shopping for tank equiptment

[Jaylivi1212]

I see. Well, its going to take some time for the brs rock to mature. Might even be ugly for a couple years. Kind of wish it would take 7 days, reality is its going to take awhilr. You'll get cyano, hair algae, possible chrysophytes. IME, I found dealing with pests much easier than algae.

Check out the Maxspect Gyres.

is there a website like brs that sells good live rock?

 

[reeferfoxx]

is there a website like brs that sells good live rock?

I've never ordered live rock. Maybe @saltyfilmfolks can help?

 

[Jaylivi1212]

I've never ordered live rock. Maybe @saltyfilmfolks can help?

Also how many gyres would I need?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I've never ordered live rock. Maybe @saltyfilmfolks can help?

We do have to define live. Most live you'll order is wild. Cultured in a bay in Florida and comes with animals bugs algae shrimp crabs etc. might be a bit much for a newer reefer or right up your alley.

What most refer to as live is simply cycled ahead of time in a bin somewhere like your LFS.or you can in buckets or bins at home before you add them to the tank.
As far as ordering that kind I honestly don't know.

Keep in mind many folks have many opinions on the subject of what's best. Best is subjective.

A quick search gave me that pet place .com. They seem to have a pretty gods selection. I would contact them to find out how live is it.

 

[Jaylivi1212]

We do have to define live. Most live you'll order is wild. Cultured in a bay in Florida and comes with animals bugs algae shrimp crabs etc. might be a bit much for a newer reefer or right up your alley.

What most refer to as live is simply cycled ahead of time in a bin somewhere like your LFS.or you can in buckets or bins at home before you add them to the tank.
As far as ordering that kind I honestly don't know.

Keep in mind many folks have many opinions on the subject of what's best. Best is subjective.

A quick search gave me that pet place .com. They seem to have a pretty gods selection. I would contact them to find out how live is it.

would there be a way to speed up the cycling process?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

would there be a way to speed up the cycling process?

In this hobby. Speed kills.

You can do a fishless cycle to begin and add fish in a month. But what winds up happening is adding too many at once , mainly due to feeding. The bacteria does need time to build up and it does take time.

Consider it planting a garden or tree. You start from scratch or have a bunch of guys come plant mature trees. The latter works but $$$$$.

Most of the problem algaes come in with the fish and particularly the corals. So if an invasive algae comes in with no completion from the bio filter it can explode.

If you are starting from scratch I would reccomend cycling in buckets or bins. It's a prettt good head start if you have the room.

 

[Jaylivi1212]

In this hobby. Speed kills.

You can do a fishless cycle to begin and add fish in a month. But what winds up happening is adding too many at once , mainly due to feeding. The bacteria does need time to build up and it does take time.

Consider it planting a garden or tree. You start from scratch or have a bunch of guys come plant mature trees. The latter works but $$$$$.

Most of the problem algaes come in with the fish and particularly the corals. So if an invasive algae comes in with no completion from the bio filter it can explode.

If you are starting from scratch I would reccomend cycling in buckets or bins. It's a prettt good head start if you have the room.

So basically it's either I take a chance with my LFS or just cycle some in a bin and wait.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So basically it's either I take a chance with my LFS or just cycle some in a bin and wait.

Pretty much. You can also clean and dip the stuff from the lfs too if there's a concern.

 

[Jaylivi1212]

Pretty much. You can also clean and dip the stuff from the lfs too if there's a concern.

What could i dip it in?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What could i dip it in?

Tap water.

You can add some peroxide to that as well.

 

[Jaylivi1212]

Tap water.

You can add some peroxide to that as well.

I feel like it would look weird with the different kind of rocks.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I feel like it would look weird with the different kind of rocks.

Washing them?

 

[Jaylivi1212]

Washing them?

In the DT

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

In the DT

Are you talking about mixed types of rock ?

 

[rock_lobster]

My recommendation is only buy live rock if you want a pest only tank. Otherwise buy cycled rock or cycle your own rock.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I feel like it would look weird with the different kind of rocks.

Even natural reefs have different rock. Most rock in the ocean comes from different stony coral colonies that die or get battered from storms, eventually recycled into reef rock. So its not uncommon to see base rock mixed with tabling etc.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

My recommendation is only buy live rock if you want a pest only tank. Otherwise buy cycled rock or cycle your own rock.

Have you purchased wild live rock?

 

[Forsaken77]

I currently

I currently have a sicce voyager 2. I was going to purchase another one. What’s the big difference between that and mp40

I have the Voyager pumps and they're very big. Overly big! The Sicce Xtreme pumps are half the size and give much better flow rates. The Voyager is way outdated and is a waste if money. If you just bought it, I'd return it and get the Xtremes. I have both and only got the Voyager 4 (2x) to work with the controller but I don't use them because they're enormous.

Also, the Apex salinity probe is usually out of wack. It rarely reads the correct salinity. So you'll have to have a refractometer (I prefer the Milwaukee digital refractometer) to check the salinity and see how much the probe is off and then you just go from there. You also need a refractometer for mixing salt.

 

[rock_lobster]

Have you purchased wild live rock?

Yes many times I’ve had at least one reef tank for 20 years now. I currently have 3.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes many times I’ve had at least one reef tank for 20 years now. I currently have 3.

And it was too "pesty" for you?
Or just for newer reefers. Reviews vary so wildly.
For newer reefers I who aren't Ocean nerds and just want some zoas n stuff , yea, I'd avoid it.