Live sand "YOU PAY MORE MONEY, FOR WORSE SAND"

[MPevine11]

LIVE SAND WILL NOT GIVE YOU AN INSTANTLY CYCLED TANK. YOU PAY MORE MONEY, FOR WORSE SAND, AND IT COMES DIRTY, WHICH CYCLES YOUR TANK. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LIVE SAND.

this was in a members signature on a site, monsterfishkeepers (fourm for people with large predotary fish like piranas etc.) but they have a small S/W section...

but this guy apperntly is totally agnist live sand....
what do you guys think about this?

just want to gather some thoughts

 

[JohnK]

I think he's talking about that pre-bagged junk they sell at petco and the like (as well as plenty of respectable LFSs). There may be some bacteria of some sort in that bag, but if it's living in a sealed bag it's probably nothing that is all that relavant to our systems. There are no worms, pods, stars, or any other good microfauna in that bag.

IMO it is silly to buy that stuff, buy dry sand and seed it with some real live sand from a living system. CRA keeps a tub of actual live sand, or you can borrow a few cups from a few local reefers.

 

[spamreefnew]

and the bagged stuff is wwwaaayyyy to much money...

 

[The Ng Thing]

I agree ... can't believe I got suckered into that.

 

[gweston]

I'll support that opinion. Probably better to kick start the system with a few chunks of liverock and a few cups of livesand from another tank. If you trust the sand is free from nasties that is Too bad no such thing as reef condoms. When you share sand, you get everything that reef was in contact with for the past 7 years... or whatever bunk that old saying stated ;P

 

[frank180reef]

I'll support that opinion. Probably better to kick start the system with a few chunks of liverock and a few cups of livesand from another tank. If you trust the sand is free from nasties that is Too bad no such thing as reef condoms. When you share sand, you get everything that reef was in contact with for the past 7 years... or whatever bunk that old saying stated ;P

yikes, now that you put it that way................................

 

[MrCote]

I got live sand that was in a bag and after a week of having it in the tank my ammonia levels strted going up out of nowhere... and there was nothing else in the tank except for live sand. Decaying and dying organisms create ammonia. So I put light on the tank and added live rock and fish in the next day or 2 after that. So I beleive it is actually live and helps cycle the tank because mine cycled in a little over 2 weeks with live sand, then live rock and damsels