Did I buy live sand???

[AquaDan]

I bought some caribsea fiji pink from saltwatercritters and it arrived lightning quick and as advertised. Thanks Russ!

I also bought a 40lb bag of what was supposed to be arag alive fiji pink through Amazon which was shipped from petsupplies.com. The problem is that the bag looks exactly the same as what I got from saltwatercritters.

I did a quick search and its looks like if its live sand it should say it on the bag, right? I think the design is different also. Am I correct on this? Just wanna be sure before I complain, lol.

Thanks everyone.

 

[thirty5]

It will say arag-alive on the bottom of the bag. it should also be perfectly sealed with fluid in the bag.

If it does not say arag alive, then it is prob dead sand. A pic of the bag would be the best way to tell though.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

If it was advertised arag alive sand it should have been sealed and there should have been water in the bag not completely dry sand.

For example

http://www.marinedepot.com/Caribsea...Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS1790-FISSLS-vi.html

 

[AquaDan]

If it was advertised arag alive sand it should have been sealed and there should have been water in the bag not completely dry sand.

For example

http://www.marinedepot.com/Caribsea...Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS1790-FISSLS-vi.html

That's what I thought. Here are a couple of pics. Thanks.

 

[skene]

both of those bags are dry sand.... what is there to compare?
its either with or without water. no and ifs or buts.

 

[Snutch2thenutch]

What is that logo in the top right of the critter sand bag? that might be the live logo. If you just get a cup of sand from your LFS while you cycle mix it with your sand bed it will seed the sand. Also if you buy cheato from a LFS ask them to include as much water as they can it is loaded with pods. I am a cheep reefer.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

What is that logo in the top right of the critter sand bag? that might be the live logo. If you just get a cup of sand from your LFS while you cycle mix it with your sand bed it will seed the sand. Also if you buy cheato from a LFS ask them to include as much water as they can it is loaded with pods. I am a cheep reefer.

I would not take live sand from any store and put it in my tank. Stores deal with way more than we do with importing fish and having to treat and medicate. Even if its dead sand after the cycle it will be live. It will just take a bit longer.

 

[basiab]

Would you please define live sand. Since there is no standard then anyone can say their sand is live. I would call sand live if it has live worms, snails etc plus bacteria. So sand in a bag I think we can agree on will, at best, only have bacteria because all other life will die within a few days and then it would really smell bad. So how much bacteria stays alive for every day that it is not in a normal environment? I have no idea. But my guess is, very little if any.

So I would say it is just about impossible to get live sand from a bag if it has been in that bag longer than a week. Why do you think curing live rock smell so much. Same reason. It has been out of its environment and most stuff is dying. But some stuff does live. Same with sand.