Let there be Life!

[mmartinho]

Hey all. New to the forum. Had a reef tank about 15 years ago when you could still buy coral on rocks straight from the ocean which meant diverse life was introduced to my tank back then. Sponges and all kinds of microscopic life was present in the tank. Had to give it up when I moved and I understand why a responsible reef hobbyist would want to avoid that.

I started a new tank with dry rock two months ago, but except for some chromis and chaeto, it's pretty barren. I intend to eventually add some coral but looking to first create a healthy micro environment. Can anyone out there spare/sell a bit of gravel, suck some water out of a well established sump and/or part with a couple small live rocks with some living fauna on it? I live is San Carlos and happy to travel to add some life to my barren desert of a tank. Feel free to reach out to me directly at mark@vabrato.com if you can help. Thank you and I look forward to meeting some of you in the future.

 

[Turkeysammich]

Welcome. I can give you a seeded live rock. If you’re a supporting member. Our club has seeded bio bricks that we share for the exact purpose.

Membership returns 100 fold. Easy.

 

[mmartinho]

Tried joining, get this message for payment?

 

[Turkeysammich]

@Darkxerox @CaseyP

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Hey all. New to the forum. Had a reef tank about 15 years ago when you could still buy coral on rocks straight from the ocean which meant diverse life was introduced to my tank back then. Sponges and all kinds of microscopic life was present in the tank. Had to give it up when I moved and I understand why a responsible reef hobbyist would want to avoid that.

I started a new tank with dry rock two months ago, but except for some chromis and chaeto, it's pretty barren. I intend to eventually add some coral but looking to first create a healthy micro environment. Can anyone out there spare/sell a bit of gravel, suck some water out of a well established sump and/or part with a couple small live rocks with some living fauna on it? I live is San Carlos and happy to travel to add some life to my barren desert of a tank. Feel free to reach out to me directly at mark@vabrato.com if you can help. Thank you and I look forward to meeting some of you in the future.

I have a 10 year old tank coming down in 3 weeks.
Lots of sand available full of micro fauna

 

[mmartinho]

That would be great if I could grab some sand and even if possible a couple ugly small rocks I can place in my sump if you can spare them. Where are you located?

 

[Kensington Reefer]

That would be great if I could grab some sand and even if possible a couple ugly small rocks I can place in my sump if you can spare them. Where are you located?

The Tank is in Berkeley

 

[CaseyP]

Welcome back to the hobby! Don't be discouraged for the first year if you're using dry rock. Even with seeding bottled bacteria or a bit of live rock, it's nothing like getting a fresh shipment from Fiji like back then. You'll have an extended ugly with all sorts of algae, dinoflagellates, etc and it'll be a while before the rock becomes filled with life. The practice now is that it's actually ok to add easier corals right away and they'll contribute to the bio load to get your biome going. Just be careful not to add anything that can become a weed that you'll regret later on.

Seeding your biome from a mature tank is definitely the way to go. There's also some live rock options from Florida like Tampa Bay Saltwater or places like High Tide Aquatics in Oakland that will sell rock from their system.

 

[mmartinho]

Welcome back to the hobby! Don't be discouraged for the first year if you're using dry rock. Even with seeding bottled bacteria or a bit of live rock, it's nothing like getting a fresh shipment from Fiji like back then. You'll have an extended ugly with all sorts of algae, dinoflagellates, etc and it'll be a while before the rock becomes filled with life. The practice now is that it's actually ok to add easier corals right away and they'll contribute to the bio load to get your biome going. Just be careful not to add anything that can become a weed that you'll regret later on.

Seeding your biome from a mature tank is definitely the way to go. There's also some live rock options from Florida like Tampa Bay Saltwater or places like High Tide Aquatics in Oakland that will sell rock from their system.

Casey. Thank you so much for the warm welcome and advice... yeah I'm going through the ugly dino stage right now. I'll maybe look for some hardy soft corals to add for now and get into the more fragile stony items when the tank has settled down. I am really excited to be back into the hobby again.

 

[mmartinho]

Well according to Casey above I should start adding some easier corals. I'm just starting the tank so I got nothing to trade anyone. Anyone got some hardy soft corals they are willing to sell? FYI - I'm not a member but promise I'll join as soon as the payment portal works. Thanks in advance.

 

[psidriven]

Add your location to your profile so it’s easier to coordinate trades/help/etc. Plenty of us have easy corals you can have that you can hopefully pass it forward. I have some GSP, Kenya tree

 

[spuri87]

Tried joining, get this message for payment?
View attachment 79588

Tagging @yosemiteclimber in case he is aware if recent website could have caused this to happen.. @CaseyP are you aware of any new supporting members who joined after we updated the website?

We should probably test/fix this ASAP, we may be unintentionally blocking guests from becoming supporting members for sometime now, but only got to know now, thanks to OP.