# AS Powder



## beeky (21 Nov 2008)

Hi all,

I'm currently using "fine black river gravel" over tropica substrate and in short, I don't like it. I don't like the gravel as it's not particularly black and it's not particularly fine either. I also don't like the tropica. It seems to grow plants well (or maybe that's just me    ), but every time I remove something it creates great clouds of silt everwhere like smoke that takes ages to clear.

So, what do I want? Well, I want something finer than gravel, like sand. I also want something that doesn't take hours or days to clear when I move something. I used to have silver sand over pond soil and that worked fine, a little cloudiness at first but it soon settled. I could go the same route again, but I'm thinking of AS. I'm not sure I want the 'normal' type as I like the way certain fish sift through the sand, so perhaps the powder? What I'm not sure about though is what the powder is like when it's disturbed, and if I use it to cap the 'normal' stuff, will it gradually fall down between the larger bits and disappear? It's too expensive to use on it's own.

Are there any other alternatives?

The tank will be medium light with injected CO2. Nothing overly fancy (no carpet plants for instance).


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## Goodygumdrops (21 Nov 2008)

Have you seen the Tahitian Moon sand?I'm considering it as a foreground,for the fishes that like to rake.I'd love to hear anyone's experience.(It's black btw,to go with my eco-complete).


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## plantbrain (25 Nov 2008)

Black flourite sand is really nice(very fine).

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Fred Dulley (25 Nov 2008)

Goodygumdrops said:
			
		

> Have you seen the Tahitian Moon sand?I'm considering it as a foreground,for the fishes that like to rake.I'd love to hear anyone's experience.(It's black btw,to go with my eco-complete).



I've used the moon sand. However, probably wouldn't again because it's not completely black. There are many "gold" grains in there that don't look good up close. I would rather opt for something completely black, like Hagen, Unipac etc.


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## Goodygumdrops (25 Nov 2008)

Hmm,I was looking at the black flourite sand on the AE site.It says that the diameter is roughly 3mm.That doesn't strike me as being very fine.


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## plantbrain (26 Nov 2008)

Flourite "Gravel" is about 2-5mm, the "sand" is about 1mm or so, maybe less.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## beeky (14 Jan 2009)

Yeah, it looks like the description for the "Flourite Black" has just been copied over to the sand version.

Â£26 a bag is still quite alot though. I thought I might buy a small bag to see what it was like, but I might just get some playsand instead


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## Dan Crawford (14 Jan 2009)

I've got a 10l Dennerle nano and with it comes everything you need to set it up, in the package is what i think is one of the best gravels i've seen. It's black "sulawezi" gravel and 0.7-1.2mm, awesome stuff mate, I'll have a look at the catalogue when i get home and let you know if it's available in larger bags.


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## vauxhallmark (14 Jan 2009)

Dan Crawford said:
			
		

> I've got a 10l Dennerle nano and with it comes everything you need to set it up, in the package is what i think is one of the best gravels i've seen. It's black "sulawezi" gravel and 0.7-1.2mm, awesome stuff mate, I'll have a look at the catalogue when i get home and let you know if it's available in larger bags.



Can't wait for the review and journal of that one - they look like really nicely made things, though it's hard to find decent photos of them.

(Apologies Beeky, don't want to steal your thread here   .)

Best regards,

Mark


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