Live Sand & Live Rock Question

[paulshaw23]

Hi Guys,
First question is about Live Sand. There are different types of LS and the prices are very different. I've seen a bag of Live Sand priced at $49.99 for a 40lb bag and then on SWF i've seen them charging $109 for a 40lb bag of PREMIUM LS. What is "premium"?
2nd question is if I was going to be setting up a 90 gallon FOWLR tank and for $$ reasons i was only able to start the bio-cycle with about 60lb. of Live Rock and then planned on adding like another 30 lbs. later after the tank has been cycled and I've added some fish... what would i need to do?
I'm planning on running a Wet/Dry filter system so I know i dont need the LR but just want to add it for extra color and added bio-security if there is a power failure on the filter.
Thanks for the help :help:

 

[arkey.d]

$49 is an excellent price for 40lbs of LiveSand. I paid $25 for 10lbs. I would go for the cheapest. Not sure if there's much difference besides grain size.....
I would also get 1-1.5lbs of LiveRock x the gallons of the tank. The live rock is more important than the LiveSand. You can put plain sand in and then it will become live after the LiveRock is placed in the tank. Or you can just get a cup of LiveSand and Seed your bed with that....
As far as adding more sand later there isn't a problem with doing that especially if it's LiveSand.

 

[paulshaw23]

Thanks Arkey.d. So i'll just geta cheaper fine grain sand for the first 2 inches and use Live sand for the additional inch to seed the bed. But what about adding Live rock in seperate amounts? Like if im putting 60lbs in wheni set up the tank and then adding 40-60lbs more after the tank has been running? Is that a bad idea?

 

[arkey.d]

It's not bad, it all depends on when you add the additional rock. It's possible after adding the additional rock that it would cause a mini cycle. If your tank hass no fish and is still cycling no biggy.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by PaulShaw23
I've seen a bag of Live Sand priced at $49.99 for a 40lb bag and then on SWF i've seen them charging $109 for a 40lb bag of PREMIUM LS. What is "premium"?
The $49.99 bag of sand isn't live sand. It's just wet sand with bacteria. You're paying a lot of extra money for water.
The Premium Live Sand has worms & other live sand bed infauna.

 

[paulshaw23]

Ahh I see. Cool. Thanks guys.