substrate

[Rp Marine]

Arag-Alive sand be a good substrate for the sandbed. is this consider to be live sand.

[Reefland]

Do a search for this term, there has been some recent discussion around it.

Bottom line is no sand that has been inside of a sealed bag for an unknown amount of time (most likely a month at least) is going to be live. They claim that there is bacteria within the sand but that doesn't make it Live sand.

[Poseidon]

What we call live sand also includes little worms, tiny stars, and even some snails... Not just bacteria.

[Reefer769]

when i picked up my sand, the guy at the LFS said it would be a lot cheaper just to get half arag sand, and half live sand, so i just mixed them up in a bucket and put it in the tank, they both look almost identicle, and it comes out cheaper. just give it some time and all of the sand will turn into LIVE sand eventually.

[Poseidon]

just give it some time and all of the sand will turn into LIVE sand eventually.

By George I think he's GOT IT!!!!

just giving you a hard time... Reefer769!

[Reefer769]

whoa dude why do you have to go and embarrass me like that i was just trying to help someone out.

[Rp Marine]

hahah funnie. so is it ok just to put dead sand in the tank? will it become live sand? and do you have to wash the sand before putting it in the tank? and how would you do so with just tap water?

[Reefer769]

um... a better idea would be just to get a bag of arag sand, and ask the guy at your LFS to get the same amount of live sand in a seperate bag(at my LFS they had like a little pond full of live sand), and just rinse the arag off, and put the arag and live sand in a bucket, mix it up and put it in the tank, then pour your water in the tank. and you should definetly not use tap water(contains many chemicals you dont want), it may be FREE, but going to your local walmart and picking up 28gals or so of Distilled water Only!( not any spring water), wont hurt. it will only cost you less then 20$ for the ditilled water. and maybe later you can just buy a 150$ RO(reverse osmosis) filter and filter tap water. hope this helps.

sorry i think you meant, can you rinse the arag sand off with tap water? am i right? well yes you can, thats what i did.

[Reefland]

Don't rinse the sand at all. The fine grade, sugar size sand is dusty but this is a part of the advantage of it; having the various size particles for the bacteria. Also, don't mix your live sand with your dry sand, put your dry sand in the tank, add water and when the salinity and temperature is correct, add the live sand on top of it.

Also, when we mention live sand, we're not talking about the bagged live sand from the LFS, we're talking about true live sand that was collected from Fiji or from local reefers live sand beds.

Scott Z.

[Reefer769]

alright thats cool dude, do it your way. but it wont hurt if i did it my way will it?

[robvia]

Can you mix arag with crushed coral?

[Reefland]

alright thats cool dude, do it your way. but it wont hurt if i did it my way will it?

No it won't hurt anything to rinse it but having these small particles is what will help promote a goodbacteria population. There are several articles on the internet about this.

Can you mix arag with crushed coral?

Mixing fine grade sand with crushed coral is pretty much useless. If you use crushed coral you should make sure that vacuuming it regularly is part of your maintanence routine and during that time, the fine grade sand would get removed.

Scott Z.

[Rp Marine]

this is what i did. put rinse dry sand, put it in my 20 gal and use my 30 gal sand and lay it on top of it. and use 20 gall of water form the 30 gal and put in my 20 gal. no more 30 gallon. hahahhaha. how long do u think my cycle will be?

[Poseidon]

I think you guys are calling Crushed coral "sand". You can not RINSE the sand at all, it would all just flow out of the bucket... When I bought my sand it was already moist. (at least it felt cold to the touch and clumped together)

[Reefer769]

no we are talking about the thick arag sand in bags. i rinsed it in a strainer, it was pretty think, only tiny little particles went through the strainer, most of it stuck together nicely, and i mixed that with LIVE sand that was moist straight from the LFS pond.