This sand is exactly what I was hoping for, gives a beautiful look for the aquarium and easy to plant live plants into. The only thing I suggest, is rinsing this sand out A LOT before adding fish.I hadn't rinsed it enough the first go, but managed to get the murkiness out after a lot more rinsing using the outdoor hose and gravel syphon to exchange the water continuously for over an hour.. Pics show difference with proper full rinsing out

Love this sand. It looks so amazing in my planted tank and makes all our fish pop! Challenging to clean and takes lots of rinsing. Even after what felt like a million washes and very careful placement and water addiction cloudiness occurred but was easily cleared up with filter floss over a week or so.

Great product. I bought this for my new 4ft planted tank. Looks awesome in my tank. My plants are growing really well. My Corydoras love it (they are much more active in the Flourite Black Sand then they were in plain gravel in my old tank).It's really easy to plant plants in it and they stay planted; this is the first time I've planted bunch plants that haven't ended up floating around the tank.It does make the water cloudy for a little while at first. I did a few water changes and it cleared up within about 4 days. In saying that, I didn't rinse it that much before putting it in my tank - I put it in my tank, added enough water to go about 30cm over the sand. I then emptied the water and carefully refilled it again after planting my plants.3 weeks later my plants are looking great! Definitely worth the money!

Okay I know a lot of people complain about how dusty this stuff is and how you have to rinse it forever or what not. Here is how I did it and if you’re patient, it might save you a lot of aggregation and mess.To preface, I was moving from a 20gal to a 75gal, so my fish stayed comfortably in their old home in the process.I used a total of 5 bags. Doing one bag at a time I dumped each in a bucket, and ran water through it for about 5min. Tops. I didn’t spend a lot of time excessively rinsing. Then I put it in the empty tank. No water. I did this with all 5 bags, leveled it out. Then I let it sit there, and settle for about a week. By the end of the week it was still moist enough to scape with.Here’s the important part I think: when you go to fill it up, put a plate or bowl down for your water hose to rest on instead of bare sand. Then SLOWLY fill up the tank. I probably spent an hour doing this, but I did use that time to place my plants and what not. Anyway, I ended up with just a slight haze to my water and once I get my canister set up with some filter floss it’ll be gone completely.So, that’s how I did it, and if you have patience, I think it’s way better than spending hours hunched over a bucket, rinsing bag after bag. Plus I do think that after awhile it does start washing away the nutrients that you pay for.As far as the quality of the sand itself, it’s very good. I like how it doesn’t have to be replaced, my Pictus and Cory are happy on the soft sand, and it looks great.

Excellent product, at a very reasonable price. I was using Anazonia for years which is twice as expensive. Both give amazing results with correct lighting and C02

Plants seem to like it - looks really nice for a natural look. Not a stark black - but thats why I like it - more of a charcoal grey. Spent a hour rinsing one bag - but payed off, settles really quickly.

This is the best substrate I have ever used. Not only does it help the plants, but it also helps from detritus from sinking to the bottom. I use this in my 48"x18"x36" 75 gallon aquarium with a 2" bed.Yes it doesn't look completely black when illuminated in water. It looks more like a charcoal black. I have never seen it listed as being pure black.Yes it looks lighter as detritus starts to pile up on it. This is where scavengers, sand sifters, and water flow are handy.People also say that this product is very dusty. This can be true. It all depends on how it is handled. The more the grains collide with one another, the dustier this product will be. This is the same concept as two pieces of charcoal colliding with each other.If properly cleaned before placement in the tank, there will be no dust and it can handle stronger water flow without blowing everywhere. To properly clean the sand I recommend doing the following:1. Get an unused bucket.2. Fill bucket half-way with sand.3. Stick hose into bucket.4. Use hands and hose to stir sand.5. Keep performing Step 4 until the water running over the bucket is clear.For those that do not have power-heads to keep the detritus stirred up until it can be taken out by the filter, I suggest getting some sand sifters. I have two different types in my tank and they work wonders. I have two Dojo Loaches. These can grow to be 6" long and about 1-2" around. These work good for bigger tanks. I also have two Kuhlii Loaches. These get to be about 4" long and 1/2" around. These work good for smaller tanks. Both of these types of loaches are regularly seen sifting this sand in my tank. With that said, I can almost, 99%, guarantee this sand is harmless for sand sifters.Even with a 2" bed in my tank. If you take a flashlight to the bottom, you can see plants roots spreading across the tank in all directions. The plants definitely like this sand as well. My tank is fully planted with Amazon Sword, Moneywort, Wisteria, Ludwigia, Rotala Indica, and Chainsword. Most of them need to be trimmed at least once per month. If I don't the light at the bottom starts to diminish and the fish start running out of free room to swim. As a side note, I am not currently adding any chemicals to the aquarium and the only types of filter I use are for mechanical and bacteria.Another very beneficial reason to use this sand is due to its grain size and black color. With it having a small grain size and color, you do not have to worry about algae growing within the substrate. With gravel, there is enough pockets of little to no water moevement, that algae can grow freely. With some lighter colors of sand, algae can grow just beneath the top with relative ease. By using this color, black, it is deprived of that light.All-in-all, I am very pleased with this product. If my fish and plants love it, and I can stand looking at it, I see no reason to try anything else. I have used 3-4 different plant substrates in the past and none have worked as well as this product.As you can see from the two photos, the plants grow really good in this substrate. These photos were taken about one month apart. As I said, this is without any additives. This includes any form of CO2 additive.

This black sand is extremely fine-grained and very appealing in a peaceful aquarium. I have it as a thin layer on top of CaribSea Eco-Complete, and so far my plants don't mind it and it looks nice. Keep in mind, since the sand is black, many things stand out on it such as poop and fish flakes, but it also makes your critters stand out (my orange mini crayfish and red-line sharks look amazing against it!).The sand is also very dusty as you see in other reviews, but I think this is because the sand is so fine. Rinsing is a good idea, but I wasn't able to get all of the dust out (even with the pillow case trick), so it still clouded my tank but didn't take too long to settle (few hours--give or take). Once the sand is settled it stays in the same place unless something or someone moves it. It is only an issue for the filter when putting it in the tank, so just turn the filter off when putting the sand in the tank. It could also be an issue for a filter if you have large fish or creatures that like to dig in the sand (e.g., mature turtles and oscars), but you would want a heavier sand for them like pool filter sand (what I use with my RES). Never the less, my shrimp and mini crayfish love scavenging in this flourite sand, and they (as well as the other peaceful fish in my tank up to 3 inches in size) are far from large enough to stir it up.