How much "live" sand to "dead" sand

[tooktheredpill]

I'm setting up a new tank and want a total of about 50lbs of sand.
Should I get say half argonite (or similar) and half live sand or would say just a few pounds of live sand be enough to seed the DSB???

Thanks

[SpeedEuphoria]

I think people just use regular "dead sand" as the live sand is kinda a gimic and the regular sand will become live in time anyway

[roka64]

Personally, I wouldn't waste my money on :live" sand. It's hard to tell how alive it is, after harvesting, sealing, sticking on a hot/cold truck, going to the warehouse, sitting on the shelves, shipping to the LFS and then sitting on more shelves....kinda get what I'm saying?
Here is a sandbed calculator:
Reef Central Online Community

[CaptainAhab]

However, if you can find a friend or a lfs that will give/sell you a cup full or so it is of great benefit.

Never much talked about it but there are several SW aquarists in my area that do a 'sand swap'. One of the group (with waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time on his hands and MTS big time) maintains a smaller tank just for our sand. Every other month we all contribute a cup of sand to the mix and on the odd month we all take a cup. Provides a nice cross mix and has worked out well for all of us.

[Ziggy953]

That is a very clever idea. I thought about doing a small tank with nothing but sand in it and having it plumbed into my system for a similar purpose....maybe I'll do that as a way to help out new folks in the area.

Thanks for sharing the idea Captain!

[CaptainAhab]

the kewl thing is that you get a different diverse set of stuff from the differing eco's of the other tanks. So long as they are a trusted source..

[melosu58]

That`s very interesting Captain. Tooktheredpill I would just get the dry araganite sand sand and seed it with some sand from a friend or from your LFS. It will become very live after a while.

[Patroklos]

I don't know about that, you are assuming the others don't have anything in their tanks to worry about. You may as well stop quarantining period if you are just going to randomly take sand from people's tanks.

[CaptainAhab]

First of all , if you read the post carefully, it's not random it's a select group of people who have chosen to participate. Secondly unless you QT your food, inverts, corals and anything else you put in your tank the difference is negligible especially in a controlled participant sample size.

Frankly it's not a new concept. Many 'clubs' do the same thing.

I appreciate the comment just not the mischaracterization.

[melosu58]

And also we are not talking about a lot. I`m only talking about a cup or two depending on the size of the tank. My main point is that the so called live sand is really not live.