CaribSea Arag-Alive claims no rinsing needed and fast clear water - is it legit?

[Rmckoy]

it got ripped cleaned down the drain. Its just an empty tank with dry sand and rock.

It will have to be rinsed …..

 

[Garf]

has he ever posted a picture of the tank that he probably claims he will strip clean every 6weeks cause thats whats good for tanks.

Brandon bashing is really tiresome. He claims now that tanks take 3 years to mature. Any publicity is good publicity, I suppose

 

[Jonreefer]

It will have to be rinsed …..

maybe its just sitting over a drain in the floor and a hose is just running all the time rinsing it out.

 

[Rmckoy]

has he ever posted a picture of the tank that he probably claims he will strip clean every 6weeks cause thats whats good for tanks.

There was a post awhile ago where he admitted never owning a seneye . Or even seeing one in person .
but preaches the importance of one . And those that don’t use them are less than

 

[TheReefDiary]

I've used it twice now and I've had no issues. rock in first. then sand. then water and I pour the water onto a lid of from a bowl.

 

[Rmckoy]

maybe its just sitting over a drain in the floor and a hose is just running all the time rinsing it out.

This is a great idea if we could magically find a salt water source ….

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It will have to be rinsed …..

Well, OBVIOUSLY!!

 

[RandomUser7]

Mine was cloudy for a few days but I lost the packet of clarifier lol. Be slow and careful when adding water and it shouldn't be cloudy for long. It also probably helps to not run the filter and powerheads while it's still in the water column.

 

[Jrain904]

Brandon doesn’t need a fish tank because everyone’s fish tank is Brandon’s fish tank. Let’s go Brandon! Show us your tank.

 

[Jonreefer]

Brandon doesn’t need a fish tank because everyone’s fish tank is Brandon’s fish tank. Let’s go Brandon! Show us your tank.

get the political crap out of here. No one wants to hear about anyones political BS

 

[TheReefDiary]

get the political crap out of here. No one wants to hear about anyones political BS

what are you on about? someone posting on here is Brandon. maybe politics is too top of brain for you because no one here is talking about Joe Biden.

 

[Alexpark911]

Yes I had a great experience and I think it did help out with cycle period and kept my water clear and steady… I’ve been pretty happy with it

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Hello,

I am upgrading to a new tank and want to use new sand, the only sand that my LFS had was this CaribSea Arag-Alive https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/fiji-pink-arag-alive-live-reef-sand.html . The worker at the LFS claims it doesn't need a rinse and can be thrown in. Anyone have experience with how cloudy this sand is and if whats advertised is legit?

Rinse it or possibly regret it forever.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Man, who knew to rinse or not to rinse was controversial? Not I.

My experience in research is mostly in behavioral psych, but the methodology is similar to the other sciences and @brandon429 isn't wrong. Since we neither have the tools nor the expertise to examine these sorts of claims, most of this isn't even 'academic', it's anecdotal. Of course experience matters - it's critical.

I believe that in brand new tanks with no higher animals yet in it, the 'cloudiness' may actually be beneficial or at least informative. I live near a coastal bay and I see the sand churned up for a few hours with every high tide. You can see it like a dark wall at the mouth of the bay. I would think it would be just another place for bacteria to attach and cling everywhere in our tanks. And, when it finally settles, it is visual evidence that bacteria is proliferating. In the 15+ tanks I have set up with live sand I've never experienced any issues. When I used Aragonite dry sand I've actually seen cycles take longer by sometimes a few weeks. That's not proof of anything - it's just my experience.

Anyway, if you want to rinse or not rinse it, I don't think it matters that much. Me, I'm lazy and don't like hunching over buckets of sand, so I'll just dump it in and double the filter floss. If you want your water clear in a few hours vs a few days, all the power to you. Just don't over pay for a 'perk' you're not going to use.

In my experience rinsing out the super fine particles really helps down the line with sand getting stirred up or with high flow.

 

[Garf]

In my experience rinsing out the super fine particles really helps down the line with sand getting stirred up or with high flow.

I spent several months deliberately adding unwashed sand to my system in a mesh bag, to experiment with reducing phosphate. As long as there’s some sort of filter sock or mechanical filtration, the clouding (fines) lasts a few hours, at least for just a few kgs of sand. Removing the sock extended this period significantly. Brandon accused me of falsifying my experience, go figure.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

I spent several months deliberately adding unwashed sand to my system in a mesh bag, to experiment with reducing phosphate. As long as there’s some sort of filter sock or mechanical filtration, the clouding (fines) lasts a few hours, at least for just a few kgs of sand. Removing the sock extended this period significantly. Brandon accused me of falsifying my experience, go figure.

I was referring to the sand getting stirred up. I rinse the sand so there is nothing small enough to get suspended. I have oolite in sps flow. Getting the microscopic particles out is key for me, there is no getting them out once the sand is in.

 

[Garf]

I was referring to the sand getting stirred up. I rinse the sand so there is nothing small enough to get suspended. I have oolite in sps flow. Getting the microscopic particles out is key for me, there is no getting them out once the sand is in.

I’ve got a tremendous amount of flow in my Phosphate adsorption test bucket. If I mess around in the sand I too can induce a bloom of fines. This sand was only roughly rinsed for a few seconds in RODI. However it still clears after a couple of hours. The fine particles enter the sand bed where the reduced flow traps them in the bed, once again. I’ve not dug around in the sand for probably 4 weeks and the water has been sparkly clear all that time. Fines get covered in organic material and are certainly skimmed out and filtered by any fine particulate filter and settle in low flow areas. I think the release of fines may be less problematic when they are coated in organic material and the initial messy looking tank exaggerates folks fears, however.

 

[Reefer1978]

Ran into the issue of stubborn FijiPink and cloud, washing through a filter sock didn't seem to help. I might have figured out what works tho... small pump, RO container with a 5-micron sediment filter... cleared the tank up overnight after 2 days of hazy water.