NanoBound Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 Can I just start out with plain old coral rock and wait for it to turn to live rock, then go forward from there in establishing a nano reef? May reason for asking is because I live over a 80 miles away from the nearest saltwater store. And as you all know all to well, buying live rock even in small amounts online is highly expensive. Could I just seed it with algae's from ebay later on ? Link to comment
dickwayne Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 Go to the GARF.org website and look up "garf grunge." Also do a search, here and at Reef Central to see what people say about it and how to use it. That should help you out and give you some ideas. Garf advocates making your own rock from cement and sand, and the "grunge" is what they use to seed there rocks. Should work out okay for you. Good luck and kep us posted if you go that route. I may have to try it on my next tank if it works well! Link to comment
SLOreefer Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 dude there is no reason to do this. on reef central i am always seeing live rock for sale that is liek 2.00 a pound plus free shipping. dont waist your time making your own rock. Link to comment
LiQuiD Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 Exactly. I would say to do it right from the start or don't do it at all. Either buy it online, or take the hour and a half drive and pick up some rock. Its not like you have to drive 80 miles every day for the rock, you only have to get it once. Do it on a weekend and get some sand while your there. Link to comment
Korbin Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 I did that. This weird algae ended up dominating the tank because there was no corraline and other algae to compete with it. Also, I have broken open liverock and there are a lot of beneficial worms and clams and things that you don't see that you will not get with base rock. Plus your tank will take a lot longer to stablize. I say look for some local people around you and ask to buy some. Link to comment
NanoBound Posted July 14, 2003 Author Share Posted July 14, 2003 Thanks everyone, guess I will just have to take the plunge and drive the distance...lol. I would rather start off with live rock anyways. Link to comment
NanoBound Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 Hi! Around Mt.Vernon, Illinois. Link to comment
Vincerama Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Why don't you do this; Set aside a budget (say 50-100 bucks) and find an online site and buy as much as that budget allows, including shipping. (LFS LR can suck sometimes). Then use it to cycle your tank and supplement it with "dead" rock. Then the dead rock will become live and you will get MANY nice live things on the small amount of live rock that you purchased. The LR is not just for the corraline algae. I've read somewhere that some guy had a tank with no LR, but a few hermit crabs and the small amount of corraline that was on the crab shells eventually started propagating to the tank side, etc! LR has lots of benefits (mostly porosity, aragonite-ness and most of all all the creepy stuff that lives on/in it!) V Link to comment
NanoBound Posted July 15, 2003 Author Share Posted July 15, 2003 I went the distance yeaterday and got a small amount of live sand to seed the tank. To my amazement the retailer scooped me up some of his corraline algae with the sand. It was only about a tablespoon of it...but what the heck, it is better than none. As for the live rock, he wouldnot sell what he had left, but did put in a order for me. It will be about 2-3 weeks he said for it to arrive. At $7.00lb in this area..I consider that good. Thanks for your help. Link to comment
Vincerama Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Um, 7 bucks a pound? Are you sure that online is not cheaper? They normally sell around 4-5 buck per pound, leaving you with some shipping leeway. I bought 20 pounds LR, and 10 lbs LS and had it shipped to San Francisco from Maryland (www.drmaccorals.com) and it cost me $160 second day Fed Ex. At 7 bucks a pound, that is $140 for 20 pounds (20 was actually too much for my 10g) plus tax. I didn't have to pay tax due to the cross state internet purchase. Shop around a bit more!! V V Link to comment
westkyracer Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 I live south of Paducah KY. Maybe when you get ready to get some corals we can come up with a deal that will help both of us. There is a pretty nice LFS between West Frankfort and Marion IL. I bought a sweet lion fish and a trigger there for a really good price a couple of years ago. Pet Kingdom in Paducah is pretty good but they do not quaranteen their corals when they come in usually the fish and corals don't make it out of the bags they get shipped to the store in. We know they get their shipments on Tues so everyone is there when they get back from the airport. Link to comment
westkyracer Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 OH yeah. I got a 30# box of base rock for $30 shipped here today. It was from HI Rocks. Very nice I oredered the bio-30 still have not found a rock small as a golf ball but have found a couple too big for my 5.5. I would highly recomend them. Link to comment
NanoBound Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 Looks like I may have to go in on a few things in the future. I am not sure what lfs between West Frankfort and Marion you are talking about...heck....I didnot even know there was one around here. As for the part about the store in Paducah...I take a trip there (Paducah), once a month to ,well lets just say I am smoker!!! The timimg will be just about right for me in about 3 weeks!! We will have to keep in touch. Link to comment
westkyracer Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 I work in Paducah. So if you need to come across the bridge for smokes some evening let me know. I stumbled across the pet store on accident really there was a wreck on 57 and we had to take a side road. I believe I was on hwy 4. It is closer to Marion. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.