Live sand or No

"James" wrote in message m...
Making some progress on my tank. It will be a 37 gallon FOWLR. It has been
suggested by the local pet store that I use live sand. Instead of normal
fishtank sand. I have. If I put in a 5 or 6 pound cured live rock with
some other rocks that can be colonized and just regular sand would that not
be enough?

If you think I should use the live sand could I at leaset mix it 50/50 with
the other (read cheaper) sand?

Other important fact. For the time being I will be using the rock/Sand as
biological filter with The Penguin mechanical filter that I used iwth this
tank when it was freshwater. I have some time on this. I am going to buy
some wood today and try to build my stand. My wife doubts my wood working
skill!! =)

My first, very important question would be:

What exactly do you think of when you say "live sand"?

Is it a sand freshly dug from the ocean botom and delivered to you
in styrofoam boxes overnight (or 2nd day air), like live rock is ?

Or, you think of a wet sand packaged in a air-tight plastic bag
and sitting on the store shelf for a 6-12 months or longer?


If you are talking about the 1st - than I would say GO FOR IT.
You will find millions of living creatures in such sand -
starting from bacteria, through tiny crustaceans, worms, starfish,
micro-urchins, minicucumbers and many, many other sand-dwelling
animals. This is true live sand as similar name for live rock.
It is part of a living reef and is very beneficial for the fish
tank since some animals will be there which are missing from the
live rock but they play important role in tank waste recycling.

On the other hand, if you were talking about the plastic bag
with wet sand - my opinion is that it is dishonest to call it with
a "live sand" name at all. There is nothing live there except
some very small number of bacteria. And even these bacteria
I'am very doubtful they survive in a air-sealed plastic bag!
Notice the comment on the bag - the number of bacteria is given
for the time when the sand was packaged! Since then, how many
months without food and oxygen these bacteria had to survive
in the bag? Many, many months... And even if fresh - do you know
how they make this "live sand"?? They first sanitize it by
killing all animals you care for in a reef tank and then they
add a "bacteria starter" like the one you can buy in the fish store.

Why pay more, more, more money FOR A DEAD WET SAND ??? NO!!!!

Maybe if you were setting up old-fashoned tank with dead coral
skeletons as "decorations" (white bleached) and sand bottom
than it would make the diference - some bacteria are ok...
They will speed up the start. But it makes sense only if you
do not have live rock there already. Live rock will have tons
of live bacteria and these few you will add with this dead wet
sand will not make any difference.