New to everything :-Þ

[Mickadee]

I was wandering out of a typically good liverock speciman what could somone expect to see grow out of the rock itself, I ask the LPS and was told "Nothing you have to buy everything the rock only contains micro organisims nothing else..and you cant see those" me being new to this I have learned that crabs and other such animals will hitch a ride on the new rock (( from this BB)) but what other organisms EX feather dusters and such would (( could )) show up?

I have been reading a lot of the threads and they have been very helpful in planning where I am going with this fabulous new addition to my life .. right now as a starter tank is a 55 gal a tetrac500 filter and 6 damsels ..skimmer and other devises are on there way just got a start on cycling the tank ... this tank is actually going to end up being my quarentine tank I have a 150 gal on order that will arive in a couple of months.
I know I am jumping into but I figure if I get the tanks and get them cycled then I start the adventour of what I going to be putting in the tank..

I also have a 20 gal thats has cycled it has various crabs in it nothing else I like them but didnt figure they would go good in a reef type tank which is my ultimate goal (( and as I read most agree the arent))
any one that can help on this I would very appreciative.
sorry for the long poast again thanks..
Mike
Searcy Arkansas

[Minnreefer]

Welcome
It sounds like you are starting to think and start right. Ask all the questions that you can think of and go slow, at least when adding livestock. Good liverock from a good vendor can and probably will have a lot of stuff on it, the stuff from your LFS may not have much stuff on it. Live rock from someone like www.premiumaquatics.com will probably have stuff like; worms, sponges, critters, bad stuff, coralin algea and many many other stuff.

The biggest thing that you can do that will make the hobby the most benificial is read and ask questions. A few book to recomend is "the Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner, "Natural Reef Aquariums by Tullock and I would also recomend Pocket guide to Marine Fishes by Scott Michael.

You are right about the crabs Most are not safe in a reef.

Welcome again and enjoy and learn.
Jonathan

[FishDaddy]

Hi Mike,

Good to have you here!
My first recommendation would be to get a copy of Robert Fenner's The Conscientious Marine Aquarist and/or Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock. These books give you an excellent and comprehensive introduction to keeping a reef and are valuable reference books to keep.

I would also recommend getting the Damsels out as soon as possible. It is not necessary to use fish to cycle a tank and Damsels are extremely territorial and will harass any new fish added to the tank. Once you get a fair amount of rock in the tank, they will be very difficult to remove.

Good live rock will come with all sorts of life, from crustaceans, worms, various polyps, sponges, and many more. I would seriously question the knowledge of the LFS that told you otherwise. Here is an excellent site that illustrates the common "Critters On Live Rock": http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/

Here are some other excellent sites and articles that I recommend while you are waiting on your books: http://www.wyx.com/iheo/tank/new.htm http://saltyzoo.com:8081/ http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html

Again, welcome to TRT!
Dick

[Doug1]

What shows up on your live rock is basically a crap shoot. There are way too many variables to say you will get this that or the other thing. So much depends on where it originated, where you got it , how long it was cured and so on. The basics have been pretty much covered but there are always surprises. Enjoy
Cycling with damsels and live rock puts fish in uneccessary hell. Even with lots of live mrock and live sand always give a reef tank around 6 months to stabilize and slowly ramp up the bio load. Dont forget the detrivore, there are a lot of critters you can add that are greatly beneficial that may or may not come in on the live rock. Acess to other reefers or a reef club will give you the opportunity to increase the bio-diversisty of your tank, otherwise you may seriously want to consider adding some of the goodies from our sponsor IPSF or INland aquatics(Best to do both if possible to increase the bio gene pool)

[Mickadee]

thanks guys I want to get into it slow but as I can already tell thats going to be hard looking at what to choose from.. But I will try to hold myself back..
the damsels what told by LFS its neccesary to sycle it I dont what damsels in the tank I like there colors but the fish themselfs from what I have seen of them arent al that great to chose from. I have a friend of mine that whats them when I get done which mybe real soon due to more reading .... I have gotten live sand from a store in Little Rock which was full of stuff the sand was full of movement in the bag got it for 4$ apound also have live rock on order fiji and tonga $200 doallars for 50 # of each.
I will check into those books and websites...
again thanks for everything
Mike
Searcy AR