Michae52 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I was reading some post and the subject of bagged live sand from a LFS was mentioned. How many of you good folks buy into in it and why. Opinions of why it could be a waste of money. Not talking about sand that you received from another tank or sand that you grabbed from the bottom of the gulf. Store bought live sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+o0zarkawater Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 I was reading some post and the subject of live sand was mentioned. How many of you good folks buy into in it and why. Are you talking about buying 'live' sand thats bagged from a fish store, or just that live sand does or does not exist? I think that spending crazy money on 'Live' sand that's bagged months before you buy it, transported in non temperature controlled trucks, set out in the sun on pallets, etc is not something I would ever put in an established tank. I might use it on a new tank, but only because it is going to be full of gunk that would probably kickstart a cycle pretty well. I've only ever bought dry sand, and used seed sand from established tanks to set up my sytems. Since I've only used this method, or purchased established tanks, I've never actually experienced the waiting for a tank to cycle myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michae52 Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Bagged from a LFS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 My noob thinking is that some sand that is sold as live may or not really be live. I think if you get it out of another established tank, or out of the ocean in an reasonable amount of time then I'd call it live. The stuff I got was definitely live, I could see the critters moving around in it. Who knows what all was really in there? (which may bother some folks, but I like the Cracker Jack box approach.) Does it make a difference? Dunno, but I prefer having substrate over a bare bottomed tank and the critters like rooting around in it. I wanted my 33 to look more 'natural' so I went with what was offered with 'The Package'. Other side of the coin, my mantis tank seems to be doing OK with regular black sand from Petco as a substrate. That sand was definitely not live. I like the look of the black sand in that tank, it was set up to be a species tank and have a different look. All the numbers are about the same between the two tanks. When I get a larger main display tank, I'll probably use some of the live sand from TBS and some Topic Eden in about 50/50 mix. The live sand for bio-diversity and the Tropic Eden for appearances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michae52 Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Good point Grog. Your live sand was true live sand from the seabed then shipped wet, not bagged and setting on a shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Sounds like we need to do an experiment to test live sand. I use live rock and live sand and typically do not see any "cycle" at all and usually start adding corals I am familair with and have grown in other tanks in a few days or week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Sounds like a cool experiment, maybe a few small tanks, identical in all regards except for substrate choices. Same type of live rock, tank size, filtration, etc. Just have one with live sand, one with dead sand, and one with no substrate, and measure the numbers for a few weeks. If we wanted to get crazy, we could try a couple of varietes of live sand. Depending on the size of tanks we use for the experiment, I have an extra unused 20 gallon and 10 gallon sitting around would donate one for test equipment. It would be a good side-by-side test and fun to document. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 It's not BS. It's all about bacteria, not worms and hermits. There is a limited time that the "damp" live sand is guaranteed for and it is stamped on the bag. The bacteria don't need much to keep themselves going. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Its a perfect way to introduce unwanted algae in your tank, I would never use it again although I have used it in the past. I got crushed oyster shell for the 300 gallon I just setup, came from tractor supply for $10 per 50lbs. Looks like medium arogonite and doesn't blow around from the powerheads. So if the question is do I spend lots of extra money introducing who knows what in my tanks or go with something dry and much less expensive. For bacteria they sell it in a bottle and its only bacteria, no unwanted algaes included Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 It's not BS. It's all about bacteria, not worms and hermits. There is a limited time that the "damp" live sand is guaranteed for and it is stamped on the bag. The bacteria don't need much to keep themselves going. This lines up with what a sponsor said in the thread that inspired this thread. I got crushed oyster shell for the 300 gallon I just setup, came from tractor supply for $10 per 50lbs. Looks like medium arogonite and doesn't blow around from the powerheads. Interesting. Do you know if it has rough edges? I was just reading a CORAL magazine last night where they showed magnified pictures of limestone substrate. They showd the jagged and sharp edges that can harm critters crawling across it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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