Live Sand?

[sergiotami]

Dumb question, but dont want to buy a large bag of sand to cover a spot, LFS said it was fine to use Live Sand, just wanna make sure....

[StevenSeas]

wait whats the question?

[sergiotami]

Sorry, is O'kay to use live sand in an established reef tank?

[Regric25]

From what I have learned it night not be a good idea because the live sand (like liverock) will have some die off and could cause a small cycle.

In my reef tank I added about 40lbs of special grade dry reef sand to my sandbed and it didnt hurt a thing because it is dry. I also added 100lbs of dry rock to my extablished tank and it didnt hurt anything.

[StevenSeas]

i agree with regric, adding dry would be much less likely to disrupt anything and cause any negative effects. Also what positive results of adding live would be outweighed by the potential risks. Also in a few weeks or so there wont be and noticeable difference anyways.

[jlh81]

If its coming out of a active running tank i would say its ok. But if its one of those bags off the shelf, then i would cycle it in a tub for a couple weeks then add it.

[Regric25]

Just go the dry sepcial reef grade route lol there is basically 0 risk. If you go that route be sure to rinse the sand really good before you add to your tank. It will get cloudy but it should filter out pretty fast