Considering trying black diamond sand for next set up. Your tank looks awesome!

Tank looks good!

I really appreciated this video.. I'm working to dirt some tanks and Cap them with sand and I really want to use black substrate/sand! Thank you for sharing your experience.. it really helped me a lot! Your tank is absolutely beautiful!

@RamenKing2023

3 жыл бұрын

I plan on doing the same. That's why I have been searching for videos on this sand.

@marypaigeflynn4512

3 жыл бұрын

@@RamenKing2023 me too. I've seen a lot of good and I've seen a lot of people say not to use it. I just really prefer the look of the black sand.

@mokong4427

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I sold my tanks. They were 2 years old by then. Never had any problems with BDBS.

@MississippiHippieFishies

3 жыл бұрын

@@marypaigeflynn4512 Have you tried it yet? How's it doing for you? I've been researching and trying to decide whether to try it or not.

@nipple2978

2 жыл бұрын

Im debateing on useing this as a substrate too, you also needed to add another substrate for the plants so they have some sorta fertilization right??

Tank looks sic, brah. Been wanting to switch to BDB but wasn't sure since my tank is planted.

@mokong4427

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Worked really well for me. Plants are low light, low maintenance.

Wow....Amazing update....How many times did you had to rinse the black diamond sand before adding it to the tank?

@mokong4427

5 жыл бұрын

3 times. But it did not rinse everything well. There is a bit of black residue and for 1-2 weeks I had this weird white fungal stuff all over the tank. This was my second tank and I am more patient this time. I just let the tank cycle, did weekly water changes. I let the snail popultion grow and produce poop. In a month when the tank matured and was more balanced, I never had any issues. I never chased pH, hardness or anything else. My suggestion is to rinse it well as much as you can but if you can't then a little patience is needed before everything settles down.

Beautiful tank! Is this the fine or medium grit? I just bought two of the red bags and one black from Tractor Supply Co. I think the red bags are fine and the black are medium, but I'm not sure

@mokong4427

4 жыл бұрын

I think medium 20/40 says on the bag

Wow it looks awesome 💚 How do you have these great plants without adding root tabs?? I thought blasting sand is free of any nutritions so they need tabs!

@mokong4427

5 жыл бұрын

These are low light easy to grow plants. I did not bother with high light plants. This is the first time I used black diamond blasting sand, so I'm impressed also. I guess the plants were able to get nutrients that goes through the sand.

@davidfrancis3842

4 жыл бұрын

@@mokong4427 Crypts and what other plants are you planting in the sand?

@mokong4427

4 жыл бұрын

@@davidfrancis3842 Crypts, dwarf lily, cardinal plant.

@JR-kr9cb

4 жыл бұрын

Or get organic soil and cap it with blasting sand that way your plants have dirt

Put a couple of mystery snails and see what happens to the algae 😉

@mokong4427

Жыл бұрын

Sold the tank in 2020. But thanks for the recommendation.

I live in southern California. All the tractor supply stores here only have the fine grit. So far haven't found luck finding 2040 grit. Any one know where its. I believe 2040 being medium. I bought what my closest store had. My opinion way too fine.

Is the aqua natural sand good? Thas the one I got but not sure if I should put it in or return it before installation

@mokong4427

4 ай бұрын

Can’t really say, never tried it before. By it’s brand name, it seems like it is for fish tanks.

Nice tank brother healthy fish massive Neons tetras. How big is the tank size? And measurements

@mokong4427

2 жыл бұрын

20G long 30" x 12" x 12"

Have you noticed scratches on your glass from cleaning? I'm seeing a bunch

@mokong4427

2 жыл бұрын

There could be scratches. I sold the tank in 2020.

Hey, did you only use the black diamond sand? Of did you add another fertalizer under it?

@mokong4427

3 жыл бұрын

Just black diamond sand. I used seachem liquid ferts but not very often.

What grit is this?

@mokong4427

3 жыл бұрын

20/40

Hey man, thanks for the update. You may have mentioned this in the past, have you used any root tabs or fertilizers? Also, a black background with plastidip or even black paper would definitely help the plants and fish pop. I have a 20 long with BDBS too so it's nice to see others with tanks with a similar setup. Looking forward for more videos.

