Aragonite vs Live Sand
- Thread starter binhzino
- Start date
airforceb2
Active Member
LS is live aragonite. Aragonite is the type of sand and when bacteria is added, it becomes LIVE. If the bag says it is LS, check for the shelf date on the bag. If petsmart is offering this bag really cheap, I would get a couple bags and then get 20lbs of LS from the LFS. Dead sand can be seeded and become live. Not sure if this answered your question but I hope it helps.
nyyankeees
Member
Live sand should have a lil bit of water in the bag and appear wet, if the sand is dry like out of a kid's sand box or the sand on the beach that's not near the shore it's dead. 
T
thomas712
Guest
Live sand, dead sand, you can start with either one you like. Just make sure that it is calcium carbonate based sand, thats what you want.
My preference is having an ootlic style sand like Southdown, Yardright or Old Castle playsand. This means that the sand is more eggshaped/rounded not many sharp edges. This means that it will hold more bacteria and be a better substrate for your infauna and micro infauna (all those little critters and bugs). It also means that you would have different grain sizes, the smaller particals usually working there way to the bottom of a DSB or deeper sand bed where the nitrates can be converted.
If using live sand fine you can just place it and then put your rocks on top of it, eventually it should be seeded with pods and worms. If dry I recommend pre curing it to get the bacteria on it, this can be done with old tank water from a water change on your main tank. That also means that you can do it cheaper than purchasing live sand.
Lots and lots of threads about this type of thing if you care to do a search.
Thomas
My preference is having an ootlic style sand like Southdown, Yardright or Old Castle playsand. This means that the sand is more eggshaped/rounded not many sharp edges. This means that it will hold more bacteria and be a better substrate for your infauna and micro infauna (all those little critters and bugs). It also means that you would have different grain sizes, the smaller particals usually working there way to the bottom of a DSB or deeper sand bed where the nitrates can be converted.
If using live sand fine you can just place it and then put your rocks on top of it, eventually it should be seeded with pods and worms. If dry I recommend pre curing it to get the bacteria on it, this can be done with old tank water from a water change on your main tank. That also means that you can do it cheaper than purchasing live sand.
Lots and lots of threads about this type of thing if you care to do a search.
Thomas
evilbob22
Member
Aragonite is the type of sand. It basically is sand made from coral, ground down to the size of sugar. Live sand is sand (almost always aragonite sand) that was picked up from the ocean floor, so it has all kinds of critters living in it (just like live rock). The catch is that you can also buy sand with beneficial bacteria in it, and they call that live sand also. That's why the bag says "live" and the LFS says "dead", it's the bacteria sand, not the stuff with critters in it.
The live sand from this site is the real deal, if you find sand on a store shelf, it'll either be the bacteria sand or just sand.
The live sand from this site is the real deal, if you find sand on a store shelf, it'll either be the bacteria sand or just sand.
mudplayerx
Active Member
Aragonite sand: Sand for your aquarium comprised of teeny tiny bits of shell fragments and coral fragments (1-2mm in diameter).
Live sand: Aragonite sand that is packaged with saltwater to keep the beneficial critters in it alive.
Live sand: Aragonite sand that is packaged with saltwater to keep the beneficial critters in it alive.
binhzino
Member
Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Aragonite sand: Sand for your aquarium comprised of teeny tiny bits of shell fragments and coral fragments (1-2mm in diameter).
Live sand: Aragonite sand that is packaged with saltwater to keep the beneficial critters in it alive.
In other words, aragonite is dead so I'd need some Live sand to seed it, correct?
Aragonite sand: Sand for your aquarium comprised of teeny tiny bits of shell fragments and coral fragments (1-2mm in diameter).
Live sand: Aragonite sand that is packaged with saltwater to keep the beneficial critters in it alive.
In other words, aragonite is dead so I'd need some Live sand to seed it, correct?
mudplayerx
Active Member
In a short answer, yes.
In a long answer, you can use a variety of methods to help cycle your tank. If you are cycling with live rock in your tank then live sand isn't necessary.
Here is a good way to buy live sand and save a BUNCH of money. Buy 95% of the dead aragonite sand and put it in the tank. Then buy a small bag of live sand and spread it evenly in a thin layer overthe dead sand. All of the dead sand will then become live in a few weeks.
In a long answer, you can use a variety of methods to help cycle your tank. If you are cycling with live rock in your tank then live sand isn't necessary.
Here is a good way to buy live sand and save a BUNCH of money. Buy 95% of the dead aragonite sand and put it in the tank. Then buy a small bag of live sand and spread it evenly in a thin layer overthe dead sand. All of the dead sand will then become live in a few weeks.
binhzino
Member
Originally Posted by mudplayerx
In a short answer, yes.
In a long answer, you can use a variety of methods to help cycle your tank. If you are cycling with live rock in your tank then live sand isn't necessary.
Here is a good way to buy live sand and save a BUNCH of money. Buy 95% of the dead aragonite sand and put it in the tank. Then buy a small bag of live sand and spread it evenly in a thin layer overthe dead sand. All of the dead sand will then become live in a few weeks.
I have a FOWLR tank...and converting from CC to LS...would it matter???
In a short answer, yes.
In a long answer, you can use a variety of methods to help cycle your tank. If you are cycling with live rock in your tank then live sand isn't necessary.
Here is a good way to buy live sand and save a BUNCH of money. Buy 95% of the dead aragonite sand and put it in the tank. Then buy a small bag of live sand and spread it evenly in a thin layer overthe dead sand. All of the dead sand will then become live in a few weeks.
I have a FOWLR tank...and converting from CC to LS...would it matter???
mudplayerx
Active Member
If you are going to use the same water from your old setup then that will help a lot. Bravo on getting rid of the CC btw, that stuff is garbage. I would still get the small bag of live sand though as it might contain some good worms that your water might not.
