I was looking at an alternative for live sand that was significantly cheaper than what you can buy at the pet store. some people say regular sand, then pool filter sand, but they both contain silicates which i guess are bad for diatoms. i have called a place and they carry a silicate free sand and wonder if that would work and then seed it with known good sand from another reef tank. what are everyones elses takes and experiences on this topic.

What I am doing, and many do, is just get "dead" sand. Then just get a cup or so of live sand to seed it. Safe some money, but will still be some money.

shock is right, you can get regular sand and a little bit of live sand and eventually the live sand will seed the other sand and make it live.