Has anyone ever used the sand from Marco Rocks? I was planning on ordering around 75lbs of base rock from marcorocks.com and placing a few pieces of live rock from my LFS to seed it for my new 75gallon FOWLR. I was going to buy the "Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand" from Foster and Smith to go with it, but Marco Rocks sells sand as well. They have a package that has 40lb of rock and 40lbs of sand. Does anyone know anything about this sand from Marco Rocks or should i stick with the Caribbean Live Sand? I was thinking the marco rocks is a good eal, but since I wont be starting out with much live rock then buying the live said from foster and smith may benefit me more when it comes to my cycle. Thanks to everyone on here for all there help they have given me as I have started in to a new hobby.
I never have been sold on the whole live sand deal... Sand that is packaged and sits on a hot or cold warehouse shelf for 2 weeks and then is shipped to a store where it sits for 2 weeks either hot or cold, I have a hard time believing anything can be alive in that bag.... basically you are buying pre rinsed or ready for a cycle sand b/c of the die off of anything that was alive in it to start with. Your sand bed no matter if you use this sand or not will take a long time to mature so basically what I am saying is you are just as well off if not better off buying the dry product no matter where it comes from as long as it is real sand and not some silica based play stuff.
I've also been told recently that live sand isn't necessary. Petsmart sells bags of aragonite sand for $17.99. I can't remember what size it is but I want to say 30 lbs. IMO, you'd be better off doing something like that. Especially if money is an issue.
+3 ^ Use some Live Rock & your sand will become alive. Most Live sand not alive anyway... as reefmann said above.
Agreed... Let your live rock do the work. I have also had success using a product called Biozyme to help populated the bacteria in a tank. Of course, you could always also seed your new sand with a cup of somebody's live sand from their tank. The bacteria should grow. Hope this helps and good luck.
I agree with most of the above posts. I try to use new substrate in setting up a new tank, but it doesn't really matter. I have used sand that has been sitting outside for a few weeks in the rain and weather and it doesn't seem to matter. All the organic material in the sand is dead and when bacteria (like a coctail shrimp) is introduced it has a large food source to live on and your cycle will go on as normal. It is my opinion that you will have a stronger and more diverse bacteria bed when using this method. Just don't try to hurry it along. From what I have read Marco sand is as good as any other. It's just dry crushed rock. I would say just go with the size you want and the best price.
