live sand, out of water

[wolf]

i cant find my post, so here it is again

how long can i let this 20lb bag of live aragonite in the bag. I am selling
the tank, and didnt want to place it in the tank until i change tanks.

its in a 50-60 degree garage, so its quite cold. How many days is the max i
can keep it like this while keeping it alive and healthy?

[Billy]

Kept in the commercially packed bag, about 9 months from the day it
was packed. At least, according to the manufacturers. Should be a
date on the bag somewhere.

--
¼á
"wolf" "> wrote in message
k.net...
>i cant find my post, so here it is again
>
> how long can i let this 20lb bag of live aragonite in the bag. I
> am selling the tank, and didnt want to place it in the tank until i
> change tanks.
>
> its in a 50-60 degree garage, so its quite cold. How many days is
> the max i can keep it like this while keeping it alive and healthy?
>

[wolf]

no, im relocating my tank, i siphoned it up on the 28th, im wondering how
long i have until i need to start worrying about losing the bio in it.


"Billy" > wrote in message
...
> Kept in the commercially packed bag, about 9 months from the day it was
> packed. At least, according to the manufacturers. Should be a date on the
> bag somewhere.
>
> --
> ¼á
> "wolf" "> wrote in message
> k.net...
>>i cant find my post, so here it is again
>>
>> how long can i let this 20lb bag of live aragonite in the bag. I am
>> selling the tank, and didnt want to place it in the tank until i change
>> tanks.
>>
>> its in a 50-60 degree garage, so its quite cold. How many days is the
>> max i can keep it like this while keeping it alive and healthy?
>>
>
>

[Billy]

"wolf" "> wrote in message
k.net...
> no, im relocating my tank, i siphoned it up on the 28th, im
> wondering how long i have until i need to start worrying about
> losing the bio in it.
>

Like sitting in a bucket? I wouldn't give it more than a day. Perhaps
not even that. After that, the bacteria and what ever other living
material in the sand will begin dying, and will result in an ammonia
explosion when re-introduced. If the container you placed it in was
filtered, heated, and subjected to water changes, you might be fine.
<g>

b

[Roy]

I would be worrying about it now. Its destined to fail pretty quick,
just like LR would if its out of water or in unfavorable climates even
if kept wet.

Even though you are relocating or selling the oriignal tank it was all
in, just a simple rubber maid container with sand liverock and a
powerhead and heater will keep it alive and well.

Granted, your live sand may die, but its still useable and it would
have to finish cycling when you use it again. I bought a bunch of bags
of the packed wet live sand with a good expiration date on them, at a
local Petco store. I got those bags of live sand for a paltry $5.00 a
bag for 20 pound bags, and I bought all they had.......The reason
being, is the bags were all misshandled and got punctured, and seeped
and leaked out 99% of the water content. Folks that know Petco knows
they could care less, and probably noone of them even assumed it wa
the bagsa that were leaking, even though their steel shelving was all
rusted up.....Anyhow, its still aragonite sand. I put some of the sand
in a few tanks we setup, and iy had a longer cycle time than sand in
tanks which came from bags we had previously bought that were still
full of water etc. Those bags had little to no cycles time needed....

If waiting for a tank to cycle is not a problem for you, then I wuld
not worry about it, but its sitll a shame to let the good stuff ide
off once its establised for the sake of a heater a nd powerhead and
cheap rubber maid or other type container......and just a cheap strip
light would make for a lot of difference on any light dependant
critters.


On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 01:49:25 GMT, "wolf" ">
wrote:
>><>i cant find my post, so here it is again
>><>
>><>how long can i let this 20lb bag of live aragonite in the bag. I am selling
>><>the tank, and didnt want to place it in the tank until i change tanks.
>><>
>><>its in a 50-60 degree garage, so its quite cold. How many days is the max i
>><>can keep it like this while keeping it alive and healthy?
>><>

--
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-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
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(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

[wolf]

honestly, that just didnt happen. And im more concerned for any starfish
that got vacuumed up with it, and tube worms that were in the sand that will
eventually reseed when placed back in the tank.

i have 2 containers

one 5 gallon bucket with about 40lbs sugarfine marine sand, and that set out
for over 2 days, after being cycled for years, i decided to finally hook it
back into the system instead of waiting, no ammonia exploaion, infact, not
even a noticable increase.

