Interested in local corals

pyro2k

New member
I have been on reefcentral for over a month and just now found the central illinois section. I was previously getting RO water from the mad reefer but that seems like its done for good. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to acquire good quality water?

I am also interested in local soft or lps corals for sale and cured live rock. Unfortunately I am fairly new with corals and dont have much to trade at this time.

I have had good luck so far with a few frags off this forum and the mad reefer for corals. I have also gotten fish and corals from Sailfin in Champaign. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good coral shop around Bloomington?

Thanks
 
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Welcome to CIMA, plenty of great information here as well as people. As far as water goes, if you can afford it , I would recommend getting a RO/DI unit, there are plenty to choose from on the internet. I could help you with ro/di water, just depend how much, I always have 60 gals ready but you would have to come to Clinton.

Could you tell us about your tank, what size, lighting, filtration etc... I am sure you will get alot of opinions what to do or where you could go for some H2O. The bloomington folks can tell you more about the shops in town, I typically trade or buy stuff off of other reefers.

If softies are what you are searching, I could help you with GSP, Scrooms of several different colors, leathers, xenias, polys, some zoos. you can PM me if interested.
 
I currently have a 29gal tank and I go through about 5 gals of top off water a week. I have PC lights with 2x 65w 50/50 bulbs. I switched over to the RO H20 from premium pet supply and havent noticed any issues as of yet. Have any other people had problem/success with them?

As for corals: medium sized xenia, now have 3 stalks from original 1, 5 yellow polyps, 2 small purple shrooms, a few very small frags of zoos, a piece of gsp, small piece of frogspawn, and a piece of white bubble coral. I also have about 25-30lbs of live rock.
 
howdy fellow 29g bloomingtononian! (uh, yeah...)

imo you should buy an ro/di unit. check out the seller "filterdirect" (or similar) on ebay for some nice inexpensive units. i think i paid ~$120 shipped for my 6-stage unit. i would also pick up a tds meter.

if nothing else, pick up a tds meter so you can test the "ro" water you are buying locally. you might be surprised with what you find.

i would buy bottled water from the grocery store before i would buy water from any of the lfs's. (imo, of course)
 
I'd get a freshwater test kit and test the water for nitrates and ammonia. Chances are that there will still be quite a bit in there still.
Remember if you do get your own RO there is TDS creep across the membrane and the first bit of water will have elevated TDS.
 
Premium Aquatics it is out of Indianapolis and they have great stuff. I just posted pics of my setup and all the rock came from there. You can either drive there and pick out your own or ship it. As close as we are it will be here the next day with ground shipping.
 
pyro2k,

Would you be interested in Anthelia, orange/brown Montipora, or green/brown Turbinaria? I take care of tanks at ISU for the invertebrate zoology course and I have some of all of these that need homes. I also have a bunch of macroalgae if you are interested in that.

Also, I recommend that you be very careful if you are adding cured live rock to your tank. Beware for any organisms on the rock to die-off. I don't know if there is anywhere in B/N to get decent LR. The Mad Reefer might have some but I am not even sure if they are still open. Have you been there lately? Apparently there is another new place in Bloomington called Great Plains SW Fish & Coral. Someone should tell them neither fish or coral are plural words ;)


Let me know if you want any of those frags,
Kevin
 
I havent heard of that new place either in town. The mad reefer is closed for good as far as anyone seems to know. I may be to take care of some of the stuff that you have at ISU. I will let you know.
 
I got this from google (no address provided). If you call them or go there, I'd like to hear about it.

Great Plains Saltwater Fish and Coral
309-828-3531
 
Weird. 828 is a Bloomington prefix, but they aren't listed with Directory Assistance, and none of the reverse phone lookups on the internet had anything listed for that number.
 
Doesn't seem to be in service anymore.

We're sorry, you have reached an # that is disconnected or is no longer in service.
 
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