Rek84 Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Dramad1, that sounds like a great system and I might have to try that myself. Does anyone happen to have any suggestions for live rock? What kind, where to get it from, etc? I am thinking I want already cured live rock, but not sure what is best as far as looks, porosity, weight, stacking, etc. Link to comment
rdck99 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Dramad1, that sounds like a great system and I might have to try that myself. Does anyone happen to have any suggestions for live rock? What kind, where to get it from, etc? I am thinking I want already cured live rock, but not sure what is best as far as looks, porosity, weight, stacking, etc. I really liked the LR I got from Premium Aquatics - I bought mine fully cured. Not a ton of interesting hitchhikers, but some: bristle worms, bivalves, collonista snails, sponges, colonial hydroids, feather dusters, pods, and lots of coralline algae. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably go with true LR and not the dry stuff. Link to comment
Dramad1 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Hit up john a reefcleaners. I think he sells lr. Have you ever thought about dry rock? I like it because you are not introducing unwanted pest into your tank, but then again your not getting the beneficial hitchhikers either. Takes a lil longer to cure but so what, at least you will start your tank off knowing what you've got in there Link to comment
theishkid Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I'm looking at the same tank and have been researching for the past couple of months. The place I keep hearing to get live rock from is KP Aquatics/Sealife. Here's a link to their rock: http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=25&osCsid=a4f308b732484ea87e11f1ff7dc71b98 Everyone is saying to buy their uncured rock. Personally I'm thinking about buying their cured rock (that first link). It's not as beneficial as the uncured, but should still come with more beneficial items than dry rock. Link to comment
Rek84 Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Thanks to all for the suggestions on the live rock. I have also heard good things about Premium Aquatics. I will have to look very closely at my options, but Premium Aquatics has been one of the places I've been thinking about for sure. Hadn't thought about reefcleaners, I didn't know they had live rock but I will check them out too. I am definitely getting a clean up crew from them! Dramad1, I had thought about dry rock but I really love going the live rock route. Hopefully if I get good quality cured rock I will be able to avoid the nasty hitchhikers and just get the good. I remember when I set up the tank that I had years ago that it was so much fun to watch that live rock and see what I could find growing on it! Link to comment
rdck99 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 My preference for live rock isn't just the hitchhikers, but the "look" in general. To me, the dry rock looks fake and I hear it can take forever to color up. Supposedly, Real Reef Rock stuff is the best of all worlds - doesn't take from the oceans, still has color, and no bad hitchhikers. However, I've heard nasty hitchhikers can still come in on it, so take that selling point with a grain of salt. Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Rdck99, I'll check it out...thank you! Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 The obligatory cloudy tank shot! Sorry for the blue; no matter what I did every shot came out this way. Am I going to have to get a different camera now other than the one on my phone?? If so, any suggestions for a decent and CHEAP one? I used CarbiSea Arag Alive Special Grade Reef Sand. I really loved the texture of it! Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Well, things are definitely progressing! My live rock came in today. I ordered 25 lbs of Manado live rock from Premium Aquatics. And it is the most beautiful live rock I have ever seen. Mainly 4 huge intricate pieces and two about the size of my fist. My jaw hit the floor. This rock is so porous, and is FULL of holes for fish to swim through. I absolutely love it. Spent some time today trying to aquascape...I'm happy with what I came up with (for now). The aquascape is much more dimensional that what the pictures represent, but I have room to put corals on multiple levels all over the place. I am truly, truly impressed by the live rock...I've seen a few feather dusters and a tiny little crab (that I might decide I need to try to catch eventually)...but the colors and coraline algae have blown me away. Highly recommend this rock to anyone. Thank you Premium Aquatics! Link to comment
NanoFever Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Awesome! Rocks look great! Now just needs some livestock! Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Thanks, NanoFever! I've re-arranged it just a little since the pictures and used Aquastick to cement some of the pieces in place. I have a question for you guys though. I put about half a raw shrimp in the tank a couple of days ago. It is getting all puffy and bloated looking now, dissolving kind of. However, my ammonia has never budged from 0. How long does it take to start rising? The live rock was put in last Thursday, the shrimp on Saturday...but ammonia has never risen according to my test kit. Would the live sand and high quality live rock mean that the tank won't really go through a big cycle and I could start slowly adding inhabitants? Link to comment
DriftingNemo Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 It took me around 3 days to start noticing ammonia when I was cycling my tank with fish food. If I was to do it again, I would have used bacteria in a bottle or something to speed up the whole process. I had to spend Christmas without fish, it was a tough time... Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 DriftingNemo, I know what you mean! I really thought I'd start seeing something by now, especially with a raw shrimp in the tank! If I don't see any ammonia tomorrow, I'm going to really start wondering what is up... Link to comment
DriftingNemo Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 My tank was started with dry sand and dry ocean rock which is why it took 2 months for it to finish the cycle. I only used 1lb of live rock to seed all of the different live forms and the purple stuff we all crave. Fast forward 9 months and my tank is full of coraline and the dry rocks are now live. It's a painful and tough process, waking up every day and expecting to see cool stuff popping up, but in my case nothing happened. I actually covered my tank and didn't look at it for a week to help the pain go away. Link to comment
theishkid Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 If you don't mind me asking… what did the rock from premium cost to have it shipped. I'm going to need that exact same amount and that does look better than I imagined. Also where did you get that screen top for the tank? Link to comment
picoreef78 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Sweet setup. i am looking at getting a 34 g Cadlights tank as well. When you set it up let me know what you think. Link to comment
Rek84 Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 @TheIshKid: Shipping was less than $15, but I lived in an area where the typical delivery time for Premium Aquatics was only 2 days through UPS normal ground shipping. If you live in a place where it takes longer to get it to you, shipping will probably cost a little more. I do love the rock I received from them though...it looks just like what I would have hand picked myself. Couldn't be happier with it! As far as the screen top, I made it with one of the kits from Bulk Reef Supply. It works perfectly, and it was actually kind of fun to make. The hardest part was sawing the metal frames...you will need a hand saw of some sort for that, but everything else is included in the kit. @Picoreef78: So far so good with the setup. Can't wait to get some actual livestock in it, though. The only issue I've had so far was my Tunze Nano Topoff system malfunctioned yesterday and dumped almost two gallons of Kalk into the tank. It was a weak kalk solution though, and oddly enough it didn't really change the salinity very much. I'm working with Tunze to try to figure out what the issue is, or if I need a replacement unit. Other than that mishap, everything seems to be working just fine. Link to comment
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