Live sand, lifespan?

How long will bacteria live in live sand in buckets of water? will it stay "live" forever or will the stagnant condition cause a die off?

 

Well when you buy 'live sand' from your LFS in a bag it has very little water inside the bag and it just sits on the shelve. this concluding that i think you would be fine and i would cover the bucket so the water doesn't evaporate. to really answer your question, idk if everything dies off, but i would guess that it doesnt all die.

 

the stagnant conditions will cause it to go mainly anaerobic. It won't be suitable really for your tank because of hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals building up, you would need to rinse it really well before use.

the live sand in bags is mainly a waste of money, its pretty much already dead with a few bacteria still alive, its enough to seed a population, but live rock would have far more bacteria on it.

 

+1 Exactly

 

I left some live sand in a bucket(covered) and it turned dark gray

 

Live sand in bags has expiration dates on it...

 

yea on the front of the bag is says it last 12months then on the back of the bag i got it says best used by may 2012 lol thats more than 12 months away