Live Sand Activator

[cashman]

Is Garf Grunge a legit activator (bacteria, coralline, copepods, etc)? I have heard some people call it crushed rock with muck. Is it worth $5/lb, or is there a better way to activate the DSB? I am starting a 46 gallon with DIY aragocrete rocks.

 

[reefrunner69]

I've never used it, but I haven't read any complaints about it either.

 

[Biggen]

I purchased a detritivore kit from Inland Aquatics (http://www.inlandaquatics.com/).

Worked great for me as far as seeding the DSB. I actually saw my first pod during the light period the other day. He was making some kind of tunnel next to the glass under the sand. Pretty cool to see that they are actually living.

 

[ellisz]

I just saw on Liverocks website that they have live sand for $1.00 / lb. That is pretty cheap.

 

[snapcrackler]

I bought about 7-8lbs of garfgrunge it worked fine, but If I were to do it again I would definitely buy from liverocks.com or elsewhere instead. $5 a lb is too much $ for what I got from garf.

The grunge I got didn't have as much "cool stuff" as it was purported to have.

A couple scoops of substrate from the bottom of my LFS's LR tank on the other hand, had TONS of detrivores, critters, pods, etc.

And I would bet a bundle that the live sand from liverocks.com would be freaken' awesome. Liverocks.com is way excellent.

So exactly what RR69 said.. no complaints really but I will go elsewhere in the future. And yes it is exactly that, crushed rock with muck.

 

[cashman]

Thanks for all the advice. I had my reservations after not getting much response from email questions I sent to them.

 

[fishfreek]

cashman, do you know any saltwater folks around you? If you do then you could suggest a substrate swap. The concept is you get a bunch of hobbists together.

They all bring a few cups of their live sand with them. You mix the sand up in a bucket and then everyone gets a few cups of the collective sand to take home.

 

[snapcrackler]

Awesome fishfreek... I was reading a post by a guy that has swapped substrates countless times and has some amazing stuff going on in his tank now

Definitely cool.. also very amazing how FAST some of that stuff seeds (especially pods!!!!) I seeded Jeanene's 50lbs of cc with just a couple lbs of my stuff plus about half of my tankwater and the tank did a no-cycle cycle.

A short while later there's pods in every handful of her new substrate!

Anyone in the IOWA area......????

 

[cashman]

I don't know of anyone in the Nashville TN vicinity w/ SW. There is a LFS 45 min from me who has great looking fish, but they all use cc.

 

[BillyZ]

even CC will have worms and pods if they have LR in the tank. I have a CC bottom on my tank with tons of worm and pod tracks. even if you don't want to add CC to your tank, you can still swap and put the CC in something permiable then add that to your tank. The pods and worms will make their way out eventually.

 

[Doan]

Wow what a great Idea on the substrate swap... If only I could find any in Pittsburgh or the area..

 

[HoopsGuru]

Here is a link to some Tennessee aquarium clubs, 2 may include saltwater.

http://www.aquasite.com/community/club/tn.shtml

Yikes, after checking a link the Mid-south is no longer active so there is only 1.