charzar-g

Hey all, I've decided to go saltwater, but don't think i'm jumping straight in, it will take me a year or two to save up for the tank, and then probably another year before i can purchase live rock and what not, so the tank with FISH will probably not be stocked for about 4 years or so. And i'm learning and researching all the way

So anyways, I have a few questions about live sand, it would be great if they could all get awnsered:

1. Okay, so does live sand need to be 'cured' or 'acclimatized' like fish and live rock do? And if so, how do you go about that?? :/

2. Can you mix live sand with 'not live' sand? And if you do, would all the 'livings' mix into all the sand, thus making it all live sand?

3. How would you go about cleaning live sand before its put in an aquarium? And also, if it gets dirty once all of the tank is stocked?

4. Are there different types of live sand?

5. Would you put the live sand in a tank before the saltwater or after? And if you do put it in after, how do you get it in without it swirling all around the tank?

Thats about it for now, I hope they can all get awnsered, Any help would be great

sirdarksol

1. I presume it should be cured precisely the same way live rock is cured.

2. You can do the same with live rock and uncolonized rock, I imagine the same would happen with sand.

3. Not sure.

4. I would presume so, but again, I'm not sure.

5. Not sure.

au01st

1. There will probably be some die off in the sand so it could cause a mini cycle, good if your tank is empty, bad if you have fish.

2. Yes, over time, dead sand will become live sand.

3. You don't, you pour it in. A mixture of snails and crabs keep the sand stirred up.

4. Not really, they all have the same microorganisms/bacteria, so it's all good. There's live sand, live substrate, etc, just decide on what you want. I went with a mix of very fine sand and substrate, but wish I had gone with 1-2mm sized pieces instead with a mix of substrate.

5. I would fill in a few inches of water, then mix in your sand, then continue filling with water. The only way to keep the cloudiness down is to put a plate or something on top of the sand for the water to bounce off, but some cloudiness will occur, no matter what you do. It settles down in a few days and you're good to go.

charzar-g

thankyou guys, that narrows down my head full of questions A LOT!!
Still not sure about question 1 though, au01st, are you saying that half of the 'live' sand will die off once you put it in the tank?

au01st

The sand was live when it came out of the ocean. After being packaged, boxed, transported, unboxed, and sitting on the shelf for who knows how long, yes, some of the live stuff will die off. I wouldn't buy it just for the "live" factor, but only if they don't have a "dry" sand you like. I really wanted the "reef substrate" because I like the look of shells and stuff on the bottom of the tank instead of just plain sand. It just happens that I can only get that here "live". I would not add any "live" sand to an established tank with fish/inverts in it already.

sirdarksol

au1st gave a good answer; I'm just throwing my two cents in. The die off is what the curing process is for. Transit time, changes in water chemistry (as hard as you try, you can't exactly replicate the chemistry of a given area of ocean), lack of microorganisms that the critters feed on, etc... will kill off some of the creatures.
The curing process isolates the die-off, keeping the resulting ammonia from impacting other livestock in the tank. This is why you either cure live sand/rock in a separate container or, better, in the intended aquarium before any livestock is added.

lew2000

Some more information:

Types of sand to choose from should be sand of coral origin, such as coral sand, reef sand, crushed coral, or aragonite are best. Any other Sand sources other than aragonite types, most likely have silicates in them - which are harmful.

As the author of "Simplified Reefkeeping", Robert Metelsky recommends a thickness of approximately 1-3/4 to 2 inches, which calculates to 1.45 pounds of sand per gallon.

You can use non living Sand and as the tank is cycled it will of course populate with the needed bacteria and is obvously much cheaper.

sirdarksol

A good thickness, though I always dislike a "pounds per gallon" guideline, because such guidelines only cover a small number of the standard-sized sets.

lew2000

Yes - very true. I remeber though when Sand first hit the market, and "the more is better" approach was said to be the way to go. Of course to much used ( i saw some setups with 5-6" of sand) and you ended up with pockets of gas no matter waht critters were used for substrate movement. Seems as if more reefers (no pun) are going with about 2-3" of Sand. Though now i have read that more people are either using 50: Live/non-Live or jst cycling the tank with Regular Sand. I read somewhere that many countries are looking to stop the exportation of sand due to coral reefs being in imenent danger around the globe. (wish i could find that article - talked about this year or next?)

charzar-g

thankyou for all the help you've given me guys
Very informative