JSanta

I saw that in a magazine I picked up at CTE this weekend! My wife and I are going to try and attend at least for a day.

Thanks for the offer! I've arranged for a live rock pickup from another member for this week. Wildcrazyjoker81 has been extremely helpful and we've been trading texts the past couple of days. Thank you all again for being so kind and helpful!

Honestly that was where I was planning on getting it. If you could be PM me the contact info for your friend that would be greatly appreciated. I also introduced the source of ammonia into the tank and now the cycle has officially started. I will check the chemistry every day or so along with the salinity to make sure the tank has fully cycled before introducing the live rock.

Brilliant, thank you very much for the advice! I will go and grab some food and put a bit in the tank. Not my favorite place, but I am fortunate to have a Petsmart right across the street from my house. Good for when I need cat food, but not much for my parrots or this tank!

If I understand correctly, we have a good 4 inch layer of live sand on the bottom to begin the cycle. The shop advised that we run this for about a week and check the chemistry, and then bring in the live rock and do another week or two to cycle again.

I was referred here by a friend I served with that said the folks here are an invaluable resource and really helped him get his first reef tank up and going. My wife and I purchased our first tank yesterday, a really nice 55 gallon tank that is about 48 inches long. I got it setup yesterday with the live sand, salt, filter, protein skimmer, heating element, and a current fan. This morning, the water has cleared up really well and the salinity levels are exactly where our shop told us it needed to be. A bit later today I will run the water quality tests and if everything goes well, we'll get the live rocks in the tank next weekend if the readings are where they should be. LED lights are on order as a set came highly recommended from a friend that has had success with his fish and corals. We are going to take this process slow and make sure we do everything we do is good for all inhabitants. This seems like a great hobby because nothing can be rushed, and it's a good reminder to slow down and enjoy life. We are located in Columbia, MD and received a ton of help at House of Tropicals in Glen Burnie. I probably won't post much at first, but thank you to everyone for contributing to people like me that are just starting out.