Noobie has Questions

[Duff Man]

Hi all

Been lurking here for a while now. I bought a 75 gallon reef ready tank second hand which came with all the extras including a sump, pump, skimmer, etc. I finally got the All Glass mission stand and canopy, so I have to get this thing going and can't wait. I am planning on starting out with a FOWLR setup and may go reef in the future. I have a feeling if I go reef it will be a whole seprate setup. I have a couple questions that I can't find answers for or am not quite sure of.

I am not ready to get a RO/DI yet. I am thinking about getting the water from a local water delivery service. Is this ok? Is there anything I should look out for?

To transport the tank, some PVC had to be cut. Are the standard plumbing PVC cleaners and glues from Home Depot ok to use for the aquarium or are there special products?

I was told not to get live rock via ebay or mail order. I think the guy had a bad experience. Any thoughts?

Is the aragonite sand in the LFS with the bacteria the stuff I should use to cycle the tank along with live rock?

Any direction on these questions or insight into the hobby will be greatly appreciated.

[BadOleRoss]

I purchased all of my LR (600#s) online from the Drs. I have not had a problem with any of it. I would save up and get an RO/DI to start with and then set the tank up. An RO/DI will run you $200 tops.....LR is a lot more. Aragonite sand is fine and you can seed it with LR or use a pound or 2 of sand from an established tank. Read this thread regarding setting up a tank.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=239848

[reefrottie]

The home Depot pcv glue is fine. I ordered my live rock off ebay. came in 2 days. ( From fla to sc) and it was $3.00 a pound (shipping included) and was the best rock I have ever seen. The LFS here want $8.00 a pond with no life on it. I had no prob.
No need to buy the sand with the bacteria. The live rock will take of all the bacteria . Thats all part of the cycling process.

[jpd02]

Take it from someone who made the mistake: get an RO/DI unit right off the bat - its a small price to pay to avoid the problems you'll inevitably have without it. I have a Kent Marine Maxxima 4-stage unit and am very happy with it. If you are going to go with the water delivery service, make sure the water has been purified via reverse osmosis and is not just "distilled" or "spring water".

I always used the standard PVC cement from Home Depot and never had a problem. Just make sure you use the purple primer stuff. I've also been told that it helps to smooth the ends of the PVC pipe before you cement it into a fitting - I always did this and I never had a joint fail (although its quite possible that the sanding had nothing to do with it).

I ordered my liverock online from liveaquaria (Fiji Premium rock) and was very happy with it. In my opinion, the bags of "live sand" from the LFS aren't that useful. If you want to seed your sandbed, get some sand from an established tank or order some livesand online.

My advice above all: PATIENCE. Make sure you do your research and plan ahead - this site is a great resource for that.
Good luck.

[MR PALM BEACH]

I got this from HD and been useing It on all my PVC plumbing needs. I think I spent $10 bucks for both. The cement comes In clear and purple, Its just preference IMO clear allways looks cleaner.

[Duff Man]

Thanks for the replies.