bottom and dissapear.


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## aquaverde

That's a possibility, of course. I dumped small amounts of moon sand in some of my smaller tanks and by the end of the week it was no longer visible. I did this close to the front glass, and I could see how far down it got. Bear in mind, that's small amounts. I haven't mixed it in any quantity, so I would guess you need to fill the interstices first before you expect to see any stay on the surface.


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## Sir_BlackhOle

I hope this crappy pic gives you some idea of what im talking about. This is my dicrossus tank and gets no fertilization other than fish food/waste.


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## Gir

I think that looks really good. I think flourite is the winner


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## Gir

Ok I ended up buying a 20# bag of flourite, and a 20# bag of black eco complete. Ill post some pics once I have time to drain it and get it set back up


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