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#2
01/22/2005, 11:02 AM
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Kind of a crap shoot but depends on what you are looking for. Natures best sometimes get an assortment of corals in on Friday afternoons but usually softies. If he does get hard corals in especiallt SPS, they don't survive long. Only has NO FL over his tanks and not enough circulation. Creature Comforts has 2 90 corner tanks with 175 MH's over then. Sometimes gets some decent stuff in but one tank is covered in Aptasia. Price wise Creature comfort is much more reasonable, but if you coming from Delhi, try both and see what you think.
After visiting the reef Shoppe in Roch last weekend, it's hard to compare what's down here in Binghamton. Good Luck
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Tom.... |
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#4
01/22/2005, 04:16 PM
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Natures best is out 26 south about 5 miles. Take exit 67 south off of 17 and it is out there on the right. Right next to a garage. Cant miss it. But dont get your hopes up to much..its an ok place to visit but wouldnt want to live there.
 Ryan
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120 reef w/250w MH's |
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#6
01/22/2005, 07:12 PM
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I've known Rick at Natures Best for a while through my old boss and his husbandry and prices are just not to my liking. When he started getting SPS I was beside myself. There is another little shop in the Binghamton plaza, but it's worse than the other two, I'm afraid.
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#7
01/22/2005, 07:17 PM
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I have been to the one in the binghamton plaza. I don't know what they know about fish, but I bought dog food there. Bought some base rock for my fish tank, but that is it so far from Livingston's.
Robinson |
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#8
01/22/2005, 09:46 PM
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Anything that I have purchased from Livingstone's hasn't lived more than a day or two. Which is probably why their prices were so cheap.
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Plan your dive and then dive your plan. |
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#9
01/22/2005, 09:47 PM
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There's a new shop in Sidney which is up I88. I haven't been in at least 4 months so I don't know what they have at the moment. I did find some nice buys and they did seem to know their stuff.
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Plan your dive and then dive your plan. |
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#10
01/23/2005, 09:03 AM
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Thanks all. I'll remeber that for next time. Got all the way to Harpursfield and decided to turn around and go home. Right now I'm just looking for dry goods and some base rock. But when I get my taxes back...looks like it's going to be quite a road trip to get anything live. Maybe by then I won't have to worry about snow!!!!!
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#11
01/23/2005, 10:28 AM
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If your looking for base rock go to Creature Comforts. They sell nice base rock for a buck a pound. White coral rock pure calcium.
nice stuff. You can buy 1 - 50 pounds. Comes in 50 pound boxes. Is what much of my base is made of.
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120 reef w/250w MH's |
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#13
01/23/2005, 10:54 AM
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Dead (dry) base rock totally devoid of life would be appropriate for a FO setup. If you're setting up a reef aquarium, add the most 'lively' liverock you can find/afford. Divirsity of microfauna dwindles over time- you want a good start for your aquarium. 5 lbs. of liverock full of life is worth more to your reef system than 500 lbs. of 'dead' LR.
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some common aquarium nuisances: Bryopsis,Derbesia(hair algae),Cyanobacteria(red slime), Diatoms(golden brown algae), Dinoflagellates(gooey air bubbles),Valonia (bubble algae) |
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#15
01/23/2005, 01:25 PM
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I have about 5 lbs of live rock, and 30 lbs of base rock. I am going to pick up more this week, about 10-15 lbs more of live rock, and another 20 of base rock. I would love to do all live rock, but I am not in a good financial position to do it
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#16
01/23/2005, 01:37 PM
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I put 40# of base rock and then 50# of nice live rock on top. The base rock is becoming populated with life from the live rock but like Gary said, better to go with all live rock. At the time I set up my tank that wasnt an option. I wish I had gone with all live rock but the base rock is doing fine now and things have started to grow on it. There are people who make there live rock from concrete and agranite sand. IMO the base rock that Creature Comfort sells is a few steps above the home made stuff and so far I have no complaints.
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120 reef w/250w MH's |
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#17
01/23/2005, 03:26 PM
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I have about 250 lbs of LR consisting of Fiji, Marshall Island, and Tongo Branch rock and agree with Gary, there is no substitute for good live rock. The base rock that you will get when you purchase from any of the stores is not just dead or dried out LR, it is crushed coral rock and it is very dense compared to what you will see coming from most high quality live rock. The same size rock could be quite a difference in weight, therefore price as well. For a smaller tank I would not bother with base rock.
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Tom.... |
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#20
01/24/2005, 08:11 AM
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I got 5 damsels from livingston's to cycle my tank with. They are doing well so far. OF course, they are damsels. (I know you shouldn't cycle with fish. I unfortunatly found that out to late)
Robinson |
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#21
01/24/2005, 09:21 AM
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Just my 2 cents, but I find that the stuff at Creature Comforts is not fabulously healthy either, you have to check it closely. They usually have a good selection. However you better know your stuff before going there because they'll lie their a$$es off to sell ya something. Just last week they told my mother what and easy coral a goniopora was. So just know what you're getting into before you buy, very few people in that store no diddly about SW and those that do cannot be counted on to be honest. Rick at least will give you the unvarnished truth.
Angela |
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#22
01/25/2005, 11:40 AM
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You folks in binghamton.....
I am finding that I no longer have time to properly maintain my reef tank and have lost several items due to it. I think it best I get out of the hobby for now. Those eight month old kids sure keep you busy! So.....I'll list what I have and if you are in the area and want to come look, email or call me and you can come over and take a look. I can't bear to bring this stuff back to the store where, 1 it will probably die and 2 they won't give me much for it.....well nature might but that's more work than I like! Hammer coral - Purple and green, branching, getting big. M-Large Goniopora - pink, almost 18 months old, had it's ups and down. Clown trigger - small emperor angel - juvenile Maroon Clown - medium Green Bubble Anemone Coral Beauty xenia green polyps orange polyps Also.....I have a dual metal halide ballast that I won't be needing if I get rid of this stuff. There might be one or two things I'm missing but that's all that's left really. |
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#24
01/25/2005, 12:49 PM
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Sure, I've got base rock that is now very well established (coralline etc.) but it's not very porous so it's not going to be as good as live rock. Some of the bigger pieces are just sitting in the sump, sizes there range from 10lb to 30lb. You could take some of that now. The stuff in the tank, some of which is live rock would have to wait until the inhabitant were gone.
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