Live Substrate

[Clare]

Am in process of putting together my next tank - 100 gallon hex tall and was considering using live substrate from CarbiSea to assist in the cycling process instead of using the usual danio method (catching them afterwards in the 40 was a trip and would be harder in this tank LOL).

I am not trying to hurry the process at all, just thought it would be as easy as using some gravel from my 40 gallon which is fully established and in excellent health & would also spare the danios a trip back and forth from the LFS and, more importantly, the stress it puts them through.

Helpful comments and/or suggestions from those who have used this method on a freshwater tank would be appreciated since I have never used the products before but hear lots of good thing about it from the LFS.

Thanks!

 

[mfdrookie516]

youre talking about live sand bagged up for a sw tank? no, sw and fw bacteria are different and would create problems with all kinds of things if you put that in a fw tank... just do a fishless cycle.. link in my signature if youre not sure how to do it

 

[Clare]

No, it is live substrate from CaribSea made especially for freshwater aquariums. check out the website: CaribSea Dry Aragonite | Aragamax Sugar Sized Sand | Aragamax Select | Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand | Fiji Pink Reef Sand | Flamingo Reef Sand | Bermuda Pink | Grand Bahamas Biome | Super Reef

And I diid check out your signature - very helpful - thank you.....any comments on the CaribSea?

 

[mfdrookie516]

wow, that is the first time ive ever heard of it for a fw tank... interesting, i didnt know they made such a thing... that brings up a point that many of the more experienced sw guys bring up... if its in a bag sealed up with no source of oxygen, no telling how long it has sat on a shelf, how can it be live? make sense? kind of the same thing as the bottled bacteria... its debatable that it could be alive because there is no source of ammonia or oxygen to keep it alive... i wouldnt waste the money on it, but thats jmo

 

[Clare]

LOL true, but plenty of dry ingredients in packages are activiated by moisture - ie, yeast - so the priniciple is not outside the realm of plausability. The cost is only a couple of bucks more per pound than plain substrate, so I think I will give it a whirl. Thanks and I will post my results for the curious minded