this bag is onlly about 20lbs aragonite at most, and it still wet as tank
water is still inside it.

i am curious about teh starfish and tubeworms.

ok, about teh bacteria. first of all, the anerobic bacteria, what happens
to this when you remove the sand from teh tank? the sand was completely
mixed up, better than a cement mixer could have, so i would thnk alrady that
the bacterias were still down in the sand. ok
teh sand that is currently on top, was probably the anerobic sand anyway.
So, when placed back into the tank, shouldnt there be a majority of anerobic
bacteria in it already?

and what about the worry of ammonia, is that comning from the detritus?
well, 95% of teh detritus is already gone from teh cleaning out fo the tank,
i had to scoop the sand with a piece of flat glass out of teh tank, it had
plenty of time to shed its detritus. right now the nitrate is near 40ppm.
which is mainly from the uncared for water, that is slowly being changed
out, but there is no nitrite from teh first 5 gallon bucket of sand that i
just readded to the circulation of the systsem. So, apparently this sand
can go out of water for some time...

Can someone who knows about the distribution of the anerobic vs. aeorbic
bacterias further has this up to see if my sand is really dying? the only
problem i see is the temperature, cause believe me, its still not getting
any oxygen, hehe, so its still anerobic down there.


"Billy" > wrote in message
...
>
> "wolf" "> wrote in message
> k.net...
>> no, im relocating my tank, i siphoned it up on the 28th, im wondering how
>> long i have until i need to start worrying about losing the bio in it.
>>
>
> Like sitting in a bucket? I wouldn't give it more than a day. Perhaps not
> even that. After that, the bacteria and what ever other living material in
> the sand will begin dying, and will result in an ammonia explosion when
> re-introduced. If the container you placed it in was filtered, heated, and
> subjected to water changes, you might be fine. <g>
>
> b
>

[wolf]

this is a gos story, thanks ron.

thats explains alot.

ok, what were you looking for to see if the live sand was cycled,
nitrification, or visible bacterias? sounds like you know exactly when teh
tank was cycled, im guessing it was the ammonia and nitrites you were
watching.


another question, my rocks are alread established, when i put the sand in
there, the ammonia could overshoot, and it would be my rocks trying to
buffer it right? no good eh?

"Roy" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> I would be worrying about it now. Its destined to fail pretty quick,
> just like LR would if its out of water or in unfavorable climates even
> if kept wet.
>
> Even though you are relocating or selling the oriignal tank it was all
> in, just a simple rubber maid container with sand liverock and a
> powerhead and heater will keep it alive and well.
>
> Granted, your live sand may die, but its still useable and it would
> have to finish cycling when you use it again. I bought a bunch of bags
> of the packed wet live sand with a good expiration date on them, at a
> local Petco store. I got those bags of live sand for a paltry $5.00 a
> bag for 20 pound bags, and I bought all they had.......The reason
> being, is the bags were all misshandled and got punctured, and seeped
> and leaked out 99% of the water content. Folks that know Petco knows
> they could care less, and probably noone of them even assumed it wa
> the bagsa that were leaking, even though their steel shelving was all
> rusted up.....Anyhow, its still aragonite sand. I put some of the sand
> in a few tanks we setup, and iy had a longer cycle time than sand in
> tanks which came from bags we had previously bought that were still
> full of water etc. Those bags had little to no cycles time needed....
>
> If waiting for a tank to cycle is not a problem for you, then I wuld
> not worry about it, but its sitll a shame to let the good stuff ide
> off once its establised for the sake of a heater a nd powerhead and
> cheap rubber maid or other type container......and just a cheap strip
> light would make for a lot of difference on any light dependant
> critters.
>
>
> On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 01:49:25 GMT, "wolf" ">
> wrote:
>>><>i cant find my post, so here it is again
>>><>
>>><>how long can i let this 20lb bag of live aragonite in the bag. I am
>>>selling
>>><>the tank, and didnt want to place it in the tank until i change tanks.
>>><>
>>><>its in a 50-60 degree garage, so its quite cold. How many days is the
>>>max i
>>><>can keep it like this while keeping it alive and healthy?
>>><>
>
> --
> \\\|///
> ( @ @ )
> -----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------
>
>
> oooO
> ---------( )----Oooo----------------
> \ ( ( )
> \_) ) /
> (_/
> The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....