"LIVE SAND" - how long can it be stored?

[BanjoBandito]

While I'm not a real big fan of the label "LIVE", I got a bag of live sand (w/ water - still sealed) that won't go into my tank for another week or so....I've had it maybe 2 months. Temp been OK, nothing crazy. Is it good? Does it ever go bad?

 

[KrisReef]

Theoretically it will "go bad" at the same rate inside the bag as it would if it was still in the ocean. The bacterial population in the bag may change composition vs. freshly harvested sand from the ocean but a remanant of the original composition of bacteria should survive (presuming it didn't freeze in the warehouse, or some other unseen physical impact sterilized or killed certain strains of the ecosystem?)

How do we know what your situation is? Can say since we both don't know where the bag has been, or where it came from for that matter. Same general answer applies for "live" rock, sand, plants, microbes, plankton, etc.

What we don know, is that there are advocates for washing that sand to remove fines (dust that can cloud the tank and clough the pores in live rock and other filters) who insist that rigorous fresh water rinsing of live sand will not harm it. If that bag stinks (or has black anoxic areas) when you open it I would at least rinse it good once to remove those breakdown products.

Here is a link to non-rinse tanks, fyi
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...waps-sand-additions-and-tank-upgrades.879753/

 

[JGT]

The CaribSea live sand has a “good until” date on the bag. It’s about 2 years out so 2 months shouldn’t be an issue.