Calling all aquarists-->Live Sand?

Does anyone know where I can a small amount of Live Sand (LS) for a decent price ? I don't need very much--only gram quantities of it...seems like alot of places sell it in bulk or not at all?

I don't think you will find it gram quantities. Even enough for a very small aquarium would be at least a 1 lb.

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

I don't think you will find it gram quantities. Even enough for a very small aquarium would be at least a 1 lb.

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Thanks Bill....how much is reasonable price for 1 lb? What's the self-life of it?

I dont need it for aquarium....I need it for an experiment I'm trying to setup for my students.

Ideally, I'd like to try a couple of different brands (is there more than one reputable brand?) in trail runs of the experiment before I give it to them.

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Originally Posted by Mendel's Balls

Thanks Bill....how much is reasonable price for 1 lb? What's the self-life of it?

I dont need it for aquarium....I need it for an experiment I'm trying to setup for my students.

Ideally, I'd like to try a couple of different brands (is there more than one reputable brand?) in the trail run of the experiment.

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I really don't think you can order anything to be shipped less than 10 lbs. It really doesnt have a good "shelf life". It essentially needs to be in a setup to be used rather quickly, the beneficial bacteria will quickly die and make it useless if it sits. I dont know which brands are good anymore, you just want to make sure it is fresh and shipped still wet or damp. Some companies will sell "Live" sand dried out and warehoused, it is nothing more than plain sand at that point. If i remmeber right it usually runs anywhere from 2-4 dollars a pound, your best bet is to find a local saltwater fish store and see if they have any.

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

I really don't think you can order anything to be shipped less than 10 lbs. It really doesnt have a good "shelf life". It essentially needs to be in a setup to be used rather quickly, the beneficial bacteria will quickly die and make it useless if it sits. I dont know which brands are good anymore, you just want to make sure it is fresh and shipped still wet or damp. Some companies will sell "Live" sand dried out and warehoused, it is nothing more than plain sand at that point. If i remmeber right it usually runs anywhere from 2-4 dollars a pound, your best bet is to find a local saltwater fish store and see if they have any.

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There's a couple places around here..I'll check them out...thanks again for the info!

I'm sure some salt water stores around you should have it, we used tobuy it in bulk for our saltwater tanks, although I think the smallest our place sold was about 10 pounds maybe 5 pounds. What are you and your students going to do with it???

I'm hoping to use it in a Catalysis of Hydrogen Peroxide Decompostion Experiment......2H202-->2H20 + O2(g)

I want them to compare biological and inorganic catalysts. For the biological catalyst I'm planning on using the enzyme Catalase from Potato or Liver Extract. They'll be measuring the formation of oxygen gas using a gas pressure sensor. So far I've blend some potatoes with ice and ice water and tired that part of the experiment and it works great!

For an inorganic catalyst...they'll use MnO2 (Maganese Dioxide). I also wanted to include sand and live sand and maybe one other substance that with no known catalytic/reactive properties for this reaction.

My idea is not to tell them whether MnO2 powder, sand, live sand, etc are inorganic catalyst, enzymes, or nothing at all....they have to design an experiements to determine whether each unkown substance is a catalyst and whether it is biological or inorganic.

Essentially, they'll have to recall that enzymes are fragile and can be destroyed (denatured) by high temps. The inorganic- Mn02 will not denature!

Since regular sand is often very different....I'm not sure if it will catalyze the reaction or not......it might depend on the source.

I was interested in Live Sand because some of the microorganisms in it may be positive for catalase. The students would see a decrease in catalytic activity with very high temps because the catalase would denature. I think this would be a nice surprising result for them and teach them not to rely so much on just their vision.....they'd see that sometimes superficial appearance arent enough...u have to do the experiment.

Kind of confusing I know and when I talk about it in class I probably inevitablility mix up the word catalyst with catalase.....sometimes practical naming isnt science's strongest suit!

