All live sand or aragonite?

In my opinion live sand is a waste of money unless you're getting it directly from a active tank the stuff you buying bags is barely alive so basically you're paying for a lot of water weight. I would start off with basic aragonitet dry sand

I disagree, the bacteria rich live sand is not as good as reef sand you get from SWF...but it's it's still better than dry agragonite sand. Don't get crushed coral.  Dry Aragonite sand is just fine. No matter what you use, you still have to cycle the tank, there is no getting around that.

Rocks go in first and sand around it...You should not build on shifting sand, you can crush critters, or have a rock slide that breaks the tank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew2005 

Getting ready to set up my 75 rimless. What do you guys think? Not going to do a dsb. Probably 2-3 inches max. All live or just caribsea or an equivelant?

If you start the tank with live thriving macro algae (in a refugium) or even an algae truf scrubber, the substrate you use is not relevant.

Whether live sand, dead sand, aragonite, crushed coral, oyster shells, or even silica play sand, the algae will maintain the tank regardless.  If done correctly you will experience not ammonia/nitrItes spikes but can have an initial nitrate spike.

Actually the same applies to live rock as well.

Still the live rock and live sand you buy from this site are useful.  Just that IMHO thriving macro algaes trump them.

my .02

hi flower

my problem with the live sand that are in bags is what organism  is going to live in a sealed plastic bag with no air, no food barely any light for six months on a shelf. There's probably some bacteria it you can get 10 times more bacteria in someone's used filter floss. Real Live sand should have worms and copepods and other cool looking stuff in it that's real live sand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fixpc 

hi flower

my problem with the live sand that are in bags is what organism  is going to live in a sealed plastic bag with no air, no food barely any light for six months on a shelf. There's probably some bacteria it you can get 10 times more bacteria in someone's used filter floss. Real Live sand should have worms and copepods and other cool looking stuff in it that's real live sand.

LOL..The same is said of coral food....That is why I said it was not as good as reef sand like you would get from SWF.com, but it does have at least something which is better than nothing. The problem is people don't want to wait for a cycle...even with live reef sand the tank has to cycle.

Most of us starting out do not have exposed filter floss on hand. I personally like the live sand in a bag better than the dry...no cloud of micro dust so it settles right away. I love the reef sand from SWF...it's the best choice.
 

Caribsea is fine just remember Rocks first  then sand and for shallow bed 1 inch should be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew2005 

So a 1-2 inch sandbed will be ok?

2 inches of sand is perfect, IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew2005 

Ok im gonna do 1.5-2 inch sand bed. Now which sand do i use? Fine or larger grain?

Sugar sized........Live reef sand from SWF is the very best...live aragonite sand is good, and dry aragonite sand is good (be sure to rinse it)
 

IMO 3" of sand is a DSB. 

My suggestion would be to use dry aragonite for most of your sand bed.  After the tank has cycled add a box of the premium live sand.

How bout no sand? Just throwing that out there too. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew2005 

Would adding the live sand after cycling kickstart another cycle? Im thinking 50-60lbs is good enough?
 

 

20 pounds of live sand isn't going to disrupt the balance as long as it was cycled properly.  That should be plenty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bang Guy 

20 pounds of live sand isn't going to disrupt the balance as long as it was cycled properly.  That should be plenty.

 

+1