matt6765

I just got a nano cube and it came with live sand....... can you kill it..... like put it in before you put the fish in or put it in to cold/hot water or to salty water?

harpua2002

Is your sand still wet, or is it dry? If it's dry, it isn't live. If it's wet, there's a chance it has some organisms living in it, but there will be die-off the longer it is out of SW.

matt6765

It is dry...... but on the bag it says "packed with saltwater"

harpua2002

Oh, I see. It's debated whether the prepackaged "live sand" really helps a whole lot, because dry sand that you put in with live rock will also become live in time. If it is dry in the bag, then the SW must have leaked out of it. It's safe to say that your sand is not live at this point so no worries about killing any organisms in it.

matt6765

WAIT...... I just checked and it has a little water on the bottom of the bag

harpua2002

I see... still, I'd say you do not have live sand. I've used the same sand before and I have my doubts about whether there is truly much that is "live" about it. I believe the bags have an expiration date; my guess is that yours is expired if it is mostly dry. Still, even plain aragonite isn't cheap, so definitely use what you have and save some money on sand.

matt6765

Ok thank you for your help

charzar-g

I have heard/read that Live sand bagged (and dry) has some sort of natural chemical reaction that kickstarts organisms once in water.... :-/ I'm probably wrong though...