Live Sand

[rocknurworld2006]

Is live sand worth the money
i am using cured live fiji rock for new tank
is it worth using live sand as well or not?

 

[Donya]

For the bulk of the sandbed it won't be worth it. Also, if you're looking at prepackaged "live" sand in a bag, there's a very good chance it's not really live anymore if it's been sitting on a shelf for any length of time, in which case it will add excess decay to the tank. If you're getting live sand out of an actual tank somewhere, a small substrate sample (on the order of a few cups of sand) can help get the sandbed fauna going a bit faster than the rock would by itself.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

so how long does live sand in these pre packed bags last for the live bacteria. as they dont seem to have a date on it. surely they cant be that good as you have no idea how long its been there for

 

[-Nemo-]

I believe they do actually have an "expiration date" on them. While not using them personally, have used them in tanks where I work and personally saw no difference in cycle time. Waste of money I believe.

 

[Donya]

That's the very problem with them - the bacteria won't last long enough to make it worthwhile. I imagine they don't put a date on the bags because it would be passed by the time you saw it lol. To get any reasonable results, you'd really have to get one that came straight from the curing facility and been kept pretty wet the whole time. The one bag of the stuff I did try (I wanted dry sand, but it was the only bag of aragonite I could find locally at the time) was way too dry inside to have kept any significant life onboard, so they're obviously not trying very hard to keep to the "live" promise. As with many things, it's just a marketing gimick.

EDIT (didn't see your pose Nemo!):

I believe they do actually have an "expiration date" on them. While not using them personally, have used them in tanks where I work and personally saw no difference in cycle time. Waste of money I believe.

What? Wow. I've never seen a date...been a while since I've looked though. I'll keep an eye out for that next time I see some of the stuff.

 

[-Nemo-]

I'm not absolutely positive Donya, as it's been awhile for me as well, but I seem to remember one... the only brand of live sand i've ever seen around here is caribsea.