Is live sand a farse?

Is live sand actually live with bacteria, or would it be the same a dry marine sand you can buy as well. I was told theres no way really that the sand could keeps its beneficial bacteria in a sealed bag for that period. It makes sense in a way, especially if you live in a freezing environment and the bags froze during transport.

Thoughts?

 

I used 50% dry and 50% "LIVE"... the caribsea live stuff i got had a label on it that indicated when it was 'prepared'. Was two weeks prior to my purchase so I figured it was worth it.

I would have to agree that the bacteria would not be able to flourish in a bag over time, but im also no expert on bacteria. It could be freezed and thawed and have no ill effect but again I am not sure.

 

My impression is that there will probably be "something" in there depending on how it was shipped and handled and how old it is etc you may get more or less of what started in there. I'm not sure it's worth the extra expense honestly for such an iffy result. The bacteria is basically worthless IMO, the bacteria is everywhere and will show up one way or another and multiplies extremely fast so I wouldn't be concerned about bacteria personally. I would be more concerned with all the little crustaceans and worms and microfauna that real "live" sand contains, that's the biodiversity I want in my tank.

I decided against the Caribsea/commercial packaged live sand in my new system in favor of using dry sand and "seeding" with starter kits from Inland Aquatics because their sand comes from well established systems and is packaged to order and is shipped completely wet just like a fish so there's very little chance for dieoff.

 

I should mention that I got my livesand for the same cost of the dry sand so in my instance it was worth the extra bit. I didnt want to deal with shipping sand to me. If you can afford it I would do the Inland Aquatics starter kits like Screwtape mentioned.

 

I have 60 pounds of live rock right now as it is for my new tank. I was just going to go to a closer LFS and buy dry sand instead of the live stuff...

 

this is what I have and I recommend it
its damp and alive when you receive it


30 Lbs Premium Natural White Live Caribbean Reef Sand - eBay (item 150410019724 end time Mar-01-10 15:30:51 PST)

he also sell it in 60 lbs bags i got the 30 lb

dont know about the dry stuff though

seems kinda like a scam

 

I got mine out of an aquarium that had been up and running for 2 years had it in my tank an hour later so mine was live even got a few polyps out of the deal that were hiding in the sand.