Sand, dry or live, whats the difference?

C

Cyproz

New member
SO i am looking at place for some sand for my 40b. I want a good white sand to brighten up things.
I keep seeing live and dry sand but the packages look the same. is there a difference?
 
So agree, live is not worth it, dry is better, well rinsed, and if you can add a scoop of established sand from a tank you trust that is really ideal, seeds very fast.
Live comes w/ just too much dieoff.
 
I kind of agree really depends where you get live sand from. In bag not worth it. However, dry sand will become live eventually.
 
Foster & Smith has pics, but it's so hard to really tell, maybe color.
I prefer caribsea seaflor special grade, dry, stays down even in pretty good flow, seems pretty popular.
 
I just ordered 70lbs from petco CaribSea Aragonite Aquarium Sand for only $33 and some change.. Just saying have a huge sale there is a 25% coupon plus a free hipping coupon somewhere can't beat that. I think its not special grade though not sure what it is lol
 
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Im looking for something not too fine because i see it can be a nightmare but not too big because i do want a gobie sand sifter or something. also as bleach white as possible.

any suggestions?

brands seem to be caribsea or natures ocean.
 
Dry sand is dry, full of crap and less expensive; live sand is wet, ostensibly contains the same bacteria that you'll have in your tank anyhow, is relatively clean and is more expensive. I have never bought bagged live sand in 25 years of reefing. My go to sand is the special grade reef-floor stuff. Not so fine that it blows around; not too course for burrowing fish.
 
I am curious which one petco carries. Since it is in 10lb bags and checked caribsea. However, don't see it on their site. Is it special grade made for petco only?
 
I recently just went through this, and for whats its worth, dry sand was only 2$ cheaper then live sand.

I ended up buying "live" sand as I had some coupons. It ended up being 5$ cheaper then plain dry sand. If I didn't have the coupons to use, I would have bought the dry.
 
It's not just the price that matters to me, it's all the dieoff, it can actually make it take longer for your tank to cycle or it can cause issues when added to an already running tank
 
If you want real live sand get it from Tampa Bay Saltwater. The sand comes right out of the Gulf and is shipped underwater same day. It's not the pure white sand but it is beautiful and gobies and pistol shrimp are very happy with it.
 
drillsar said:
caribsea Aragonite is good what I read anyway.
Click to expand...

This is what I got. I think the may difference is in particle size. The Aragonite Special Grade I got isn't fine in anyway and doesn't get blown away. But at the same time, it is a little too big for my baby spotted goby to sift through.

I plan to buy some pool sand from Homedepot for my new tank. If it's not good I can just thrown them away. Too cheap to care.
 
Two things, the caribsea aragonite is extremely dusty, you can't rinse that stuff enough, so it might take a couple of days to see into your tank. I wouldn't recommend pool or playground sand.
 
Southdown sand was the best playground sand for tanks made by oldcastle. Unfortunately, can't get it anymore I am thinking pressure from company's like caribsea,etc.
 
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