sheffboyrd Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Anybody use/used this product? I'm in the early planning stages of my 10g nano and am working on which sand to get. I see this product at petco all the time and was wondering what people thought of it? I like the fact that it has aragonite in it because my ph will swing and be pretty acidic in my area. Thanks for any info/advice. Link to comment
mjschomer Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 I used a 20lb bag on my 20 Gal. I'm convinced that it was the reason my cycle was so short (good quality cured live rock helped too.) My cycle only lasted about a week. Link to comment
seabass Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Right on mjschomer. I like it too. Link to comment
Vincerama Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 IMO - it's a matter of patience and price. The premium you pay is for the "bioactive" part, which is bacteria, NOT the critters you get in "Live Sand" that you get out of another tank or from other sources. In my opinion, that bacteria will grow anyway BUT it takes time (ie; cycle time). HOwever, the sand looks like a pretty good substrate. If you want to kick start your cycle and are putting in LR at the same time, then the stuff is good because the bacteria in the sand will help keep the LR alive by speeding the cycle (and reducing its severity) and some critters from the rock will migrate to the sand, making it truly Live Sand. I think you get more diversity by buying real "Live Sand" but you can probably trade sand with others once you know more aquarists. Dry aragonite gravel/sand is good too and will also seed with critters off your LR, but it will take some time for that sand to seed and populate with bacteria that will help with the nitrogen cycle, it WILL however eventually populate (ie; the cycle will end). I think I would have bought some if I didn't buy Live Sand. V PS> Note that the shelf life on these bags of stuff are for like 6 months or more, so check the "expiry" of any bag of the stuff you buy. Link to comment
sheffboyrd Posted July 31, 2003 Author Share Posted July 31, 2003 thanks a lot guys. I'll probably start with a bag of this stuff and LR and hopefully trade/buy for some LS from another aquarist after the tank stabalizes for some more filtration/diversity in my organisms. one more question though... would the bacteria in this substrate compete with bacteria trying to grow in new LR? Because if that is true I may need to reconsider. I wouldn't want less life in my LR because I used this sand. Thanks. Link to comment
mane3215 Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Got it, used it, liked it. The only thing I didnt like is the lack of critters. Sure it had the bacteria, but I wanted the worms, and other goodies that comes in live sand. I ordered a kit from ipsf for the sand. Now I am upgrading my 7g to a 20l and I am faced with the same prob. I love the look of the bioactiv, nice white and fine, but I want critters. Link to comment
Vincerama Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 The bacteria is probably the same as on your live rock. Even if you took a completely empty tank, tossed in some completely sterile sand and then tossed in something like a raw shrimp or even some ammonia...the bacteria will grow in the tank. It's everywhere. The theing about bacteria is that it will grow to meet the food supply. So when you put new rock in, the bacteria colonies are low because it has died off the rock. When you put it in your tank, ammonia will build up because there is (dead) organic matter on your rock. The bacteria count will increase to meet this supply of ammonia (bacteria, as you know propogates at a terrifying rate!). This will cause the nitrates to spike, which in turn causes another type of bacteria to flourish...etc... until finally your tank reaches a steady state where there is enough bacteria of all the necessary types to deal with the present bioload. With BioActiv sand, you give the bacteria a head start. The bacteria on the rock that you want is the same stuff. The "Live" part of Live Rock consists of more than just the bacteria. Coralline algae and pods (sea bugs) and some extras (worms, feather duster worms, snails, small clams, horrors of the night, etc) also come with the LR, some of it will survive, some won't. Hopefully some does and will give you biodiversity and hopefully that stuff reproduces and some will move to your sand. As Mane pointed out, you can buy "packs" with critters in it. The sand should probably HELP the stuff on your LR, since it will immediately start processing ammonia that could stress that other living stuff on your LR. IMHO I think the ascending order of desirable substrates are... 1) Beach sand (not very good, has silicates, and not very clean!) 