Hello to all NewBie here

[Drex22]

Just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. Name is Chad, I own 2 fish only tanks. 1-50g and 1-100g. I would like to know what sites ya'll would recommend I checkout to purchase dry goods to convert my 100g into a fish/reef tank?

Thanks a bunch for any help :D

[geo]

hello Chad
[welcome]

[Randall_James]

Hi Chad, Welcome to Reefers Anonymous :D

http://reefcentral.com/sponsors/ good place to start anyway..

[areze]

Best prices in town (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=2)

no joke heh. other than that, check local clubs, even better when you dont have to pay shipping.

otherwise best place to get stuff depends on what exactly your needing.

Ive purchased from marinedepot and reefgeek in my past, liveaquaria has some great liverock and corals, never tried them for drygoods.

[MrsDorothy]

Hi Chad. Welcome to Reef Central. Here and www.liveaquaria.com ia a good place to start. Live aquaria now have fiji premium foundation rock!

Dorothy

[Drex22]

Originally posted by MrsDorothy
Hi Chad. Welcome to Reef Central. Here and www.liveaquaria.com ia a good place to start. Live aquaria now have fiji premium foundation rock!

Dorothy

If I were to get the Fiji Premium from their site 45lbs worth, what Inverts would be nice to start adding color.

here is a list of the fish I have in that tank currently:
1. (2) Percula Clown
2. Powder Blue Tang LARGE
3. Snowflake Eel
4. Dog Face Puffer LARGE
5. Green Chromis
6. Foxface Rabbit Fish
7. Yellow/Purple Hog Fish

they all get along great, and have been in this fish only tank for 2 years now.

[MrsDorothy]

I am a newbie myself and have mostly been reading to learn as much as possible before I actually set up my tank.

Me personally, I wouldn't add any inverts right now. I would wait until the rocks have been in the tank for at least a month before adding a cleanup crew. As far as the live rock, I know that it says pre-cured, but it will have some die-off during shipment and will have to be cured outside of your tank before adding to your main tank.

For corals or anemone, you may need to invest in some more lighting, depending on the lights that you already have. If it is the standard lights that came with your tank, you will need more light.

I can't tell you much since I have not set one up yet. This is just info that I have learned from doing some research here.

HTH
Dorothy

[yodawagon]

im only speaking based on what ive seen on here, as i have not bought my rock yet, but liveaquaria.com has some mixed reviews. if you go to the sponsor page you will find many vendors selling live rock. just remember, you get what you pay for. that also goes for size and quality.

[Drex22]

I actually have (2) 150 watt MH's and 2 blue itinics in that tank. So lighting shouldn't be a problem. thanks for your input on the live rock

[Benj]

Originally posted by Drex22
If I were to get the Fiji Premium from their site 45lbs worth, what Inverts would be nice to start adding color.

here is a list of the fish I have in that tank currently:
1. (2) Percula Clown
2. Powder Blue Tang LARGE
3. Snowflake Eel
4. Dog Face Puffer LARGE
5. Green Chromis
6. Foxface Rabbit Fish
7. Yellow/Purple Hog Fish

they all get along great, and have been in this fish only tank for 2 years now.

Just about any Live Rock that you get is not going to be fully cured and you will not be able to add it directly to a tank that has fish in it already. You will have to cure it in a separate tank and then add it slowly to the existing tank. Another thing to consider is that the eel, puffer and hog fish are not reef safe and will eat your inverts and or corals for sure. The Rabbit fish is possibly going to be a problem. Only the clowns, chromis and tang are for sure reef safe.

I have purchased LR from liveaquaria and do agree that you get what you pay for. The least expensive stuff doesn't look all that great and there was quite a bit of rubble in the boxes, but it was ok with me since I put the rubble in my refugium and the rest in the display tank which will be completely covered in corals eventually, so I don't care what it looks like. If you just want LR and won't ever have corals, you might be more concerned with what the rock looks like.

[zedx6]

Welcome aboard, just a suggestion but you may want to see if you have a fairly local reefers club, I live outside of Boston and there is a Boston Reefers Club and I picked up my live rock for a fraction of the cost online from someone breaking down their tank.

[Randall_James]

You could go with base rock and just add a small amount of cured live rock.

I have these 2 chunks I got from reeferrocks.com and it is the greatest base rock I have seen to date.

Granted the diversity of life is an issue so you do still need some good seed stock but if you see this stuff they have it really is really nice stuff.

As noted above you can not cure the rock in the fish tank with fish in it. Also with the eel, you need to give him some PVC under the substrate and some pseudo cave work. Make sure also that the rock can not tumble. Eels have a way of creating rock slides.

A drill and nylon wire ties works wonders. But it is a true pain to do.

The upside is that the base rock from ReeferRocks is perfect for this. You could virtually do it without drilling anything the stuff is so porous. It will also be easier to set up as it is dry and you can just take your time and do it outside the tank. Drop it in as sections.

I would venture this rock will work fine at 1 lb to 1 gallon of water. Get 70 or 80 lbs and then 20 or 30 lbs of live rock.

Their website pictures do not do the rock justice, I will see if I can get some good shots of these I have.