Live sand for new set up

ctniners

New member
Hi guys....in the next week or so i will be looking for about 5 lbs or so of established live sand...will need it to be 100% pest and algea free...is there a good realible LFS that you would recommend?...im right in between new haven and hartford...because quality is a must i dont mind the drive or the price

thanks for the help
 
What I did was get regular sand and then proceeded to seed it with cured rock that I know does not have any pest. Sure it will take longer for the tank to cycle but it also ensure that the tank is pest free. Additionally you could also get a cup of sand from a tank that is already establish to seed it. Of course the sand from the tank your taking it from needs to be up to par.
 
You're probably better off getting sand from a hobbyist who knows that their tank is clean--fish stores have so much turnover, it's hard for them to guarantee clean sand. I'd offer you some, but I've gone barebottom (totally worth considering, by the way. i love it).

tyler
 
I absolutely would not seed your tank with any sand from any LFS... find a reputable and great husbandry based hobbyists, and get a little from them if you do anything...
 
Thanks for the inputs..yeah the safest thing to do is to just let the bagged sand to go through its cycle and hopefully gets good life from within and from the live rock i will be adding...I guess the hope was to get actual life to seed the sand and give the whole thing a boost...i really dont think there is as much life as they claim in those bags that have been sitting in shelves for months
 
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do your own dry sand . the bagged live sand is a joke . i will give you two specimen cups from my tank if ud like but you got to come and get it in bristol . you can judge my tank urself when you stop by . good luck , happy reefing !
 
im in meriden and can offer a cup also for diversity. would only recommend from my nano cube though since the big tank has some gha
 
I bought Live Sand when I started my tank. Why is it not useful? I figured starting with some bacteria load would be a good thing..?
 
Well, a first thought is imo, and only imo, is bacteria needs oxygen to stay healthy and alive, and that is not gonna happen in a sealed plastic bag... ive been in this hobby personally forquite some time now, and i have never noticed any benefit to cycling or starting a tank with live as opposed to dry sand... establsihed live rock is a totally different story and outcome, with much, much better results, ime, and imo...
 
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Hmm. I bought the bags of live, wet sand on Zach's advice. I guess I can't really complain, though. I used to get such a discount at Realm that they needed to make a few bucks on me *somehow*. :)
 
Well im not sure who Zach is, lol, but everyone is entitled to there own thoughts and opinions... its up to each and every hobbyist to not take the first word they hear as golden, and do some research before hand... in the end, u got sand regardless, so that is cool ;)
 
Zach is/was the awesome fish guy at Realm of Pets and temporarily at All Pets when they bought the store. Good guy. I think he has his own aquarium maintenance business now, not at any LFS anymore.

Yeah the sand worked out either way. I want to deepen my sand bed soon, though, so I'm keen to figure out what the best value is without getting something I'll regret putting in my tank. Adding substrate to a running system is problematic enough.
 
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