deal or no deal

If your not the "handyman" then it doesnt sound that bad, but I would still shop around. Even try craigslist or ebay. When I up graded from my 45g to my current 90g, I made my own stand from scratch using the "blue print" from the stand from the 45g and I went around town looking at other stands and how they where made. Its not hard at all. And I didnt use staples any where either.lol

 

Using base rock poses less threat of disease/parasites than live rock.
If something is completely dead how can it hold a disease???

 

right and they are cheaper anyway

 

Diseases and parasites come on fish and corals too, so it defeats the purpose of starting from base rock, base rock is just a lot cheaper than live rock

 

my tank will be using pretty much water from an existing tank from a friend of mine, he will take out around 100g from his system to give it to me, he got alot of reef tanks.