Live Sand - Recommendations on what and where to buy

I'm putting together a 40 gal tank and the first thing I plan on putting in the tank, after the water, is live sand. After looking into the matter I am more confused then enlightened. There are three grades of live sand, fine, medium and coarse. Also there are lots and lots of people selling it. Can anyone recommend the grade of sand I should use and a seller that experience tells you will give you good live sand. Thanks for any help, Geo.

 

technically the live sand in the bags is mostly a rip off, just buy regular fine grade sand and itll be come live in no time

 

I couldnt agree more, just get regular fine grade sand!!

 

1geo,

The sand won't become "live" unless you have something to seed it. You can get a handful of live sand from a LFS or a fellow aquarist. The sand can also become live with the introduction of live rock into your tank.
I see you are from Tampa. Here is a great source in Tampa for Liverock & Livesand.

You can pickup locally (saves a ton on shipping).

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/ordering/pricelist.html

Good Luck!

 

i agree with dustin. If you get some live rock, in time the rock will seed the sand

 

Yeah, if you are going to get live rock, just buy dry bagged sand. Fine grain (sugar sized) would be best. Along with the link above, www.drsfosterandsmith.com has a flat rate on ground shipping, which is excellent for ordering sand and salt (also, www.liveaquaria.com, which is also a Drs. Foster and Smith company). If you are planning on ordering a lot, you may want to go that route. When I started up my 240, I got 2 pallets of salt and god I don't even remember how many bags of sand for flat $17 shipping from them.

 

Make sure you choose aragonite base sand rather it's dry or wet.The grade size is a personal choice.Personally I would choose the medium(sugar size) or oolitic.The oolitic is very,very fine and will get easily tossed around in high current.If you are intent in getting live sand,the link below is the best place IMO.Like Biff said the shipping for overweight items is dirt cheap.Be forewarned,I'm not sure how much of the bacteria will live through the cold.It really isn't the best time of year ordering live sand.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10741+16764&pcatid=16764

 

I contacted www.drsfosterandsmith.com about shipping charges. They quoted me $111 for shipping 80 pounds of live sand. That's to steep for me. Geo.

 

i just added two 40lbs bags to my cart and went to shipping and it was 11.99 for ground shipping

 

Look for a bag of 'southdown' sand in your area or online. It's my favorite sand for tanks. Its small grain and reflects well and overall gives a great look. Or... You could go bare bottom.

 

Yeah, that steep shipping charge doesn't sound right. Why don't you do what Dustin said and put some in shopping cart, but stop short of giving them your credit card info? At least then you can get a price. I've ordered hundreds and hundreds of pounds of stuff at once, and it's always been $17 for shipping. Be sure to select ground.

 

dustin, can you post the URL you are buying 80# of live sand for a shipping charge of less then $12? I tried to find it on http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ and could not come up with it. Geo.

 

I found at "Carib Sea Aragonite Reef Sand," on eBay 30# for $32 with $9 shipping. The good part is you can get as many $32 packages with NO Additional Shipping fee. Geo

 

That's a good deal if they won't charge any additional shipping.

 

there is no link, i just put it in my cart, and filled out the whole checkout info until i got to the area where you select shipping and then i stopped there because i wasnt buying anything. you can do it too

 

Unless their policy has changed from a year ago,doubtful btw.I purchased 250lbs of sand from them for less then $20 shipping.
I've also added 120lbs now to my cart.Shipping was $15.

 

i think they either quoted you the total price with shipping or quoted you for overnight

 

The quote I got was from their live online representitive. I'll go back and just try putting it in the cart and see what happens, Geo.