As long as its aragonite sand it matters not. I would not really pay to much attentio to the so called packaked alive in water bit, as IMHO its hype and marketing ply. IT does not take much to kill off any good stuff by improper shipping and storage, and face it, setting in a truck in high temps or low temps while being shipped or setting around or in hot/cold warehouses . in the full sun on a shelf in a store etc is a surefire way to do in the critters (bacteria) in the sand. You can always get a cup of good live sand from an established tank and seed it or the live rock will seed it as well.........