substrate/live sand question

[hwttdz1]

I plan on having a live sand bed, however I would like to choose the color of the sand/substrate. So I have a few questions.
First is black sand/substrate ok? It seems rather unnatural and I'm hesitant to not loyally reproduce a natural habitat, but clearly I like the way it looks.
Secondly, is the live sand that comes in bags with water pretty good? I have found some sand like that similar in color to what I am looking for.
Third, at what rate can I expect the organisms in the live sand to reproduce to the other sand (I know this is dependent on all the water parameters, lighting, phase of the moon..., so just an order of magnitude estimate would be ok) if live sand makes up 1% of the sand bed? 30%?

 

[earlybird]

Originally Posted by hwttdz1
I plan on having a live sand bed, however I would like to choose the color of the sand/substrate. So I have a few questions.
First is black sand/substrate ok? It seems rather unnatural and I'm hesitant to not loyally reproduce a natural habitat, but clearly I like the way it looks.
Sure you can have black sand and it shouldn't affect anything. Just make sure of the quality of the sand you choose.
Secondly, is the live sand that comes in bags with water pretty good? I have found some sand like that similar in color to what I am looking for. It's not "technically" live in the bag. Just bacteria in the bags. If you want true live sand with critters and microfauna you'll have to purchase true "live" sand like that sold on swf. Many will use majority bagged sand and then seed it with true live sand or just let the live rock seed it.
Third, at what rate can I expect the organisms in the live sand to reproduce to the other sand (I know this is dependent on all the water parameters, lighting, phase of the moon..., so just an order of magnitude estimate would be ok) if live sand makes up 1% of the sand bed? 30%? This is very difficult to calculate. Nothing happens fast in this hobby.
Answered above in red.

 

[reefkprz]

for a good chance at microfauna inhabitation I would go at least 10% live sand, for the best biodiversity and survival rate.