Help with transition from fish only to reef

mobilerealtor · Post by **mobilerealtor** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:40 pm

I am inheriting an existing 35g salt water tank. It is currently fish and mobile invertebrates only (4 damsels, starfish, urchins, horseshoe crab). It has a crushed coral base with some shell/rock structures but no live rock. I am not new to maintaining fish only tanks, but the majority of my experience has been in maintaining large freshwater tanks. I want to convert this tank to a reef. I am doing my research and checking around, but I am open to any advice on the following:

Transition from fish only to reef
Best (and cheapest) source for live rock/sand
Can I use a combo of crushed coral/sand base? or bad idea?
Good sturdy corals to start with
Best sources for corals

Or anything else you guys feel you should point out to a reef newbie. Thanks guys, looking forward to learning a lot.

Squirrelboy · Post by **Squirrelboy** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:28 am

I dont like horseshoe crabs and certain urchins in a reef tank because they can cause damage, and depending on the corals to want a sand bed is better than the crushed coral but a mixture is possible, but depends on the corals. As far as live rock and sand its cheapest when someone on here decided to sell some but if you need to go to a store and buy some I know the 3rd friday of every month B&B has free pound friday which makes every 3rd pound of the 6.99/lb rock free which helps a pretty good bit. pink samona sand is around 22 bucks for a 20lb bag you could use 2 in your tank if you do replace most of the crushed coral. I dont remember your other questions, but its not too much of a transition, main thing is going to be your lighting and you will need to start dosing chemicals at some point to help your corals, progressive marine has some excellent zoa frags which are a good beginner coral and the price they charge for the small frags makes them a perfect starting/testing coral. If you need any help I work at B&B and if you get a chance to stop by I should be there tomorrow afternoon and tuesday afternoon if you would like to stop by, always happy to help someone starting a reef who actually cares about things.

mykpoz · Post by **mykpoz** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:15 pm

as a personal opinion...

I'd ditch the damsels if you aren't attached to them, as you will probably want to add some other peaceful fish in the future, and they are notorious for being bullies...

also, what kind of starfish are they?

jdmorgan20fan · Post by **jdmorgan20fan** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:06 pm

I bought my live rock off of ebay taking a chance but it was well worth it not to mention how cheap it was. It goes for 1.99 lb to 5-6 bucks a lb with around 25.00 dollars shipping. Everytime i have gotten mine from ebay, it has been very colorful and super nice.