Uh oh. No Live Sand.

[WarmSoda]

I've run into a problem! My LR is on it's way to my house and should be here tomorrow (Friday), and I have no Live Sand! The only sand I have is my Pool Filter Sand from my freshwater set-up! I have what I already have in my tank, and then I have less then 5lbs in the bag left-over! Will the pool filter sand be ok, or will I have to go out and get some emergency Livesand?

Also, will the filter sand turn into live sand later?

 

[PufferGuy]

Yes it will eventually turn into live sand. You could just go buy a couple bags of sand from your LFS, and if they carry it, buy a couple pounds of live sand to seed it with to get the process started a little faster.

 

[JAG107]

Just get some dry aragonite sand. "live sand" I think is kinda snake-oil-ish, all it has is some anaerobic bacteria. It's not like it's loaded with little brittle stars or snail eggs or anything. Your sand will become "live" on its own in no time at all. No emergency, dude. :)

 

[Bifferwine]

You can take your time adding sand if you need to, there's no need to panic. You could order a few bags online, and add it when you get it, or you can buy a few bags from Petco or Petsmart locally. Both of them carry live and dry sand. And I agree with the others -- it is kinda pointless to pay extra for "live" sand in a bag. Just buy the dry stuff and save some bucks.

 

[ndepratt]

Just get some dry aragonite sand. "live sand" I think is kinda snake-oil-ish, all it has is some anaerobic bacteria. It's not like it's loaded with little brittle stars or snail eggs or anything. Your sand will become "live" on its own in no time at all. No emergency, dude. :)

Agree 100%. they pack some wet sand into a bag, treat it like it's dry goods, and sell it as live sand. lol

Could any of us pack up some of our sand, ship it across the country, and expect it to benefit someone's tank? lol

 

[acerhigh]

Agree 100%. they pack some wet sand into a bag, treat it like it's dry goods, and sell it as live sand. lol

Could any of us pack up some of our sand, ship it across the country, and expect it to benefit someone's tank? lol

quick answer to this is YES..... I've seen a couple "sand swaps" already in the past..... it's a cool way to diversify your reef.... get a group of people together and each places some sand from their tank in a baggie.... put it in a flat rate box and ship it to another person.... why wouldn't it benefit your tank?