ordering on-line

[Pristine]

Hi everyone. I just bought a new 110 gallon aquarium and I want it to have beautiful saltwater fish in it. I heard its a lot of fun but also very challenging. It's worth it in the end. Here's my problem. I ordered 110 pounds of live sand from petsolutions.com. When my order arrived all the bags were dry. I know they should have water in them. Is it safe for me to use the sand I ordered online. Please help.

 

[Flake]

It's perfectly safe for you to use the sand. Anything advertised as live sand will most likely not have any live bacteria in it when you get it anyways. After you cycle the tank, the sand you have now will become "live" with the bacteria in the tank.

 

[melosu58]

I agree. It will be OK. I would rinse the sand very good as to minimize the dust storm you`ll have. Another thing you could do to minimize it more is to rinse it out good and then slide it down a piece of PVC to the bottom where it will fall in place with less cloudiness. You`ll never get it where it will be no cloudiness but it wont be as bad. BTW welcome to AA.

 

[neilanh]

All great info above, and welcome to AA!

Most of us actually prefer to start out with dry sand, actually, so I agree it's perfectly safe to start there. Over time, the dry dead sand will become live on it's own and give you the benefits of a live sand bed.

Since you're just starting out in the SW hobby, take some time to read and do some research - there's some links in my signature that may help you. Researching ahead of time will save you tremendous amounts of headaches later!

 

[Pristine]

Thank-you for your advice. You guys just saved me 130 dollars.