The Puffer Forum

Small enough? Make em big...

Make em big and go through photobucket

I prefer imageshack... don't need a username.

Are you sure it's a pistol & not a mantis?

My LR cost $80 for 10 lbs, we get a deal at our fav LFS

Not that great of a deal, IMO.

Go with the strongest bulbs you can fit in there.

Yea 8$ a LB is normal. So if the LFS said they gave you a deal they lied. Awesome gettin goodies with the LR. I just wouldnt waste my money on a teeny unstable tank like that, only bc in no time at all youll want to add more cool stuff. and it doesnt cost much more to actually run a larger SW tank. Its the amount of corals and stuff that can get pricey. My LFS sells all kind of frags 3 for 40$ and the frags are large compared to my other LFS here. Definetly you wanna consider the lighting being less if you dont intend on lots of corals. Lower light= less algae. And with a powerful light is best for coral just make sure you have enough corals to compete for that light or a multitude of algaes will definetly take over. ALso doing a small tank means really small WC. anything too big will disturb you fish and corals. Like the leather may shed to often if the wc is too big.

About to fill a tank with fiji. The place I buy rock its 2.99 a lb. Always.

I'm spoiled. The reef club members around here sometimes sell LR as low as $1/lb.

I wouldn't call $8 normal either. The highest retailer sells for $5.99 around here. $4 is about average.

The LFS in town sell there LR for $10/lb so paying $8 where I go is a deal for me. I have a 45g SW FOWLR as well. I don't want a whole bunch of corals just a few. And the 10g is very close to the kitchen sink so doing water changes and evap top offs aren't an issue with me. I do top offs on my 45g 55g and the 10g so I don't mind. I have 2 10W 50/50 Coraline Bulbs on it now, my tank hood didn't like the 20w ones and it ended badly for them O.o Anyways for corals im just thinking of getting zoas and something else, haven't made up my mind yet. I'll try to post pics later today

Zoas should do well under most bulbs but I don't like the color of the 50/50.

+1 to PPunk 50/50 looks funky. I love my T5 setup has great color, timers, and lunar lights. I like the LED bc it adds the shimmer effect like youd see in a pool or on the actual reefs.

We only had 1 saltwater store in charlotte NC untill a few months ago. There LR for premium is 14 a pound. 1 other store just opened and another will be opened by the end of the weekend so im hopeing the competition will bring there prices down. I still need about 20 lbs so if anyone lives near charlotte and has some LR they are selling let me know lol its way to expensive around here to get the nice looking stuff.

Try Craigslist too. I always see ppl breaking down tanks and selling the LR dirt cheap. I just might be sure to inspect it throughly so you dont intoduce nuisance algaes etc. Thats kinda why I prefer the store its fresh and its fun to watch the life re-evolve in your tank. Although sometimes ppl on CL have amazing live rock. All purped up with extras

Im at a crossing point at the moment I just added 4 hermits and 4 nerites and i dont feel like they have enough grazing pastures so im thinking of getting a couple small peices of LR from the LFS just to help me introduce some algea. I have 10lbs of bacteria only LR at the moment and a 18w light that only grows algea on the top of the rocks. I know i need a better light but my skimmer came first so in a couple weeks i will get the light a little more LR. Its a slow transition but a steady one. OK thats enough of stealing this thread. Sorry.

How long has the tank been up. I have 20+ hermits and about 5 snails with lots of LR. but almost no algae and theyre doing fine. hermits will eat leftover foods like bloodworms and stuf your other fish miss. My hermits go mental when the see bloodworms lol