Onyx Sand is now sand...

[aquaverde]

I was in Petsmart tonight, and as if it wasn't enough that they had true SAEs, they also had stocked 4 bags of Onyx sand. And the stuff is, believe it, sand. Before, as most of you know, it was gravel that averaged maybe just under the size of Flourite, but all 4 bags were the size of coarse sand, and the grains were very consistent in size. Looks like a production change for Seachem. And these bags were not old stock; the plastic looked brand new.

[Raul-7]

Note: There is Onyx Sand and Onyx Gravel...

[aquaverde]

Right. But the gravel is very large and unsuited for planted tanks. Many of the threads on Onyx will have a warning about that from Rex. The sand, however, is or rather was, about the size of regular Flourite. That's the change that surprised me. I have Onyx sand in my 20 that I set up about 8-9 months ago, and it's only slightly smaller than Flourite. The stuff I saw last night was, I estimate, about 1-2mm. Maybe I'll go buy a bag from them and put the ruler on it. I need some top up anyway.

[Rex Grigg]

There used to be Onyx Boulders and Onyx "sand". Now it sounds like the sand really is sand. The old sand as James said was highly variable in size and the larger pieces were not that small.

[Daemonfly]

Does it seem that this is how they'er gonna keep it, or could it just be due to variability in end-product?

[ginnie5]

had flourite the other night and onyx sand. Course every fish in their tanks had ich too, even the pl*c's in the plant tank.

[Vinlo]

I was really surprised to see my local PetSmart carried Onyx Sand now.. I was also really surprised to see the price tag of $35+tax.. brutal.

[Momotaro]

Onyx Sand lives up to it's name. It IS sand. George Willms and I went down to That Fish Place yesterday and saw it with our own eyes.

Mike

[aquaverde]

And if you thought it was in need of rinsing before, heh heh.

I got down to Petsmart and picked up some for top-up. Think I'll change out the top inch in the 20 with this finer stuff.

Only time will tell if this is the way it stays.

[Daemonfly]

Damn. If figures, I just bought a bag of the stuff 3 weeks ago I deffinately got the older min-gravel "sand" :|

[Celura]

I just bought a bag of this sand for my 10g dwarf puffer tank, and I didn't know about rinsing it. This is the small grain sand you speak of, and I got it at PetSmart.

It's still cloudy after 3 days now. Do I need to break the whole tank back down and rinse this stuff for it to clear up? How do I do this? The tank has not been cycled and is unnoccupied at present. Info would really help.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

In order to avoid problems in the future, you may want to do just that. I think the cloudiness would be eliminated with something on the order of 90% water change, but the next time you go planting, or especially, uprooting and replanting, you will have the problem all over again.

So, yes, you will probably do yourself a favor by breaking the tank down and rinsing the stuff. Don't forget the filter, while you're at it.

[Celura]

Dang, ok. I guess I'll have to do that. I read about the paint filter, so I'll go that route. I also haven't added the filter as of yet. I'm doing this process rather slowly. Thanks!

BTW, I paid $24 for the sand at PetSmart.

[aquaverde]

Good, no filter in, no filter to clean.
That was me guesting. Didn't realize I wasn't signed in...
Good luck with it, Jenny. It's an effective (albeit pricey) substrate.

[Celura]

I rinsed it and rinsed it, and now it's beautiful! Thanks for the tip, everyone.