Originally Posted by Fraggle_a
Yes, if its from a reputable source, then live sand is indeed alive.
The term refers to microscopic animals living in the sand that help with waist disposal in the water. These creatures can survive a long time out of water, but regenerate rapidly when conditions are right.
Ah, I think that's a bit misleading, Please allow me to give my opinion.
The Term 'Live Sand" can refer to many things, but mostly the fact that it is alive with bacteria, not necessarily critters like pods, worms or other infauna, infauna being a term that refers to the animals or critters that live in and below the sand bed. In my opinion all of the bagged live sand that I have seen sitting on the shelf has absolutely no pods or worms left alive in it. Now if they go and scoop it right out of the ocean and ship it to you right away then you stand a chance of having some infauna critters coming in with it, but it all depends on how your get it and the source.
The same can be said for live rock, depending on how you look at it. Some LFS will stick base rock into a tank for two weeks then call it live rock, because it now has bacteria on it. Then sell it for $5.99 per pound. Doesn't mean it has all the beneficial hitch hikers in it.
d0 thy d3w~ run your skimmer, most skimmers will have a break in time of 2 weeks and now is the time to break it in, and if you choose you can leave your lights off for now unless you have something else in the tank that requires lighting.
One tip for now: Getting a few peices of quality live rock will help kick start the cycle and bring in some of the hitch hikers that you do want like amphipods, isopods, copepods, bristle worm and many others.
Good luck to you
Thomas
