Thank you for your question. The bacteria will survive freezing. The manufacturer does recommend allowing the product to completely thaw before trying to use it.

Thank you for your question. Choosing a substrate is more personal preference than anything else. Changing your substrate may change the chemistry of your water at first and you may want to allow the system to cycle with the new substrate for a while before adding any specimens back into the aquarium.

Thank you for your inquiry. You can absolutely add substrate to an established tank. 1) Make sure your new substrate is thoroughly rinsed and ready to add to the tank. 2) Drop down your water level in your tank and remove all decorations (use some of the water to put in a bucket/container where you will be putting your fish. 3) Net the fish and put them in a bucket or separate container (I use a spare 10 tank). 4) Remove the plants (always do this after removing the fish so they don't come in contact with any anaerobic gas that might be released from pulling up plants). 5) Drain out the rest of the water in your tank and remove the old substrate if you are removing it, if not just add the new substrate. 6) Re-plant your plants, put in the decor, and start filling the tank. Be sure to keep the water temp the same so you don't stress your fish when you add them back in. 7) Transfer the fish back into the main tank.

Thank you for your question. We recommend putting the fish in a quarantine tank before adding new substrate to the display aquarium. This way the sand can settle before the fish are re-added.

Thank you for your question. We recommend the CaribSea Arag-Alive for marine aquariums only.

Thank you for your question. Please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-381-7179 or email Customerservice@DrsFosterSmith.com as more information is needed to better answer your question.

Thank you for your question. This substrate will help buffer the water however there is not a way to say how much. We suggest testing the water after adding the substrate and then using an additional buffer agent if needed. njc

I wanted to post for whoever else may be looking at this. I ended up reaching out to Carib-Sea directly they recommended 80 to 85 lbs per cubic foot. So based on that this would be: 96 * 30 * 1 = 2,880 2,880 / 1,728 (number of cubic inches in a cubic foot) = 1.67 1.667 * 80 = 133.34 1.667 * 85 = 141.67 Seems a little light to me but I won't know till this fall when I upgrade the tank.

I dont see why not

Three bags should be plenty