Good to buy or not

[necjeb]

LFS has some lr for sale that is in their display tanks. it has been setup for a few years and they add to it as they sell it. some of the pieces have a nice "grown" look to them and some have some corals and things growing. my question is i will be setting up my tank in a few months from scratch, when it comes time is this good lr to buy will my cycle have a jump start since it is already in a mature system or will it harm the stuff living on it. will still not add fish for few months either way till i get the hang of an indoor setup, but dont want to spend a little extra per pound if it wont mater thanks. also first store i went to said lighting for tanks with corals starts at $1200 and the second said coral lights start at $169 which seem closer? thanks

[Devilishturtles]

It would definitley help cycle your tank. If it isn't too much, I say go for it. But...you can get rock just as nice, maybe cheaper, and have lesss worry too. How much are they asking per pound for the rock?

About the lighting, their estimate is way off. Depending on tank size, lighting is probably anywhere from $120 up to $400 or more, depending on type of lighting and size. Best to look into certain corals you want to keep (sps, lps, softies, zoos, etc.) and then decide what kind of light you need.

HTH

[Ziggy953]

I don't know about lighting starting at $1200 but it can get there fast. Check on ebay for retros and other lighting systems, you can usually find great deals there. As for the LR, I would not put a rock with coral on it into a tank that hasn't cycled as its chances of survival are pretty slim.(the coral) Any LR that you put into your tank will help jump-start your cycle and shorten its length. When I started my tank I filled the tank with RO/DI water and then mixed the salt into the water. The tank was completely empty no sand or rock or anything just the tank and water. I got it to temperature and had it running through the filter, at that time a wet/dry. I let it run overnight and checked salinity and made any adjustments needed, ie. more salt or RO/DI water. After the tank had been running for about a week and I had the SG correct I got some LS (about 40lbs) and I got some play sand and put all of it into the tank. I also got my LFS to give me a cup of sand out of their fuge. This helped to seed the tank. I let this run for another week, testing the water every other day or so. After a week I got my fist piece of LR and put it into the tank. A few more weeks and more rock went into the tank. All in all I spent nearly 3 months putting rock into the tank, testing the whole time, also upgraded at some point to a 10g fuge and got rid of the bio-balls and sponges from the wet/dry and put in LR rubble. I didn't put a fish into the tank until month 4. I never really had a "cycle" I used cured rock and LS from mature systems so I never had the spikes of amonia and nitrites. My tank is going into its' second year now with excellent success I think. I've had the ups and downs of algae like many others but usually because of something I have done or not done.

HTH

[roka64]

I bought my Aqualight Pro HQI/Compact Fluorescent/Lunar Light Fixture and got the 72" 834W for $899. Check out that site, they tend to have decent prices and don't charge extra for bulky items.
I also bought Base Rock to save a lot of money, and I can mix it with LR so it will become live.

[necjeb]

thanks for the replies cant wait till i get to set it all up

[melosu58]

We cant wait either. The good thing about buying from the LFS is that you can choose and pick the sizes you want. Alot of times depending how long it`s been at your LFS the bad life forms will come out of the rock and you wont have that much of it. The bad news is that mine cost 8.99 a pound X 200 lbs. = Shock. If you are looking for deals check online places. Also you can use Scotts Base rock link to save money also. Could you please fill in your info section so we can know what size tank you have. Welcome to AA

[necjeb]

yeah its 6.99 a lb at the lfs i went to last night when he said i would need atleast 1 lb for every gallon my jaw dropped. i did not fill out the profile yet b/c im atleast 2 -3 months away from getting anything just want to be ready with as much info as possib;e when i do get it. just waterproofed my basement last week and want to wait for a good spring rain week to make sure it worked before putting anything down there. what happens when the power goes out? how long can the tank handle no power?

[melosu58]

It will depend on how low the temp. gets and if you had a battery back up air pump or something to aggitatate the surface for added aeration. A generator might be in your future.