While I'm waiting.........

[dwish8990]

I've got an empty 55gal tank right now. I'm currently waiting on my RO/DI unit to be shipped to me which I should have by mid-late next week. In the mean time do you think it would be a good idea to order my live rock? I was thinking to buy one of those rubbermaid tubs and buy a few gallons of saltwater from the LFS and have the rocks sit in there until my RO/DI comes in. I heard its good to make sure that the rocks are"fully cured" and get the rest of the die-off before they go into the tank. If you agree with this what else would i need besides the saltwater for the live rocks to be ok in the bucket?>

TIA

 

[revhtree]

I don't think it would be a problem at all. You will need a heater, and a powerhead in there.

 

[Fluff]

I would just wait. Then you can use the LR to cycle your tank.

 

[Phyl]

If you're setting up a new tank why not just pick up the water from the LFS to have running in your tank waiting for the LR to get here. You'll want to use the LR to cycle your tank and if you order it from a great online place for rock, like LR.com it will cycle your tank quickly and you'll be ready to go!

Having your own RO/DI is a great convenience once your system is up and running but since you're planning on buying water from the LFS why not buy enough water to start your tank? You could even buy the RO/DI and salt from them and then start that way if you didn't want to shell out the money for 55g of SW from them.

 

[dwish8990]

RO/DI that I ordered off ebay was $90... the one at the LFS is a minimum of $260 without the DI. As for buying 55 gallons of saltwater from teh store... isn't that expensive?

If you're setting up a new tank why not just pick up the water from the LFS to have running in your tank waiting for the LR to get here. You'll want to use the LR to cycle your tank and if you order it from a great online place for rock, like LR.com it will cycle your tank quickly and you'll be ready to go!

Having your own RO/DI is a great convenience once your system is up and running but since you're planning on buying water from the LFS why not buy enough water to start your tank? You could even buy the RO/DI and salt from them and then start that way if you didn't want to shell out the money for 55g of SW from them.

 

[Salttanker]

I saw that on Ebay as well. Is that the 100GPD model? I spent way more than that on mine. Let us know how well it works. Like everyone said, you can go ahead and get started, just use the water from the lfs to start with so you can get your lr going.

Mike

 

[Phyl]

The RO/DI water at my LFS is .50/g and the premixed SW is 1.00. My RO/DI is from ebay too (FilterDirect) and we're very happy with it. I hope you have as good an experience with yours. From what I'm to understand, if it came from FD you can view the manuals on line which will make more sense since those will be in color. The b/w printed manual refers to a blue section which can't be identified on the b/w photo! The salt at the LFS is pretty expensive here too. At the LFS I'd pay 80$ a 160g bucket v. about 44$ online for the same bucket, and that includes shipping!

 

[revhtree]

If you are in a big hurry like most of us were and are, then go ahead and purchase the water and salt and set it up. If you want to save bucks, then just wait a few more days.

Oh the joys of SW!!

 

[Salttanker]

Yeah..if it's that much, I would just wait it out. You waited this long, right? What a few more days. 8)

Mike

 

[dwish8990]

Oh, yeah I already have the salt.. maybe I will go pickup the RO/DI water from the LFS. They sell live rock there as well so I'll pick up some of that while I'm there and get the cycle started on my tank. I'll need something to do this weekend since I just heard a snowstorm is heading toward NJ. LR + LS will get my cycle started right? Do I need to throw a shrimp in there ?

The RO/DI water at my LFS is .50/g and the premixed SW is 1.00. My RO/DI is from ebay too (FilterDirect) and we're very happy with it. I hope you have as good an experience with yours. From what I'm to understand, if it came from FD you can view the manuals on line which will make more sense since those will be in color. The b/w printed manual refers to a blue section which can't be identified on the b/w photo! The salt at the LFS is pretty expensive here too. At the LFS I'd pay 80$ a 160g bucket v. about 44$ online for the same bucket, and that includes shipping!

 

[Salttanker]

Just make sure the salinity, pH, and temperature are good before you throw the lr in. If the lr is uncured, then you really don't need the shrimp. The lr will take care of it for you.
I did hear about that storm. They said to get home before rush hour as it was going to be a doozy!

Mike

 

[Phyl]

Where in NJ are you? What LFS do you use? I'm in NJ and use Tropaquarium when I *have* to use a LFS, but the prices for stuff online is so much better. The fish from Trop seem to be healthy though. I've been happy with my livestock purchases. I'd get my LR from www.liverocks.com though. You can buy the base rock from the LFS though. Otherwise you're going to pay 2x what you have to pay for it. JMHO

 

[dwish8990]

I'm located in Montclair. I've been going to "absolutley fish" www.absolutleyfish.com They have a pretty large selection. I passed by there after work today and asked about buying RO/DI water from them... they said $0.80 a gallon. I think I might just purchase 50 gal of water and get a shrimp to start my tanks cycle tomorrow. I forgot to ask about the live rock prices but I'll let you know. If they're expensive ill try www.liverocks.com.

Where in NJ are you? What LFS do you use? I'm in NJ and use Tropaquarium when I *have* to use a LFS, but the prices for stuff online is so much better. The fish from Trop seem to be healthy though. I've been happy with my livestock purchases. I'd get my LR from www.liverocks.com though. You can buy the base rock from the LFS though. Otherwise you're going to pay 2x what you have to pay for it. JMHO