When buying live sand..

[yougmoney]

Before starting the cycle
Do you pure it directly in the aquarium?
Or do you want to rinse it ?
I plan on getting it bagged

 

[jstdv8]

If it is truely live sand you don't want to rinse it unless you are rinsing in heated saltwater otherwise you risk wiping out the biological filter you paid for.
If you're not worried about that then just get dry sand and let it cycle.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by YougMoney http:///forum/thread/379692/when-buying-live-sand#post_3301129
Before starting the cycle
Do you pure it directly in the aquarium?
Or do you want to rinse it ?
I plan on getting it bagged
Hi,
 
You don't rinse live sand, it is loaded with good bacteria and you want that in the tank. It isn't really "live sand" like what you would get from the ocean.
 

 

[bang guy]

Dry sand will give you a MUCH better value over wet bagged sand.
 
Live sand needs to be freshly harvested, either from the ocean or from another tank. Bagged sand does not have the sand bed infauna that make sand "live", it only has bacteria.
 
Dry sand should be added before the cycle and should be rinsed.
 
Live sand should be added to the sand bed after the cycle.

 

[lol]

I would go for some dry sand. Usually Aragamax sells pretty good sand. I like the oolite sand (the smallest particle sand). It's always good to rinse in fresh water first and then I usually wait 24 hours before adding it to an aquarium. Remember that if you add sand to your aquarium first, you need to fill the tank up with saltwater. If you fill your tank up with fresh RO/DI water first, count out how many gallons it actually holds and then add your salt and mix it in the tank. After a few days I would add a cup of fresh life sand from a friends healthy tank - if you actually wanted any sort of life sand culture...
 
Good luck!