Washing Live Sand

M

MoLaw

Reefing newb
Well hello all, I am new here obviously, I am in the middle of cycling my first saltwater aquarium. I have had several freshwater in the past. Well I received my live sand substrate the other day and I washed it off and put it in the tank (40lbs of sand 55 gallon tank). After I finished putting the sand in I finished reading the bag (Yes I know sounds stupid but I have a lot of reading and thought I knew what I was doing, plus I am a man) anyway I washed the sand pretty vigorously with fresh water. After reading the bag it said not to vigorously and use saltwater (Oops!!). My question is did I just create really expensive regular sand or is there a possibility it still has some of its beneficial bacteria left. Thanks in advanced for any info.

Frank
 
Basicly you do did. The freshwater kills the good bacteria in it. Basicly live sand helps speed up the cycle a bit but IMO it is a waste of money because by the time you get it most of the bacteria has died anyway, and all sand will become live in time anyway and for the double price tag on the sand which is already high enough I stick with the regular sand now. I have used it in the past and didn't notice the cycle go faster at. I wouldn't worrie about it too much because it will regain it self in time. Good luck and take it slow.
 
bobby said:
Basicly you do did. The freshwater kills the good bacteria in it. Basicly live sand helps speed up the cycle a bit but IMO it is a waste of money because by the time you get it most of the bacteria has died anyway, and all sand will become live in time anyway and for the double price tag on the sand which is already high enough I stick with the regular sand now. I have used it in the past and didn't notice the cycle go faster at. I wouldn't worrie about it too much because it will regain it self in time. Good luck and take it slow.
Click to expand...

i agree
 
I agree,the freshwater killed the bacteria especially if it came straight from the faucet.Not much chlorine will surely do it even faster.

I do disagree about the live sand not helping speed up the cycle.I've use at least partial live sand in every new system and it speeds up the cycle 10x faster than dry sand.Sometimes so fast that I missed the cycle.Personally I always used the bagged live sand.It doesn't have the fauna as live sand straight from the ocean but as long as the sand hadn't boiled or froze then the bacteria is still there.Always check the expiration date on the bags if buying from LFS.Also at least online the bagged live sand and dry sand has very little price difference.
 
Here there is a big difference. A 20 LBS bag of live is 35.00 to 40.00 and a 30 LBS bag of regular is 30.00. So here you 10 more LBS and alittle cheaper. Maybe I got a bad bag, because my cycle took about a month on my 30, and I put over half live in.
 
bobby said:
Basicly you do did. The freshwater kills the good bacteria in it. Basicly live sand helps speed up the cycle a bit but IMO it is a waste of money because by the time you get it most of the bacteria has died anyway, and all sand will become live in time anyway and for the double price tag on the sand which is already high enough I stick with the regular sand now. I have used it in the past and didn't notice the cycle go faster at. I wouldn't worrie about it too much because it will regain it self in time. Good luck and take it slow.
Click to expand...

i agree ... if we stuck you in a bag and shipped you half way around the world ... do you think that you would arrive at your destination alive ?? its a kind of drastic example, but i think it fits the bill.
 
I appreciate all of your comments, I do need about 10 lbs more for good coverage so I will get that and not wash it. Thanks again for all the info.
 
When you put it in put the whole bag in and cut it open under water (if you have the room that is) and SLOWLY pull the bag out. Doing this way will cause less mess in the water and less sand floating around to get into the filter, skimmer, or powerheads. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
or put the sand in first then put a small bowl in;next pur the saltwater in the bowl so it goes over the rims.do this so your sand does not float all over the place
 
ReefKeeper said:
i agree ... if we stuck you in a bag and shipped you half way around the world ... do you think that you would arrive at your destination alive ?? its a kind of drastic example, but i think it fits the bill.
Click to expand...

I disagree with this statment. These are bacteria. Bacteria can go into stasis when living conditions dont favor life and then come back viable when conditions do favor life.

Brian
 
I agree with Bjo,like I mentioned earlier.As long as the bag of sand is moist and keep from freezing or really,really hot,then the sand will be fine.

I do think he meant the bacteria becomes ''dormant'' until the condition is right.
 
I used CaribSea in my tank, it was still wet when I put it in, couldnt avoid the "dust cloud" that appeared afterwards, guess it goes with the addition of sand. There is another product that CaribSea has called "Ocean Direct" has a lil packet of the bacteria colonies you sprinkle on after you put in the sand...

caribsea your aragonite source and more!

Seems to be pretty good stuff, bout $40 for 40 lbs at my LFS
 
bjohanson1234 said:
I disagree with this statment. These are bacteria. Bacteria can go into stasis when living conditions dont favor life and then come back viable when conditions do favor life.

Brian
Click to expand...

reeffreak said:
I agree with Bjo,like I mentioned earlier.As long as the bag of sand is moist and keep from freezing or really,really hot,then the sand will be fine.

I do think he meant the bacteria becomes ''dormant'' until the condition is right.
Click to expand...

i never thought about it like that !! GOD i love this hobby ... i STILL learn something new everyday !!

thanks go to both of you.
 
I agree with Reef, Live sand is the way to go and IMO, it is worth the extra money. It is a MUST is your are transfering corals and livestock into a new tank (like I am in a week) and you want to avoid any cycle at all. I will start my new tank with cured live rock from my 125, live sand from the LFS and add corals and fish the same day. I am expecting no cycle at all.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
I just moved the my tank and replaced the normal aquarium sand with aragonite (sp?) 20lb dry and 5lb live. It cycled in a week but I did have my LR also.

And yes dormant is the word I was looking for but stasis came into my head first. Not sure exactly why maybe MTG playing from when I was younger

Brian
 
Biff might say different, on some weird-nerd-technicality. For the rest of us, yeah, pretty much the same thing.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 

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