live sand question

[Bugsy]

Anyone here use the ocean direct caribbean live sand that petsmart has??

Would like to know your thoughts about it.

:biggrin:

[Madreefer]

Anyone here use the ocean direct caribbean live sand that petsmart has??

Would like to know your thoughts about it.

:biggrin:
What is live sand? Sounds like a scam to me whenever I hear of a store selling it. Can't be to "live" if it's just sitting in a bag or bucket for any length of time.

[Bugsy]

It is wet in a bag and petsmart sells it.

I have heard though it leaves a nasty milky look to the water and also a nasty foam too. Probably best to stay clear of it and just go and get more dry sand to add to what I have already.

:biggrin:

[Bugsy]

J&L sells it too

[rocketlily]

I put it in my 90 gal tank. Bought it because I liked the size of the grains of sand. I knew that it couldn't really be alive as it sat in a bag in my house for 2 months and who knows how long in the store. I didn't rinse it, just in case it was "live" and what a mistake. Took days to clear the tank and now everytime I disturbe the sand I have another cloud.

If I had to do over, I would still buy it because I like the size of the grains of sand and all the other bits, but I would definately rinse it and not worry about the "live" aspect of it.

[awa1979]

It is wet in a bag and petsmart sells it.

I have heard though it leaves a nasty milky look to the water and also a nasty foam too. Probably best to stay clear of it and just go and get more dry sand to add to what I have already.

:biggrin:

I used it. As long as you put it in a empty tank and let the skimmer run for a couple days it clears up well.

It does cloud the water, and it does leave a foam but it all went away within a couple days.

I don't have issue with clouding when its disturbed.

I only bought it for convenience at the time, but I would just save money and use non-live sand.

[Bugsy]

I don't use a skimmer as the tank is a 3 gal. I am thinking about moving everything from it to a 5 gal so I would be putting in this new sand and the old sand from the 3 gal. If I am going to have issues with it then I might not do this change. I run an aqua clear mini on the tank.

[Marlin65]

Just buy dry sand rinse well and seed the tank with a cup of sand out of some one else's tank that has been running for a while. Or you can seed your sand with your live rock. The wet so called live sand is just wet sand.

[rocketlily]

Only buy it if you really like the texture. Live sand taken out of the water and put in a plastic bag, shipped, stored in a warehouse then a store equals dead sand. When you add the sand from your 3 gal, it will then become live sand.

[chevyjaxon]

Only buy it if you really like the texture. Live sand taken out of the water and put in a plastic bag, shipped, stored in a warehouse then a store equals dead sand. When you add the sand from your 3 gal, it will then become live sand.

+1 i bought the same stuff a year ago found it to be a real pricey cloud in my tank no clouding issues now though

[Myka]

Imo, all of the "live" bagged sand is a really just a successful marketing scam. You can get the same grain sizes in dry sand which is much cheaper. All sand will cloud your water for some time. "Live" sands will cloud the water for much less time than dry sands will even if you rinse both of them very well. If you use dry sand your tank may be cloudy for a week as the bacteria form a film over the sand grains and weigh them down. This happens faster with the "live" sand just because it has been wet for so much longer. As long as you have live rock, it will very quickly seed the sand and make it live (in "real" terms haha).

[Bugsy]

Thanks Myka for your reply and the others that have replied too. I was wanting to add more sand to my already existing tank that has sand in it and I don't need much so when I seen this 5 lbs it is perfect that is why i was asking. None of the stores here sell dry sand and only AJ's has the big bags of live sand way to much for what I need. So if I were to rinse this stuff really well and add it to my already existing sand and live rock would it be okay??

Hey Mika, did you ever get a new jawfish for your tank??

[Myka]

When adding sand to an existing tank, I would suggest using the "live" bagged sand just because it is less dusty and will cloud your tank for a shorter period of time. This, I believe, is really the only advantage of using "live" bagged sand.

No, I haven't yet, I have a teeny tiny Kole Tang in the there helping with Valonia right now, so the tank is rather full for as long as he's renting space. :)