When will dry sand become live in an established bare bottom tank?

[Eggpaul]

My tank is 11 months old and it is a biocube 29 bare bottom with at least 30 pounds of live rock. Last night I added some Dry Caribea Aragonite sand (I need to add more today). My question is how long will it take for it to become live? And how long can I wait to buy a sea star and other sand loving creatures?

 

[bribo12]

First off your sandbed will probably never have enough life to support a sand sifting star. Nassarius snails however love a nice sandbed. It usually takes a couple months to become live IMO.

 

[mrvincent]

Can take months like dry rocks.

I added dead rocks to my setup, and after 1 month, they're starting to brownish a little, diatoms growing on them... It takes time.

 

[Eggpaul]

First off your sandbed will probably never have enough life to support a sand sifting star. Nassarius snails however love a nice sandbed. It usually takes a couple months to become live IMO.

Why couldn't it support a sand sifting star? too small of a tank? What other stars can it support?

The LFS said 3 weeks for it to become live. hard to believe.

 

[bribo12]

Why couldn't it support a sand sifting star? too small of a tank? What other stars can it support?

The LFS said 3 weeks for it to become live. hard to believe.

Sand sifters feed on all the micro fauna in a sandbed. Once it becomes "live" with micro fauna the sand sifter will slowly make it "dead" again. Once this happens it will have no food and waste away.

 

[Eggpaul]

Sand sifters feed on all the micro fauna in a sandbed. Once it becomes "live" with micro fauna the sand sifter will slowly make it "dead" again. Once this happens it will have no food and waste away.

So in a large tank the micro fauna will keep multiplying? what is the minimum tank size for a sand sifter? are there any sea stars that aren't sand sifters?