And so it begins...

[siropa]

thought i'd go for a new look with 1/2 BB, 1/2 sand It was getting too late for me to do any more rinsing. Its going pretty quickly now, but once I get some rock in there its going to sit for awhile. I'm hoping it will cycle fast enough, but I want to run it long enough to get through all the algae cycles before moving any of my corals over. That blenny from brent will be the first lucky inhabitant once it cycles though. he will love the swimming space.

yeah i'm waiting for the algae to hit. good times.

 

[customcolor]

mines almost all gone. that coral beuty and the hippo took care of it realy quick. now i can see new coraline comming in mine. i hope you have the same speed

 

[jandlms]

I would consider changing thoseceiling outlet to GFI outlets. I know you won't get a drip moving up to the ceiling but with humidity and such I would spend the extra few bucks on GFIs.
Just a thought. Everything looks great so far.

 

[siropa]

Everything in the room is downstream from GFCI, except the outlets for the remote ballasts. I've had lights trip GFCI outlets in the past and i'm not going to risk total shutdown on those again.

 

[jandlms]

Smart move. I have salt creep on a light suspended 3ft over my sump so it can travel prety far vertically. It pays to be safe especially with all the electricity that your new Project will be consuming.

 

[siropa]

you must have a lot of splashing or something to be getting creep that high.

every tank i've ever had never had enough outlets, so it would always be powerstrips and extension cords. when I did this room I think I put in 34 outlets, lots of them pretty close to where they are going to be needed. So GFCI was pretty much a must. I've never gotten zapped before and really don't care to, ya know

 

[siropa]

Well, I got my liverock from DFS today. Its been about 8 years since I bought any rock, and boy does this stuff look different than what i'm used to buying. What do you guys think of this?

This is the link to the page where I got it http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2392

it says in there: "40-70% covered in Coralline algae on the top or show side of each piece"

well, there is pretty much zippo for coralline. Is this just what rock is like these days?

On a better note, I tossed together another DIY skimmer out of mostly extra parts last night:

 

[jmkarcz]

Did you talk to mako at the latst meeting about his rock...? I haven't been impressed much with what's been available for rock for a while. You almost just have to submit yourself to making or growing your own.

I guess the important thing is that you saved some money on it.

J

 

[jandlms]

Johnand Dawn has a thread mentioning liverock for sale. Maybe check that out. It can't be any less covered with coralline than what you got from DFS.

 

[siropa]

J, no I didn't talk to make about his rock.

yeah I saw the thread from j&d. wish it was a little closer though. Not sure when i'd be able to make that trek up there.

 

[johnanddawn]

IMO coraline coverage is overrated anyway....... it will return soon enough what is important is it looks like you got some nice big well shaped pieces.
i thought that stuff mako had looked great - i know he wasn't impressed at first but by the time he hosted the meeting it was looking good

 

[siropa]

Well it wasn't just the coralline. When i've gotten rock in the past (talking 8+ years ago), there was all kinds of stuff on the rock. You are right though, over time it won't matter so much. just had different expectations based on past experience.

more motivation to just get the rock all covered up with corals I guess

 

[customcolor]

your right on that not looking right. last time i bought rock was when i orderd 2 boxes from just pets 4 years ago, and boy things have changed.

 

[Limpit]

Both times I have ordered rock from F&S I have been disapointed but customer service always took care of me. I sugest contacting them if you are not happy with the rock and see what they can do for you.

BTW, did anyone notice the jackhammer marks on the rock?

 

[siropa]

Is that what those grooves are?

I did talk to their cust service and they helped to ease my dissatisfaction. Money wise that was nice, but it doesn't help to fix what I was trying to do: have a small quantity of some new rock of decent quality. I thought about trying another batch from them of a different kind, but i'm leery.

 

[Limpit]

If they are over an inch wide they are otherwise they are chisel marks. They have to get it broke off somehow!

BTW, I sent you a PM regarding another LR source.

 

[siropa]

Thanks for the PM on the rock. i'll have to consider what to do next.

Well the cloudiness is starting to go down a bit. Guess the big, long wait starts now. Cycling has to be the biggest test of patience in this hobby.

 

[mako56]

I wouldn't go back there for live rock they took care of me too but like you said before money wasn't the issue for me either. I wanted to pay good money for exceptional live rock not some good shaped base rock. I have gotten almost all of my live rock from www.floridaliverock.com and had the time of my life looking and finding new life on it every day but that's pretty much all they do so I guess its a bigger deal to them.

 

[siropa]

Thanks for the link mako. Which rock did you get from there?

 

[mako56]

I got the Coralline and the Premium Coralline but I think if I was going to do it again I would go with some of the deco also. I wish I would of went there this time. I got quite a bit of the rock and sand and had it come to the airport in Green Bay saved allot of money. I think I had like 5 or 6 boxes and it cost me 60.00 shipping. If you would wind up going that route bring someone along because you can't leave your car unattended for even a second where you pick up the rock so if your by yourself you have to park in the lot get the rock to the curb then pay your parking charge and pick up the rock I wasn't a happy camper.