Gravel & Substrate » Live Aragonite Substrates

CaribSea has seven carefully selected Live Sand products to help you create the authentic aquatic environment of your choice. Arag-Alive!™ natural aragonite substrates are engineered for different performance characteristics, and each with it’s own unique look. All Arag-Alive!™ products help maintain the pH of natural seawater.

Only CaribSea’s Arag-Alive!™ Live Sands contains not just the broad spectrum of natural marine bacteria found in the ocean, but additional specially selected strains of marine bacteria as well. Arag-Alive!™ compresses new tank cycle time and suppresses the initial ammonia spike. Arag-Alive!™ creates a natural biological balance, and makes cycling a new aquarium faster and safer. Live rocks and most invertebrates can be added immediately. Gradually introduce fish within the first 3 weeks, and do not exceed one inch of fish per 5 gallons during this time.

Arag-Alive!™ achieves rapid cycling by preparing and seeding the substrate grain surfaces with a wide variety of marine bacteria, most in a spored state, including strains engineered for maximum waste reduction capacity. Some types of bacteria reduce nitrogenous waste by metabolic oxidation while others incorporate nitrogen into bacterial biomass during rapid growth. Since most species of bacteria are somewhat symbiotic, and tend to colonize a surface in succession, the process of “cycling” an aquarium is facilitated by the close proximity of the immobilized species. Bacteria are maintained at a low metabolic rate by restricting access to certain limiting factors required for metabolism.