is live sand a must have ?
- Thread starter aussie260
- Start date
flower
Well-Known Member
Live sand is not a must...However I personally really like live sand. My sandsifting sleeper goby does as well.
You can use rock from a FW tank, but be careful...some rock used in a FW tank may have trace elements of metals which is very bad for your saltwater tank. So I wouldn't use it, there is too much invested in saltwater to skimp on rock.
As for sand used in a FW, chemicals, medicines and bacteria are different. You could create a problem trying to use sand contaminated with stuff from a FW tank. So while I don't have any, and I mean any experiance with such sand...I personally wouldn't chance it. JMO
girlina4x4
Member
Its probably not the best idea to use anything that came out of a FW tank. A much better (cheaper) option is to use mostly dead/regular sand, and add one bag of live sand right on top of it. This will "seed" your dead sand. The reason it is called "live" is because it contains microorganisms such as bacteria. The live stuff will eventually spread out all throughout the entire sand bed. You can do the same thing with live rock (same concept) but IMO, I think LR just looks better and I like hitch hikers.
king_neptune
Active Member
+1
You can save money by seeding dead sand with a small amount of Live sand...couple lbs or so,heck evin a cup full of live sand can seed a tank.
However, I have found great deals on live sand...just keep searching. I got120lbs of Carabean Olite Live sand for 90 bucks. w/$3 shipping fee. Most places charge 2-3 times that much.
Often I see sand less tanks, especially in fish stores where they have a high amount of fish in a tank. Tanks can run fine w/out sand...just beef up your filtration in other ways.
But dont use your freshwater sand im nota marine biologist so I cant tell you why. But Ive heard its not good idea.
You can save money by seeding dead sand with a small amount of Live sand...couple lbs or so,heck evin a cup full of live sand can seed a tank.
However, I have found great deals on live sand...just keep searching. I got120lbs of Carabean Olite Live sand for 90 bucks. w/$3 shipping fee. Most places charge 2-3 times that much.
Often I see sand less tanks, especially in fish stores where they have a high amount of fish in a tank. Tanks can run fine w/out sand...just beef up your filtration in other ways.
But dont use your freshwater sand im nota marine biologist so I cant tell you why. But Ive heard its not good idea.
ophiura
Active Member
I am not sure if you are asking about needing sand at all. YOu can do a "bare bottom" tank without any sand. It is not uncommon. If you start with dry sand - preferably calcareous ("Freshwater" sand is usually silicious), it will become live over time. But yes you can run a tank with no sand, with LR and a protein skimmer.