newbie intro

[jmkins]

Hi Everyone,
New to the hobby and somewhat new to indiana. I have been reading and researching the SW hobby for the last few months. I will be starting my first tank (55 gallon) in the beginning of August when I get settled into my new place. I just wanted to say that I have found this forum to be extremely helpful with learning new things. I don't even have my tank yet but have been reading frantically, I've probably been through most of a couple of the forums on here and the articles in the past two days when I first found you guys. Anyways hope to meet up with some you in the future and try to contribute what I can here.
thanks,
joe
:D

[reefyguy]

good luck. Fish stored to check out in indy (you make up your own mind as to which is best)

Abyss Systems
Premium Aquatics
The reef

This is in no order. Although Premium Aquatics is a sponsor of reefcentral.

Ed

[kfisc]

good for you for reading up....wish I would have, earlier on. Abyss is great, imo, best livestock in town, best sales help- as far as the reef- well, I never hand out my credit card to people with tattoos or buy from a place that sells dyed livestock....

[reefyguy]

i just give people the options and let them figure it out. but yes, 2 of the 3 are good places but i dont think i have to point that out now

[DensityMan]

Also Uncle Bills' (Southside) and Petware House (for nice display tanks and the occasional gem)

;)

And another couple E-tailers in town: Blowfish Aquatics and Coral Sandbar...

:D

[DensityMan]

oh... and by the way...

Welcome!!!

[reefyguy]

THANKS DENSITY..i KNEW THERE WERE SOME I FORGOT. I WAS NOT AWARE OF CORAL SANDABAR....

[overflowin]

what's wrong with tattoos? that's a little stereotypical, isn't it?

i used to keep south american cichlids, and there is no one in town that can hang witn the reef on FW. the people are great and they know freshies. their SW dept could use a little help.

donnie

[DJPB]

Jmkins - WELCOME to the most expensive addictive hobby you can find. I suggest you run away and do something else, before it's too late and youre sucked in like the rest of us, LOL!

I concur with the rest on the local stores. I just visited coralsandbar this weekend. He has some cool stuff, picked up an ORA blue tort frag, wow.....

Blowfish Aquatics is becoming my favorite coral store. Most coral retailers get their corals from a wholesaler in LA. By the time the local retailers get the corals, they have been severely picked over. But Blowfish gets his directly from the source - Bali. Plus his prices are great. I just picked up a 4" ultra crocea clam for $30, you cant beat that.

[jmkins]

thanks everyone for the welcome. I am in West Lafayette and have checked out Aquarium World a little. Had some okay stuff there. I was planning on ordering some of the equiptment and live rock from Prem. Aquatics. I need to get a day out of work where I can go down to indy and check out a lot of the stores in one stop.

overflowin is that an atmosphere quote in your hobby experience?

[overflowin]

why yes it is....i thought it was fitting for "my hobby experience". i thought i knoew what i was doing... yeah, right. I may "know what i'm doing" in a couple years.

are you an atmosphere fan? i think slug is the best lyricist to come out in a long time. maybe since LL or canibus.

donnie

[jmkins]

yeah i like hip hop, I think slug is great but i gotta give sage francis the edge on lyrics. Is the canibus that you speak of by Chicago by chance?

[overflowin]

nah, he's from NY. he's not real big, had a decent hit with second round KO back in the late 90's...i'm a big fan of battle rappers.. good call on sage francis, but i don't think he's got as many facets as slug. i think he's kinda along the lines of aesop rock...really really good, but not too much variety of styles.

i definitely agree with your taste in emcees..up with hip hop, down with rap!

donnie

[overflowin]

ever heard of josh martinez (http://www.joshmartinez.ca/) ? if not, i highly reccomend you check it out....

donnie

[jmkins]

overflowin just downloaded some mp3's off the site, he is good.

Does any one have any rock suggestions/stories from premium aquatics. Also here is my first stupid newbie question but is it okay to mix multiple types of rock (from different geographic areas) in one tank or would there be a possiblity of bad or incompatible hitchhikers. I intend to use all paciific I just cant afford to completely stock in marshall so will probably get a mix with either the tonga or fiji.

[overflowin]

actually...i got my live rock from premium and its fantastic. good price and good quality. i got some fiji, marshall and kaelini from them...couldn't be happier.

the marshall appears bigger, so you can get away with less weight and fill the same area.

donnie

[jmkins]

Great. I had found Premium Aquatics on the web before this site and was very impressed with the rock and prices. I was hesitant cause I didn't want to break the bank with the shipping but since it is within driving distance this will definetly be where I get my rock from.

[overflowin]

yeah, its great for me, i live a mile and ahalf from them...if they were open for walk ins all the time they'd never get rid of me! they are pretty cool if you need something quick to stop in and grab it, but if your looking for rock you'll probably want to go on a friday afternoon.

i saw you said you don't have a tank yet, did you need one?

donnie

[DensityMan]

Shouldn't have any avoidable compatibility issues from using differing rock types...

Most rock is cured/stored in joined systems once it reaches the retailers. ;)

If anything, our little closed systems should benefit from getting a wider variety of 'hithhikers' in from different areas... it should widen the odds ot getting more niches filled in the tank.

:D

[jmkins]

Thanks for the help guys.
overflowin I have a 55 sitting in my parents basement. I plan to go up this weekend and work on checking for leaks and cleaning it. I hope all is well with it cause I dont have the money in my budget to buy a new one right now.

[overflowin]

if it leaks i'll help ya re seal it...all my tanks have been second (or third) hand and i have resealed them all... just let me know if you need some help, that's why we're here!

donnie

[jmkins]

I was driving through Crawfordsville today and stopped at the Home Depot. I went to the service counter and spoke with Sam about getting some southdown she spent about 45 mins to an hr. trying to locate some for me to transfer. Ft. Wayne had 65 bags but had just sent 28 to Crawfordsville for someone and literally refused to send anymore at this time. Then she went and took the time to check out other stores for me and finally located some near my parents house in Chicago. I put 8 on will call and only need 2 or 3 so can part with the rest of it either for the price or trade. Apparently the store has 65 bags on hand and doesn't sell much. I'm heading up this weekend so if anyone in here wants it let me know.