Marine sand in none marine set up

[chrisnjhardy]

Hi guys, I have a bag of marine sand which was live when I bought it 3 years ago. Its now gone out of date as a live sand product.  Has anybody ever used in a non marine set up? Any recommendations to use in this way- was thinking to open the bag and let it dry out in the sunshine then wash thoroughly

Thanks in advance guys

[nabokovfan87]

I actually did some research on this for my own use.  I had a freshwater tank and wanted it to be salty one day.  Buy the substrate once. 

Essentially there's 2 ways to view things.  You have bacteria for nitrification that likes salt and some that doesn't.  Meaning that salt should kill any freshwater bacteria and vice versa.  Drying out the sand also would have a similar affect.

That being said, most reef sand has coral embedded in the sand itself, meaning it will buffer the water on you and may cause issues.  If you keep african cichlids, maybe that isn't an issue, but that's your struggle so to speak.

Being that it's live sand (or was) you should open it, rinse it well, let it dry out as best you can before you use it.