2) Crushed Coral larger grain 3) Crushed Coral smaller grain 4) Aragonite gravel 5) Aragonite sand (like Southdown or SeaFlor or Aragamax) 6) BioActiv aragonite gravel/sand 7) Any of the above with some seeding live sand 8) Any of the above aragonite with seeding live sand 9) Course and then finer Live Sand Finer grains are better because it traps less detritus and is easier on certain animals. Aragonite is better than calcite (crushed coral) because it dissolves at a higher ph than calcite, which means that if your ph drops, the aragonite will dissolve, thuse increasing the ph again. Calcite also dissolves, but by then your ph has dropped to the lower end of acceptable. ie; aragonite is an auto-buffering sand! Live sand or donated live sand is of course desirable for the critters! OK, that's my humble opinion, based on what I've read and the critters in my tank ( I bought 10 lbs, at a buck a pound, you can't go wrong!) When I eventually ramp up to a larger tank, I plan on using Southdown play sand (aragonite) and homemade aragocrete "live" rocks...seeded by the sand and rock from my nano! Good luck! I think you have a good plan of action...go for it! V Link to comment
Vincerama Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Of course, by 8) I actually mean 8 ) V Link to comment
mane3215 Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Nice post Vincerama, do you happen to know where I can get 20 pounds of a nice white fine live sand? I'm not woried about the price. Looks like I might have to go buy another bag of bioactive =(. Link to comment
killrblue Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 mane3215, Go get a bag of Southdown Playsand from Home Depot in their gardening dept. It's only $5 for the 50lb bag. This is only found on the eastcoast HDs. Then go to www.ispf.com and seed it with their live sand activator plus that has the worms, pods, etc. Link to comment
mane3215 Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Yeah, I had that idea killrblue, however it seems there is still a lot more life with ls in other tanks then my 7g aga with 10pounds of biactive, and my ipsf live sand activator kit. Maybe its just me. This maybe the only way to do it. Link to comment
Vincerama Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I got mine from www.drmaccorals.com . Sorry, I think I paid 2 bucks/pound and he increased it to 3 bucks now. Still not too bad. I say buy a few pounds from local fish stores. Mix it up for variety! Other aquarists will trade sand with you! One "project" done by the Bay Area Reef Enthusiasts (which I need to join) was a live sand project where a bunch of hobbiests brought a cup of their sand in and they put it all in a big tank, then the plan is that everyone who put in a cup can then take a cup of newly diversified sand! V Link to comment
mane3215 Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I just ordered 20#'s from palmetto reef. That sounds like an awesome project though wish I was over there and could contribute. Link to comment
killrblue Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 mane3215, We do have reef clubs around area. www.wamas.org http://www.cmas-md.org/ I got my live rock and sand from drmaccorals.com too. Link to comment
Chupacabras Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 I put the "live" Oolite into my tank and didn't have a long cycle (2 weeks) and maintained quite a bit of life on my rock. The rock has already seeded the sand and now I have all kinds of worms and stuff in the sand along with feather dusters on my rock with one hitchiker coral that survived the cycle. Probably not as good as real live sand but that Oolite looks hella nice. Link to comment
mane3215 Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 Killrblue: Thanks, I have looked before, and never knew that. Thanks for the info. Link to comment
onthefly Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 Lowes.....Quikcrete commercial grade medium sand.....$6 for 100lbs! Works great...and white as snow! Link to comment
MrKrispy Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 i got 10lbs of live sand for my 10gal and my tank cycled in a week also.....however I have yet to see any "critters" with my live rock or live sand.... Link to comment
Vincerama Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 Wait until the lights are off. You'd be amazed at what horrors emerge! I once say this tentacle thing flail around from inside a rock...never seen it since...creepy! V Link to comment
donteatthenano Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 i just recently started my 10g with 15lbs bio-activ and 14lbs of LR. the tank is very close to cycled and the LR hitchhikers seem to be thriving. i'm new to the reef-keeping game so i don't have the experience to tell you that bio-activ is the best way to go, but i like the look and i really like the fact that the tank is almost cycled. Link to comment
donteatthenano Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 i guess i probably should have mentioned that today is day 8. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.