Best sand for biodiversity

[SamiBlue]

Hey does anyone have suggestion sites for ordering good quality live sand with a bunch of little buggies/inverts in it?? A few older threads I have read list many store sites that have shut down (RIP Inland aquatics) or have discontinued selling the product.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Hey does anyone have suggestion sites for ordering good quality live sand with a bunch of little buggies/inverts in it?? A few older threads I have read list many store sites that have shut down (RIP Inland aquatics) or have discontinued selling the product.

They are on vacation till the 10th, but garf.org

I did my first order not knowing they were on vacation, so cant give a review on quality. Been patiently waiting since 8/21 [emoji23]. Their email informing me got lost in my junk section. But have been quick to answer on facebook.

 

[SamiBlue]

I've considered garf, but I'm not sure if they include anything that helps the sand STAY alive while it's being shipped

 

[Gareth elliott]

I've considered garf, but I'm not sure if they include anything that helps the sand STAY alive while it's being shipped

If can wait till my delivery arrives ill post here how my bag o bugs arrives.

 

[SamiBlue]

If can wait till my delivery arrives ill post here how my bag o bugs arrives.

Okay thanks!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Arrives tomorrow! Finally got tracking information this morning. They shipped priority usps. Its cool here atm so this shouldnt be an issue.

 

[jdogclif]

IMO you can't go wrong with Tampa Bay Saltwater. They aquaculture sand and rock off the Florida keys. They drop in dry rock and sand, let it grow for a few years, and then literally scoop it off the ocean floor and put it on a plane. The one small inconvenience is that you have to pick it up from the airport. I put it in my new tank and it erupted with nassarius snails and other critters. Their live rock was simply amazing too. I used Garf sand once before too; it had a lot of coraline, but not much in the way of motile critters.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I ordered a bag o bugs hoping mainly critters tbh [emoji23] i guess if its not will just be dirty water?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I follow Sally Jo on face book.
They have an outside saltwater pond. In Idaho. It freezes every year. Every spring she posts pictures of the bugs that bloom.
Funny we worry about keeping stuff alive in a bag for a couple days.
And nobody seems to wonder where diatoms come from in a tank with dry rock fake sea water that has never seen the ocean.

Also, Call Garf. It’s old scool. Term em what ya want.

And +1 for Tampa bay.

 

[ThunderGoose]

Third - Tampa Bay Saltwater. I also prefer the look of their sand - it looks like what I would see on the ocean floor rather then the stuff with all the grains the same size and all one color. I have one tank with each and I keep thinking I should pull the original sand in my first tank and replace it with TBS sand but boy, what a big job that would be.

I have some Garf Grunge in my sump and that's good stuff, too.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Ok so...
bag o bugs

Included 2 clumps of chaeto.

Quite a few bristle worms.
A random zoa/paly polyp?
Some tube worms.
And some pods.

There might have been more i did not examine the chaeto after i saw the bristle worms. I dont like being stung by them.

Dumped the water into my tank first bag entirely into sump next bag, water into dt. Alage into the sump.

 

[SamiBlue]

Alrighty so they both have their own pros and cons. Thanks for the info guys!!