LFS ripp off! LR best to buy dry and on line! IMO

So after hours and hours of research on this site and the web, I realized my LFS guy was trying to rip me off!....by selling me "his" LR and sand. Dont get me wrong, he was very knowledgeable and gave me a lot of good info, but I will be buying my base rock off the web, prob from BRS and sand hopefully from homedepot or lowes (arganite only of course). Thanks to everyone who has given knowledgeable info on this site....u all are going to save me s**t load of $$$.

would 50lbs of dry pukani rock be sufficient to start my 55 gal tall w/ 20 gal sump? I know I can always add more rock later. I do have some LR rock right now curing (i think) that came from an established reef w/ corraline on it already, which I will be using to seed my tank.

How much sand is recommended?

Oh yeah LFS guy has his LR for sale at $6 a lb....he said I'll give it to u for $4 a lb....I thought I was gunna be gettin a deal .....thank goodness for this site!

Thanks.

 

haha $6 is still cheap compared to what some lfs charge! lol

 

$4 a lb isnt bad for liverock at all

 

Yeah I have read some outrageous prices on here.....but I want to start from ground zero and watch the beauty happen from the beginning.

I dont know exactly one kind of rock he has, but I really like the look of the pukani.....however, would I benefit from just buying from LFS? I know its prob a personal preference. But opinions and thoughts never hurt.

 

It wouldnt hurt to buy just one nice rock of your choice from the LFS and base rock for the rest, just to seed. You may also get some nice hitchers from the LR.

 

I would buy almost all dry rock or all dry and seed coralline with some scrapings. The reason it's better to buy dry is you never know what will come in with the live rock. It could be over a year before evil fish killing crabs or little coral eaters start popping up in your rock. They can be near impossible to get rid of in some cases.

 

$4 is a friggen steal... they aren't ripping you off at all.

 

I got mine from a local reefer for $3 a lb..

$4 is an amazing deal, $6 is still good. We have a store that sells their best cycled rock for $12 a lb.

 

Thats primarily the reason I want to go all dry....dont want any hitchhikers. So the LR I have here with me....I should ony use a tiny piece to seed?....I have about 3-5 lbs.

 

I didnt think $4 was bad....I just started seeing rock on the web for $2 - $3 plus free shipping.....now to me that was a deal. Especially after learning about the possible hitchhiker problems that could occur.

The rock he was selling was actually uncured, which he recommended to be better when just starting out.