Ratio of live sand to regular aragonite?

[ignath]

:notsure: Is there a ratio of how many bags of aragonite to how many bags of 'live sand' you should have in a 150? Can you buy too much "live sand"?

 

[fender]

No... but buying live sand in bags is pretty much a waste of money. If you are going to do it I would say about 5% ls to dry sand. The prebagged stuff is just wet sand with some (maybe) bacteria on it.

 

[ignath]

Wow, your the first person to say its bad, thanks.

 

[catawaba]

bagged LS has millions of bacteria in it--it is in a spore form. Once it is in warm saltwater, the fireworks begin!

 

[fender]

Not saying that it is bad. Sand is expensive enough. Why pay money for the extra water and bacteria that will grow on its own in a week or so....

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Catawaba
bagged LS has millions of bacteria in it--it is in a spore form. Once it is in warm saltwater, the fireworks begin!
Bacteria in spore form? Is that marketing gibberish?

 

[catawaba]

Yes it's marketing.
Have you ever heard of 'sterile' sand?

 

[1journeyman]

There was another thread on this a couple of days ago. Some people posted great results with it. I brought up the issue with bacteria in a bag needing oxygen.

 

[saltn00b]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
Bacteria in spore form? Is that marketing gibberish?

 

[adroitmind]

No bacteria in spore form is not marketing slang. I work for a company that makes biological cleaning and pest control products and we package live spores inside O2 deprived packaging all the time. The spores are very tough like a seed and when the conditions are right they will begin producing bacteria. Back to the point though i was very happy with my "live" sand only because it helped my tank cycle very fast. Cycled in less than 2 weeks with 2 parts argo and 1 part live sand.

 

[bang guy]

Thank you for the clarification!
Spore: a reproductive cell capable of developing into a new individual without fusion with another reproductive cell. Spores thus differ from gametes, which are reproductive cells that must fuse in pairs in order to give rise to a new individual. Spores are agents of asexual reproduction, whereas gametes are agents of sexual reproduction.
Spores are produced by bacteria

[hr]
Bang Guy got slapped

 

[ignath]

Thank you very much, your input was helpful.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by ignath
Thank you very much, your input was helpful.
Keep in mind though that the bagged stuff really isn't live sand. It's still just expensive wet sand.

 

[ignath]

I realize that it is expensive and probably aimed more at the hobbyist rather than the hobby. However questionable the ancedotal evidence is, it appears to be supporting the contention that it helps. Like chicken soup, it can't hurt. Obviously I have more money than brains and I will try it. I do appreciate your honest, pragmatic discussion of the question. You have helped me quite a bit. Thank you.

 

[sleasia]

another way to "seed" the tank with bacteria is to throw in a packet of Marineland bio-spira marine....very good stuff, IMO

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by ignath
I realize that it is expensive and probably aimed more at the hobbyist rather than the hobby. However questionable the ancedotal evidence is, it appears to be supporting the contention that it helps. Like chicken soup, it can't hurt. Obviously I have more money than brains and I will try it. I do appreciate your honest, pragmatic discussion of the question. You have helped me quite a bit. Thank you.
Don't get me wrong, it's very good sand. It just doesn't have the animals needed for a healthy sand bed. Most of those animals can come from live rock and the rest from just a small amount of live sand.