Aquarium Setup

[salty in Gray]

Hey all!


First time poster, I live in Gray and am getting my 65 g reef tank up and running. I took it down before moving 5 years ago and finally pulled myself to gether to get it running again.

Anyway, I have set the tank, filled it, and will be salting this weekend.

I was considering ordering "the package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater, but have seen a fair number of customers that had trouble with bad hitchikers and am having second thoughts.

I have also gotten a lot of positive feedback about dr Foster and smith, can anyone send me in a good direction for LR, Sand, etc?

I would like to use a local vendor, but their prices seem more than double, and I am on a budget. I was in Aquatic Concepts in Westbrook, they are selling the ugliest LR I have ever seen for $8 per pound!! It was dull gray, no color, no life.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[debdellac]

I have ordered a lot of things from Drs Foster & Smith. Just becareful and make sure you look at your order confirmation towards the end of the order. Twice the website has added the wrong item or deleted items. You are responsible for the postage to send the item back and can not change the item even if the order has not been filled/shipped yet. While browsing the internet I came across this site http://www.globeaqua.com/. Their prices seem really good, however I have no experience with them. Maybe do a search on here to see if anyone has ordered from them before.

Good Luck!
Debby

 

[blufyre3]

check out the forum..vendor experiences...good luck

 

[WhiteCloud]

I just got "The Package" from Tampabay Saltwater 2 months ago. The rock was beautiful...but there are indeed bad hitchhikers along with the good.

I got 60lb of LR (the 30 gallon package) and I got all the baddies: Mantis Shrimp, Gorrilla Crabs, Rock Crabs, Whelks and my favorite Cirolanid Isopods.

I spent many a night catching Cirolanids...and I think they are all gone now. I have never seen one on a fish...some are not parasitic...but I thought it would be best to get them out. It is not too hard to do. I pull the Gorrillas out when I can...but I don't fight to get the out...I have had gorrilla crabs in my 40 gallon that I never saw cause a problem. I just bought a trap to try to get the Mantis out...although I have seen no signs of Mantis Destruction..yet.

TBS also threw in A LOT of extras! A condi and flower anenome, beautiful gorgonians, shaving brushes...and I got a lot of great hitchikers such as Pistol Shrimps, Porcelin Crabs, Sun Corals, Barnacles that are still alive, tuncates, sponges, beautiful coraline, bivalves, Chitons.

For me...the good outweighs the bad with TBS and I would do it again.

...Just make sure you know where Air Cargo at the jetport....It took me 2 hours to find it when I went to pick up the boxes. Just drive as if you were dropping someone off at the terminal, and turn RIGHT instead of left. Do NOT follow the large signs for Air Cargo.

Steve

 

[salty in Gray]

I must admit to being a little intimidated by identifying the bad hitchhikers along with removal, but it looks like I may be able to find some advice here to help!

Do you recall how much the shipping charges were to portland?

The price seems a little cheaper than foster and smith when you get the package.

 

[ME2003]

You may want to talk to Anna at Aquatic Concepts. I know that she
had a lot of live rock from a tank. She may be working today.
I prefer to buy from local fish stores if possible. Florida rock
tends to weigh more per area, It is rounder in shape and contains
corals from the gulf. This is neither good or bad just a choice.
Rock from the South Pacific can be branching or less round.
It is lighter but more expensive. Much of it depends what you
want to do with your tank. Natural Coral reefs by Tullock gives some
good examples. I believe both Atlantis and Aquatic concepts may have a copy.

 

[salty in Gray]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8385519#post8385519 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ME2003
You may want to talk to Anna at Aquatic Concepts. I know that she
had a lot of live rock from a tank. She may be working today.
I prefer to buy from local fish stores if possible. Florida rock
tends to weigh more per area

I will give her a call, but like I said, the rock looked awful in there earlier this week. Really gray w/ no color at all for $8!

 

[Naturebatslast]

What type of rock are you looking for, base rock, show rock, ultra premium, dead rock? There's alot of options, but the role of the rock is to denitryfy, it just looks nicer if there's coralline already on the rock. Don't be fooled of how online vendors sell their rock, some are more reputable than others. But, IMO, you'll over pay (plus pay to ship) no matter who you buy from, plus the dieoff in shipping and the longer cycling needed.
You best best is cruising the for sale forums here or at the Boston reefers site for rocks being sold from a hobbyist who has too much or just has to get rid of it, looking for the most reputiable person would be the trick. Dead rock is also another awesome option, it's cheap, awesome shapes and when seeded will choice smaller peices of LR, and in a few months it's hard to tell the difference between what was "dead rock" and what's live.

 

[salty in Gray]

Thanks for the information!

I was also looking at some homemade rock (found the information on the webboards here) from cement and rocksalt, interesting...

I guess I don't really know what I am looking for, mostly rock that is interesting to look at, and will filter the tank for me. I would like pretty rock with color, but it seems like a properly maintained reef tank will get there on it's own. I am not in a rush.

I have the water in the tank now, need to add salt and live sand now. Then rock.

I guess I should watch the board, thanks for the advice.

 

[Hedonist]

There is a place is Salem NH I believe that sells rock fairly cheaply if enough is purchased. Not sure how much you need but maybe you can find someone else that will go in with you... I think the break point was 100lb....at least you can pick out your rock.. I think it Aqua Addicts.

denise

 

[WhiteCloud]

For the 30 Gallon Package...which was 150lb....it was $97. I did not have them ship it in 2 parts....I have a 90 gallon...and I had already cycled it with 60lbs of Base Rock and 200lbs of sand. I mostly got the Tampa Bay stuff to seed the base rock and sandbed.

Also...the Live Sand is fairly large in grain size...a little bigger than Seaflor, and has a lot of shells in it. I like the look, but others may not.

There is also a lot of Macroalgae on it...Calurpa, Feather Calurpa, but the tang and hermits have mowed most of that down.

I have enclosed some Pics. The whiter rocks are the great base rock I got from reeferrock.com. Most of the other is from TBS...but a few peices are from my old tank

Steve

 

[Hedonist]

The tank 'rocks' Steve!


Keep your eyes peeled on this site too Salty, sometimes members have some rock they need a home for...

denise

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Vance's Tropical Fish in Bucksport has LR for 4.99 a pound at the moment, and it does have coralline growth on it... I think when Classics's Bar in Bangor went out of business and broke their tank down, it came from there. Was a nice tank, imo. Thought you guys might want the heads up...

Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

By the way, beautiful tank!

Laurie

 

[salty in Gray]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8390366#post8390366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessiesgrrl
Vance's Tropical Fish in Bucksport has LR for 4.99 a pound at the moment, and it does have coralline growth on it... I think when Classics's Bar in Bangor went out of business and broke their tank down, it came from there. Was a nice tank, imo. Thought you guys might want the heads up...

Laurie

I used to frequent Vance's when I lived in Belfast, glad to hear he is still around.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[salty in Gray]

Scott (from the Fish Bowl),

Can you clean up a few PM's so I can respond to you? I have been trying all afternoon!

Dan