Live sand

[Fishiebusiness]

I went to several LFS's to look for live sand today, and all that each had was sealed bags of wet aragonite labelled activated live sand. What the heck is that? How do your LFS's sell LS?

[koiman6]

well mine don't sell live sand and I'm looking around on the web

[printerdown01]

Most fish store don't carry live sand any more... -at least the ones I have found... I'm not sure why, I guess it is more convenient for them to sell you the bagged kind... -Not as good IMO! In fact I refuesed to buy it when setting up my tank! Recepie for instant live sand (the best I can do): Get some aragonite (dry, much cheaper) then talk a LFS into letting you scrape some scum off the bottom of their Live Rock tank (get as much of the dirty brown crap as you can). -Sounds stupid, but the truth is this stuff is filled with all kinds of bacteria (very diverse). Not to mention that it has all kinds of coralline fragments and other good stuff (including amphipods!)... Another suggestion is to get a cup of sand from a friend and add it to your tank (this can also be done in conjuctiontion with the process described above). In my experiance this works very well, and will save you big $$ on live sand! ...p.s. I have found one place around here that sells "live sand" but it looks a lot more like rock chunks mixed with giant clam shells (useless IMO, although I did put a little in my tank).

[printerdown01]

Hey, I don't know where you are located, but Dave ESPI is either selling or giving some away right now!!! PM him!

[gabe3eb]

there ain't no way that stuff in the bag is "ALIVE"... maybe a few hardy bacteria, but nothing that is better than a scoop from a friends tank,

gaber