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.