Black Diamond 50 lb. Blasting Abrasives, Medium

This is my second purchase of this for substrate in a 55 gallon aquarium! So affordable, I fill a 5 gallon bucket about 4 inches from the top and let water rinse throughout until water is clear and no longer showing any film on top, then I place it into the tank with a scoop. 1 bag was enough and it looks so good!

Seen reviews on this for tanks after using it in our gunsmithing shop for sandblasting firearms prior to painting. We use the red fine grit for the sandblaster and the black label medium grit for the tank substrate. Both work great and are SOOOOO MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE than other options. Definitely more bang for your buck in both scenarios!

I’m not even gonna lie when I got my 75-gallon fish tank for Christmas from my brother, I panicked. Not because I don’t know what I’m doing (I’ve been in the fish-keeping hobby for 6–7 years), but because bigger tanks = bigger setup costs, and my wallet immediately felt threatened. After doing an unreasonable amount of research (aka doom-scrolling aquarium TikTok and YouTube), I found out this black sand is actually a solid choice for aquariums. You do need to rinse it first skip that step and your tank will look like you unlocked the “fog of war” feature. But once it’s rinsed, it’s smooth sailing. I bought 100 lbs for my 75-gallon tank, and yeah… that was plenty. I got a clean slope going with about 4–5 inches in the back and around 3 inches in the front. Reminder: a 75-gallon tank is 4 feet long, so this sand really showed up and did its job. Overall, I’m obsessed with how it looks. The tank looks clean, the contrast is elite, and most importantly my fish are thriving no stress, no weird behavior, just vibes. For the price, this sand absolutely ate and left no crumbs.

This product should be labeled Xtra course due to the difference of the fine grade. I find that it consistently plugs up the nozzle even though I was using the largest nozzle available.

Purchased this as a cheaper alternative to aquarium sand. As long as you rinse it well, it's safe for fish, and is a great alternative to black aquarium sand, which is so expensive anymore.

Great product good price

Aquarium substrate. I have Bichir’s and hate the way a bare bottom tank looks. I also disliked white sand in this aquarium. The grit is great. Large enough not to become concreted, small enough that it passes through the digestive system without issue on the rare occasion they swallow it. Rinse stir and repeat until oil slick is no longer visible. I let mine sit overnight in a tote just to make sure all residue was gone. Rinsed it one more time and added it to my aquarium. You cannot grow aquarium plants in this, but you can build up a rock structure mix with substrate designed for planted tanks/ or mix the black diamond with a substrate that is designed for plant and you have a beautifully green tank. I do suggest after putting the substrate in, you add about 5-6 inches of water stir it around softly and let it settle to make sure no air bubbles are stuck underneath the substrate. When you’re using a siphon clean tilt the barrel and pinch the hose too slow the flow of water so you’re not sucking up all your substrate. Takes a few times to get the hang of it. I also have not an issue with it getting pulled up in my filtration. Substrate color is primarily black with ticks of gold.

It’s sand, it’s black.

It works well, The reason I gave it three stars is because they keep on raising the price, it's almoslt three dollars cheaper per bag in another store but I don't want to drive fifty miles, just another thing I have to pay more.

The particle size has been reduced, its more like sand now. Doesnt cut like it used to and its also quite dusty.

Perfect for the fish tank, wish delivery wasn't $20 extra.

This is my go-to for blasting media. It doesn't last as long as the more pricey options. But it works well, and its less than half the price. I use it to clean up small things made of steel or cast. I have used it on aluminum, but it can impregnate, so use with caution if you are welding it. Overall, great option for most use cases.

Using it for substrate in an aquarium. Looks really cool with the black sand.

This product is not good using a sand blaster. Clogs up. Call the store they would not take it back and assistance manager would not issue a refund they acted like it was my fault.

This is not for sand blasting, I bought the largest nozel and it won’t work more than a second before it clogs

Called the Big Rapids MI Tractor Supply - spoke with Laurie to get 20/40 Sandblast! Laurie was a Rock Star - she knew exactly what the material was and how much they had in stock - Laurie even put it aside for us as we were not able to pick up for 1-2 weeks as we live in NH but was doing a job in MI - our company is AmTech Tank Lining and Service out of NH! I had filled up by phone a few times and spoke with Jessica also - she knew exactly where our material was being held and put notes on the bags of when they were going to get picked up! Super super nice these 2 ladies and went out of their way to help me!!!! These are Rock Star employees and you never want to lose them!!!! Thank you again! Susan

This is crap !!

Quality. Affordable. Convenient

Make my aquarium look good

Clogs, clogs, clogs... Cannot run it for 5 minutes without the media clogging.

Amazing Substrate for Aquariums. This product was recommended to me by several YouTube Aquarium hobbyists. I thought it was too go to be true. So since there was a Tractor Supply with 5 miles of my house I thought I’d try it. Fantastic!!!

Wanna buy waste? Here you go! Buy someone else's garbage and maybe you will get lucky and get cancer! Stay away from this crap.

I placed an order for Black Diamond medium abrasive. It's a great product, 5 stars. This review is about an online order I placed for 3 bags for store pickup. The order was acknowledged via email and text. The following day, I received an email stating my order had been cancelled with no explanation. Two days have passed, I'm ordering it again, same store. We'll see what happens...

Sand is perfect for what I need. It's inert black sand and it looks great in my aquarium. I'd reccomend ordering online for pick up if you do want to purchase. I went in and the employees said they no longer keep it on the sales floor due to it selling out and would not get me one out of the back. I left and placed an online order and it was picked immediately. I'm glad I was able to still get the sand, but the experience as a whole was kind of annoying.

Worst material. Continuously clogs. I should have returned it after first bag.

Quick order, fast curbside pick-up

Can’t speak about blasting, but it’s great so far in one of my aquariums. It has way more dust, oily residue, and floating pieces than I expected….so I washed it thoroughly about 40 times to get all that out. It came out very aesthetically beautiful and the aquarium life remains heathy. I’ll be monitoring closely though and I can’t say yet if I would buy it again. I took a star off for the delivery service. I paid $20 to Tractor Supply for same day delivery. When the driver was on his way, he called to tell me he paid $20 in tolls and wanted me to pay it upon delivery. Don’t fall for this scam.

I have used in the past with great satisfaction however the last bags I purchased contained black basically glass needles not fun.

Cuts fast in a pressure blaster takes 1/4 or bigger tip

They have the best price on this product or any similar that I have found and they have always had it in stock in one of the two stores close to me.