"live' question

[loopy]

I have, now, 30 pounds of live rock. Several months ago I added live sand to my tank...over the cc, and of course it sank below the cc. I am in the slow process of getting rid of the cc, but my question is this....Do you think the 'live sand' is still 'live' and if so....has the 'life' spread to my cc? Just a question, for I am thinking it must have, but then when am I ever right????????????????

 

[snipe]

The crushed coral is probably alive but I would still remove it and place more sand in there. The sand you place dosnt have to be live sand either.

 

[thomas712]

The word Live has different meanings to many.
In the case of sand and rock Live could simply mean that it has a coating of bacteria, this means to some that it is live sand or live rock and comands a high price.
In other instances Live could also mean not only that it has bacteria but pods as well.
Live could also mean that in the case of live rock it not only has bacteria and pods but other life as well, including feather dusters, coralline algae, macro or even micro algae, different types of worms,etc..
As long as your tank is cycled then it is alive, even the glass is alive with bacteria and perhaps algae.
Litterally you can start out with dry rock, dry sand and after a good cycle it will all be alive, with bacteria.
When people talk about seeding its a little different. The things you have in the tank can be alive, but seeding is more than just bacteria in many cases. Seeding is getting a cup of live sand or some good mature liverock with as much life in it as possible to help seed your tank with the pods, worms, chitons,astrena stars, and micro infauna as you can.
Least thats my opinion.
Having said all that then I would remove as much of the crushed coral as possible, replace with a fresh layer of livesand.
Thomas

 

[snipe]

I think that is what I said just alittle shorter lol

 

[dhurdler]

hey loopy how are you getting rid of the cc? i have a mix also.

 

[loopy]

thanks guys, for the good info.
I'm getting rid of the cc by taking a soup ladel..(sp?) and a plastic collander (lol sp? again) that I purchased just for this purpose. Every few days I put the collander over a pail and scoop out a bunch of cc. I don't do this to many days close together....don't want to release to much bad stuff, but slowly it is going away...slowly. You need to get a collander thingy with really small holes though, or that stupid cc will just fall right through. there are probably better ways, but this is mine.
BTW, by live I do mean.........pods and stuff.
thanks.

 

[bandman]

I'm doing the same thing with my CC. The holes in my collander I think are too small b/c it keeps a lot of my LS in there with it. It is a slow messy process, but it is working.

 

[loopy]

slow and REALLY MESSY!!! Put a lot of towels on the floor if you are going to do this....water goes every where. The sw takes the finish off my wood floor if left unnoticed. Have lots of lotion on hand for after each 'session', the sw dries you up like a prune! Messy, but worth it........wish I'd never heard of cc!

 

[loopy]

say,..........if your sand is getting stuck in the collander, you can use one of those really large fish nets.....that works too, but the cc tends to get hung up and you have to pick it out, ya know...when you try to 'net' a fish and the net get's stuck on everything BUT the fish?!!!!!!!!
Let's just all enjoy this sloppy butt pain proccess together, the one who has the most pounds of cc at the end wins!!!!

 

[trainfever]

Why not get a length of large diameter hose and do a water change with it. You can then syphon out the CC as you do the water change. You could always put the same water back in and syphon it out again until you remove all of the CC. I am always getting CC in my hose whenever I do water changes.