New to Salt Water

[VinceVid]

Hi My name is Vincent. I have been looking into doing a saltwater tank for a while now. I have been looking for the supplies that I would need in order to start a tank. Being a college student I don't really have the room for a really large tank, I was thinking a nano tank somewhere around 10-20 Gallons. I have looked around some stores like Petsmart and Petco looking for supplies like live sand, lights, and other things needed. The one thing I have been unable to find so far is Live Rock. I have seen it online but was wondering if there was any place around Huntsville that carried it. Also water, I have read that tap water is probably not the best for reef tanks. I see that Walmart has reverse osmosis water, is that the best way to go right now? Any help would be great.
Thank you,
Vincent

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Welcome to the forum, Vincent!

You can get live rocks in town at places like Coral Reef Aquatics in Athens or The Aquarium Shop in Huntsville. If you don't mind travelling a little bit of distance to Cullman, Jason and Tammy have nice rocks at a lot more reasonable price. You can go with a combination of mostly base rocks and a few live rocks. By the time the tank goes through nitrogen cycling, your base rocks will be colonized with good bacteria.

As for RO water, you can buy it from Walmart or you can buy premixed salt water from Coral Reef Aquatics at something like 80 cents per gallon if I am not mistaken. Coral Reef Aquatics is only open from Thursday through Sunday. You can reach them at 604-9773 for directions to the store and pricing. Their website is not updated, but it will give you an idea for the location (coralreefaquatics.com). Jason and Tammy post in this forum frequently. You can send them a message to find out what they have to offer.

Hope this helps,

Tomoko

 

[beaslbob]

Vince

there is IMHO lots you can do to save and still have an acceptable system especially for fish and soft corals. Huntsville has limestone quarrries that sell limestone rock for $20/ton for instance. Back in the old days we used to build structures from lava rocks but that is not currently the in thing to do.

If you balance out the tank with macro algaes like chaetomorphia you can have a tank that does not require any further filtration and is extremely stable in operation.

my .02

 

[Tomoko Schum]

You can also buy lace rocks from garden shops like Across-the-Pond in Hunstville. They sell it cheaper than an LFS does.

 

[VinceVid]

Thanks for all the advice. I will keep this in mind.

 

[H@rry]

I have some lace rock and I like it for it's unusual contours. I like some flat pieces to make shelves. It looks good but I don't think it is very good at being "live". It is pretty dense and probably can't contain the bacteria that live rock should.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I read that nitrifying bacteria prefer calcareous stones. So, aragonite base rocks may be preferable. In time nitrifying bacteria can colonize the exterior surfaces of lace rocks as demonstrated by aerobic nitrifying bacteria colonizing various filter media surfaces. However, anaerobic denitrifying bacteria, which supposedly live inside marine live rocks, may not reside inside lace rocks.

 

[H@rry]

Yeah, I realize that bacteria will colonize the exterior surface of lace rock but it is so dense that they won't be able to get any further. If we want lace rock for the appearance, that's fine. But if we're looking for "live rock" we will still probably need something from the reef. I had some tufa rock from the landscaping place one time but I didn't leave it in the tanks for very long. It was somewhat crumbly and light which would suggest that it would be colonized internally. I took it out for some reason and it's in the flower bed now.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

it's in the flower bed now

LOL. Whatever works. I would rather have aragonite/calcite base rock than these tufa rocks myself. A number of people seem to be very happy lately with Marco rocks and Bulk Reef Supply's Eco rocks.

 

[beaslbob]

I would rather have my nitrates consumed with algae then anaerobic bacteria.

my .02

 

[gnoles]

My order from Marco Rocks was great. Part of me wishes I'd bought more, the other is perfectly happy with what I got for the money.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I don't think anaerobic bacteria can comsume enough nitrates in our tanks unless you keep your bioload very very low. Macroalgae and microalgae can take up the rest very well. Bealsbob may like any algae, but I definitely prefer macroalgae over microalgae. You should consider adding some chaetomorpha to your collection.

Gary -

I heard that you can order Marco rocks by size. Is that true?

 

[beaslbob]

I don't think anaerobic bacteria can comsume enough nitrates in our tanks unless you keep your bioload very very low. Macroalgae and microalgae can take up the rest very well. Bealsbob may like any algae, but I definitely prefer macroalgae over microalgae. You should consider adding some chaetomorpha to your collection.

...

I agree macro algae is better. micro algae in a algae truf scrubber would seem to be effective but I have no actual experience.

I disagree about the bioload. I have had unmeasureable nitrates and phosphates with heavy bioloads. And by adding fish slowly have had no ammoina or nitrIte spikes during the initial cycle. Even with no other filtration, no live sand or rocks, and no water changes.

Still just my .02

 

[Tomoko Schum]

As long as micro algae is confined to a certain space such as a fuge or a turf scrubber plate, I don't have a problem. I do mind when they migrate into the display tank and encroach on my corals. I want my tank to be aesthetically pleasing.

We need to balance the nutrient load (= bioload) with the capacity of macroalgae. I have no problem with a heavy bioload as long as the capacity of nutrient export mechanism exceeds the bioload. A very heavy bioload can easily exceed the capacity of macroalgae if you only have a small amount of macroalgae. We should not expect just a tiny clump of macroalgae to consume the ammonia and phosphate liberated from a large amount of fish waste coming out of big tangs, lion fish, or any other large messy eaters.

Macroalgae grow fast if they are provided with enough light and nutrients. If you intend to use a planted refugium to be the main means of excess nutrient export, I would recommend adding a large amount of macroalgae to start with so as not to give nuisance algae an upper hand.

 

[H@rry]

A couple of weeks ago I got 3 red mangroves and simply dropped them into the overflow boxes. One seems to have shown a little growth and the others are just sitting there.

Boy, have we derailed/hijacked this thread! Sorry Vincent but Bealzebub and Tomoko started it!

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Yeah, it's beaslbob's fault .

 

[VinceVid]

Its no problem. been an interesting read.

 

[beaslbob]

Yeah, it's beaslbob's fault .

Yeppers. :sure:

 

[gnoles]

I heard that you can order Marco rocks by size. Is that true?

Sorry Tomoko, this thread rolled to page two of subscribed, so I missed the question.

When I ordered, they were on sale for the "regular" marco rock. I did place a note in the order that requested a certain number of large pieces. Had UPS done a touch better, I think it would have been all large pieces. 5-10 lbs. each.

As it was, I replaced all the rock in my tank and was able to do a dry fit on the floor in front of the tank to get a feel for what I was looking for. I know Mark now does a "cherry pick" rock order, but it's almost as much as live rock, so I took the deal and ran. Last year's independence day sale was a good one for me.

 

[mike_dani]

When I ordered form Mark himself, I asked for some pictures of large flat rocks and an example of a 150 pounds of his most porous rock. I called him back after review the pictures and I "Chery Picked" what I wanted.....

You can also give Jason.Tammy a PM and see if they have LR, I have found they have the best rock and the price cant be beat....