@cchin2

5 жыл бұрын

Just finished the video...saw you use seachem flourish every 2 weeks haha. Thanks again.

@mokong4427

5 жыл бұрын

I appreciate the advice. Yeah a black background will make the fish and plants pop. I found out about BDBS in youtube and just want to share my success with this cheaper alternative to other substrates.

@smoovejay122

5 жыл бұрын

Hey, very nice update and setup... I've never seen tetras that big... I've just took down my newly setup 20L with this sand because the fish started to die... I have no idea why since everyone seems to be having success with it... lost one of my 6 rainbows and the rest of the fish were on their way to dying. My water parameters were good I just don't know what it is. All my plants started dying too, lost all my jungle val.... this sand also failed the magnet test... could be the OSMOCOTE PLUS root tabs I used???

@cchin2

5 жыл бұрын

@@smoovejay122 tons of people have used both BDBS and osmocote+ without any issues so I don't think either of those were the issue.

@mokong4427

5 жыл бұрын

@@smoovejay122 Thanks! I myself is surprised with the neon's growth. I bought them really small. My experience with neon's is to add them to a mature tank. This particular batch was added when the tank was 5 months old. No losses so far. I had tetras before in my previous tank that I've added in a month or 2 of setting up the tank, and I noticed that they don't last long. Anyway that is just my experience with them. Also I think they feed on the baby shrimps. I see them actively hunting the smaller ones amongst the plants. I only feed my tank once a day, so for them to grow that big means they are getting their nutrients. Now regarding your plants and fish dying, there could be a lot of reasons. I've used osmocote before but never had fish and plants die. In all my research about BDBS, I never read about it causing death on plants or fish. Maybe you used too much osmocote? Well, I wish you the best on your tank rebuild.

Is this a 20 long? I heard you left the hobby after kids. Yet, for me, I need the hobby to de-stress after kids. I just try to make it as low maintenance as possible. I'd like a 20 long one day. With BDBS. Your video answered a lot of questions I had. Thanks for your work.

@mokong4427

2 жыл бұрын

Yes it is! I'm glad this video helped. I'm getting back to the hobby. We relocated to another state and able to buy a house. So excited to start all over again especially I learned a lot with these tanks.

How do you grow plants in that sand

@mokong4427

2 жыл бұрын

This is a medium grain sand. It is labeled as 20/40 on the bag. But I think right now in Tractor Supply just label it as medium. It is not really fine sand. So there is good water, gas, and root movement. It does allow good aerobic bacteria growth. What you need to avoid is very fine sand which causes anaerobic conditions.

I paid $15 a bag yesterday. #FJB

@mokong4427

2 ай бұрын

Inflation they say.

Only problem I have with this is the bags o got has these little needle lookin points in it. Super sharp look like a snakes fang.

@mokong4427

Жыл бұрын

I haven’t noticed any but that was a long time ago. I think tractor supply changed the look of the packaging and changed the labels to medium and small. Maybe they noticed the demand from the aquarium hobby because it is more expensive though around $10 per bag which is still cheaper than aquarium sand

@reddituser420

Жыл бұрын

@@mokong4427 I bought 2 bags maybe 3 weeks ago. Think out the door it was 22 bucks.

@mokong4427

Жыл бұрын

@@reddituser420 great. Been out of stock recently. Will check it out. Thanks

My local store had the black diamond salad but it was the fine type. Is that OK, or do I need a course type?

@mokong4427

2 жыл бұрын

In my experience fine sand would cause anaerobic conditions. It would be so compact that the roots can't "breathe" and prevent the circulation of water and nutrients. It happened to me and it had a sewer like smell amd caused root rot. Killed the plants. You can use fine sand if you don't plan to plant rooted plants or plants like anubias or java fern that you really don't need to bury the roots.

It's 12.99 a bag now.

@2percenter23

7 ай бұрын

It was $15 dollars a bag , at my local tractor supply store in Southern California.

@mokong4427

7 ай бұрын

Yeah. I guess they started to notice the demand. Still cheaper than pet stores though.

@ranjanty

7 ай бұрын

@@2percenter23 good reason to leave California. Sure it's a beautiful state but the government is out of control, take take and take.

@2percenter23

7 ай бұрын

@@ranjantyVery true !