this true?
2007-10-19 09:17:38 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Not at all the same. The "live" means that it has living bacteria that cycle your fishes' wastes to less harmful compounds. You won't get that from construction, pool, or playbox sand. There will be other marine organisms in the live sand as well.
Besides that, they're composed of different materials. What you get at the hardware store is true sand, composed of silica. This is inert and won't react with the water. Live sand is "sand" only in the sense of the particle size. This is composed of shell and coral fragments (look at a bag of this) which are composed of aragonite. If your water has a pH of less than 7.8, the aragonite slowly dissolves to raise the pH to that level, so it also acts as a pH buffer (and why it souldn't be used in tank other than for marine fish or those that need higher pH levels). This still won't raise your pH as high as it needs to be (8.2-8.4) but it can help keep your organisms alvive if the pH starts to drop.
If you want to save money, buy the dry aragonite sand which costs about half as much as live sand, especially if you plan to use live rock. The live rock also has the same bacteria, and it will multiply and colonize the sand making it "alive" within a few months.
2007-10-19 09:34:25 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Most sand box sand is full of silica and that is bad for marine tanks..Live sand contains living creatures,,you can save money by mixing live sand and Aragonite sand,You can get Aragonite sand from you pet store as well as the live sand.
2007-10-19 10:40:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
nope.. live sand is only used for saltwater tanks and my live sand has bacteria which is needed for cycled tanks. Also it contains shells, and other sediments like dead coral..
Where play sand is for freshwater as it doesnt contain anything that will affect the water parameters...GENERALLY. i know that some play sand is laced with stuff. SO I WOULDNT recommend using play sand.
There is a freshwater sand that is safe for aquaria. The moon sand company seen at petsmart as well as other stores. I do have some white sand from them. It is great for freshwater and doesnt affect ph etc..
But live sand is completely different and only for SW.
2007-10-19 09:30:04 · answer #3 · answered by Coral Reef Forum 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
no, live sand is for aquariums only. If it is ungodly expensive and sold at an aquarium shop, chances are its live sand.
2007-10-19 09:45:28 · answer #4 · answered by FishRfine 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, live sand has living organisms in it and is for saltwater aquariums. Play sand has no living organisms in it. You were misinformed.
2007-10-19 09:22:22 · answer #5 · answered by Venice Girl 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
make sure you get the play sand thats for kids, my pet shop guy told me it was cheaper (known him a long time), its only about 3.50 at Lowes for a 50 pound bag.
2007-10-20 06:15:01 · answer #6 · answered by stephanie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't , Hardware sand is made of composite material, could be harm full to your fish. Spend the cash you don't have to do it often.
2007-10-19 09:29:29 · answer #7 · answered by TrL 1 · 0⤊ 4⤋
i doubt it. and i didn't even know that there was live sand.. sorry, i can't help you. = [
2007-10-19 09:22:24 · answer #8 · answered by Jessica 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