I dont know if this idea will pan out or not....we'll see.

Thanks all for the help and interest.

Not cheap but here is some:

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ory=0&x=5&y=14

I have ordered from this site a few times and like them a lot. I don't do Saltwater anymore as it was just too expensive. Always money to spend...


Also: http://www.intmarinefish.com/liverock.html

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Not cheap but here is some:

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ory=0&x=5&y=14

I have ordered from this site a few times and like them a lot. I don't do Saltwater anymore as it was just too expensive. Always money to spend...


Also: http://www.intmarinefish.com/liverock.html

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Not cheap is right.....since this will be coming out of my pocket as a grad student/student teacher (very close to being a slave) I have to try to find something around here I guess. Thanks for the link though it maybe useful in the future!

Definately hunt through your local stores. Both the petco and the petland here sell live sand.

Check out That Pet Place in Lancaster, PA.


www.thatpetplace.com

I know that they sell live sand and Live rock.

PM me, I can ship you whatever amount you want
I just tore down a saltwater tank, and haven't gotten the water out yet. Pay for shipping.
Wolfy

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Originally Posted by Schlyne

Definately hunt through your local stores. Both the petco and the petland here sell live sand.

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I'll check this week......The more I think about it--the quality of the live sand probably doesnt need to be top notch.....I wont be using it to perform the myraid of ecolgical functions that salt-water aquarists use it for....function in nitrogen cycle, etc.

Instead I just want a basic biologically-based substrate that looks "earthy", "dead", "like sand or powder" etc......If that substrate contains catalase-containing organisms or remnants of them (enzyme work in dead, fresh liver) then I think I'll achieve what I'm going for.

Even Humus or some kind dead plant material might work? The more it looks like dirt or sand the better.... Anyone know anything about Peloids?

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

PM me, I can ship you whatever amount you want
I just tore down a saltwater tank, and haven't gotten the water out yet. Pay for shipping.
Wolfy

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Wolfly thanks for the offer....dont know if I'll take you up on it though. I wont be doing this activity for awhile (after thanksgiving). I probably want something fairly fresh...so I am looking for something I can obtain now, tinker with, and then obtain more if it works out towards the end of November.

eithier way I'll pm you towards the end of the week and let you know for a fact if I'll take you up on it.

Thanks again,

Mike

Mendel,

Check out this link,http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...php?forumid=80 there are a few PA reef clubs...more than likely any member would be willing to give you a small sample of livesand. I know I've give roughly 8oz. of livesand from my system to help seed a local reefers tank no charge. I'm sure if you sign up there and explain what you're up to, that they would be more than willing to donate sand.

Good luck

-Jason

That sounds like a cool experiement....I actually followed what you said and it made sense.....the whole temperature thing killing organic catalase....let us know how it goes!

Find out your local reef societies and small mom and pop sw fish stores. I'm sure you can find a good handfull of people who can and would be willing to give you a pinch of their sand. That way you have different types too.
Good luck,
Rusty

I own a rather nice homemade saltwater tank that I have taken nearly a year to get where I want it. I found that live sand ( living coral sand) was very expensive and a little hard to come by so here is what I did.

I got dead sand ( the stuff you get in bags Caribbiansea? I think is the brand I used and I got a piece of UNCURED live Rock. Put it in a tank and left it to its own with a filter and such to help keep[ nitrite levels down and a skimmer. In month the little critters living in the rock mved into the sand. And it was teeming with live things. From little worms to snails and such.

Also what you could do is go to your nearest saltwater aquarium place that sells fish and the like and explain your situation and what you want it for and you might just get it free. Some stores are like that.

You could ask them for samples of the different sands they have for your class. I for one think it is interesting the difference in the different sands, corals and such when in a cold or warm tank. Have the warm one now, working on building the cold one later this year.

I hope this helped, and If I can find someone near you who has the sands for cheap I will let you know.

Beauty the BP