According to Ryan at brs, it's freshwater bacteria that helps with a cycle a little but doesn't last. They add this after drying and sifting the sand for uniformity. Plus even if it was marine cycling bacteria, it would be cheaper a lot of times to simply buy that separately.
Interesting...
Brings up a question. And, a reason I distrust BRS as the "be all end all" source of information.
Why in the world would Carib Sea, who manufactures sand specifically for salt water application, use FRESH WATER cycling bacteria for their final product?
As it happens, I have used Carib Sea brand sand for all of my builds. Specifically the Fiji Pink grade sand.
Granted, I also used several pieces of rock from existing tanks to skip-cycle my builds, but again, the question arises, WHY?
Further, if the consensus is fact, that the sand has a minimal effect on cycling, and added to that point, that fully washing new sand is the preferred method, who cares what bacteria is added to the Carib Sea product?
When I began my 55g build, I searched high and low for "dry sand". The result was a significantly higher priced product with far less availability of grading. The Carib Sea product was hands down the best option I found.
If you have a source of dry sand that beats the product in discussion here, please post it so we can discuss. I would love to see the pros and cons.
