live sand

[jaymo]

Hi I've got live sand in a bucket and was wondering how long will it stay live for ? I see the live sand in bags at the pet store and I'm just wondering if I need to do something to my sand or can I just leave it in the bucket with water ? Thanks for your help Jason

 

[basiab]

Depends on what you mean by live. The sand in a bag will most likely not have any live critters and maybe never had any. All they claim is that it has bacteria needed for the cycle. And even that deminishes over time. The same goes for yours in a bucket. Whatever worms or critters were there when removed from the tank will slowly die off and so will the bacteria. How long anything stays alive probably depends on the environment.

 

[caad3]

I agree with basiab. If you want try and prolong its life in the bucket, I would try and add a powerhead for flow and not let the water temp dip really low adding as small heater.

 

[jaymo]

Thanks guys I'm almost positive it's dead sand now Thansk for the recponsce

 

[nanoreefer22]

Jaymo,

Almost as soon as you take the sand out of a tank and place it in a bucket, it turns into dead sand. This happen's because the different layer of the sand have different bacteria, some anaerobic and some aerobic. When the anaerobic bacteria come into contact with air, they die and I think thats what forms the sulfate(I THINK) or the black nasty smelling stuff.

If you're gonna use the sand in a new set up just wash it out thoroughly and you'll be fine . Get a cup of someone else's live sand and seed the dead sand and before you know it, its LS.

-Kris