Live sand?

Juan27

Juan27

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Need some advice here.
Is it worth it adding live sand? As I will already be adding live rock to my setup.
Its a minimal cash difference between the 2.
Also, would 10kg be enough for my AMW102 tank?
 
I would say its bennificial in the sence that it will just seed the sand quicker. If you go for normal substrate the live rock will eventually seed the sand aswell. So either way is fine.
 
Sorry cant help you with that one. maybe try 10kg and see how much it cover. All you want is a nice layer on the floor not too thin nor to think. In my tank I just covered the bottom so that the glass bottom is not vissable.
 
live sand? as in where do you get it from?

Is it those half wet bags? Or collected from the beach?
 
you can use it. Although any substrate over time will become live. Will have some beneficial bacteria but lacking in worms. Don't worry, one day you will notice you got worms. Oh. Your substrate got worms.
 
Not to be a sour plum here but live sand i believe is utter bull. Those bags are stored for months, ever years at a time. The food source for that bacteria dies and so does the bacteria, if you adding that to a established system you will have a spike, its like dropping a bottle of ammonia in your tank as everything in the sand is dead.

I have also notice in the past that the tank stays milky for longer as it was not rinsed off. Rinsing it defines the purpose why you bought it. If the system still need to go through it cycle then yes you can use it but to be frank, you were better off buying normal aragonite, rinse it well and add to the system
 
Jason said:
Not to be a sour plum here but live sand i believe is utter bull. Those bags are stored for months, ever years at a time. The food source for that bacteria dies and so does the bacteria, if you adding that to a established system you will have a spike, its like dropping a bottle of ammonia in your tank as everything in the sand is dead.

I have also notice in the past that the tank stays milky for longer as it was not rinsed off. Rinsing it defines the purpose why you bought it. If the system still need to go through it cycle then yes you can use it but to be frank, you were better off buying normal aragonite, rinse it well and add to the system
Click to expand...
It is for a brand new system, so will report on what I find.
 
Ok cool, starting it on a fresh system is fine, just not on a established system.

Is the live rock cured rock (bought from a fellow reefer that was selling and was running in a system) or bought from a LFS (90% of the time not cured rock as they frequently bring in rock)

If not cured buy some Seachem Stability and dose accordingly. Dont worry about Special Blend but if you already bought Special Blend then rather use it.
 
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Just to add, while the system is cycling and you want to get rid of the milky look faster use some filter floss in all the compartments and take out all the media you got with the tank and replace the filter floss regularly as it will catch a lot of particles and clog up quickly

Maybe post some pics?
 
Jason said:
Ok cool, starting it on a fresh system is fine, just not on a established system.

Is the live rock cured rock (bought from a fellow reefer that was selling and was running in a system) or bought from a LFS (90% of the time not cured rock as they frequently bring in rock)

If not cured buy some Seachem Stability and dose accordingly. Dont worry about Special Blend but if you already bought Special Blend then rather use it.
Click to expand...
I have not purchased and Live rock as yet.
Was going to pop past second wave on saturday if they still have left by now( holding thumbs). AFAIK their live rock came out of an established system.
I will post pics over the weekend when the tank has been filled and running.
 
I used live sand when I setup my tank. I was sceptical about being of any benefit. However after about a week of cycling the tank with no stock and dead rock the substrate was teaming with more life than I'd ever seen in my previous tanks. As others said if you use libe rock it will seed whatever sand you use over time. I was just impressed with the amount life that came out of what in my initial opinion was no more than a marketing gimmick. My sand also sat in my garage for 6 months before I used it so I really had no real faith in it working, but it did!
 
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