Moving to Minot, Suggestions welcome

So as many of you know, I am moving to Minot ND in May.
The question I pose to you, is what do you think is the most cost effective way to stock my tank?
There is a LFS, but I remember a friend of mine telling me how much he paid for a fish(don't remember which) and it was quite expensive. I've done the craigslist thing and there isn't anything close. I went to the closest forum to my knowledge(http://redrivervalleyreefers.com) but they are 4 hours away. I asked the guys on there if there are any closer clubs, but it doesn't appear to be(might have to start my own )

What things could I do to get the bacteria load up enough so I could maybe add 4 or 5 fish at a time(once the rock is cycled) The reason for that is if I order from reefs to go or live aquaria if its over $150~ its free shipping. Or would there be another way to safely keep 5 fish in QT until they go into the tank(or until I can put them in one by one)

Luckily I have plenty of time to work on this

Just stay in cali problem solved

I figured you were going to say something like that. Unfortunately thats not an option(although I am happy to go closer to family)

i would use some pure ammonia. you can get it from dr tim. and i would dose that for a while to get your bacteria levels up. that way you can add a couple of fish without worrying about shocking the tank

Before adding any fish right. Which stuff is it.

Yes. Just look on drtims site. He sells a bottles of pure amonia for fishless cycling

Dr. Tims One and Only is what I used to cycle my tank both times. You can add to the tank and put fish in 1hr later (so the bottle says). I have used it every time and never had a cycle.

For fish, order them online; live aquaria, bluezoo, etc.

One and only does work if you feel like spending the $80 on a bottle of it :/ that is what i did and truthfully it was really not worth it. You could get the same thing done with just the ammonia in 3-4 weeks and that way you save $80 to spend on fish and you are positive the tank is cycled.

Derrick doesn't mind spending the extra money to get what he wants. Knowing him he woould gladly pay $100 for "one and only"...

Thanks Jimmy, I get that comment (He is referring to me not haggling down a price of a trailer that I asked to buy; it’s also 1K$ cheaper than any of the used ones I've seen)
As for the one and only, I may email Dr.Tim about it. I want to know if I can put in 3 or 4 fish initially if I use it, or what I would need to do, in order to accomplish it.
Also, I am hoping to go to CFM or the likes (where he would/might be) and get the products at a cheaper rate. It only has a 6 month shelf life if not stored in a refrigerator, so I need to get it closer to the date I leave(according to the website)

All I'm saying is you never pay the asking price...NEVER! that's all i'm saying

LOL, lesson learned for next time

Although, if memory serves me correctly, you did pay my asking price for the dual reactor

a reactor and a vehicle are 2 seperate things

sisterlimonpot wrote:All I'm saying is you never pay the asking price...NEVER! that's all i'm saying

should have said, never for anything big

ok so I think we should just do what we discussed. Grow all that stuff out and give it to me Ill frag a small piece of what I want and will just ship the corals to you as well as frag you a bunch of stuff from my tank, you just pay for shipping.

I'm still down for that, but the fish is going to be another thing. I may try to bring some with in a cooler, but it would depend on if I get a house right away. If I don't, I'm going to try to find someone there with an established tank to put some corals in. A few guys are already bugging me to bring some west coast stuff there.

I could attempt fish, but we should practice with damsels.

That would be fine with me. I might try the cooler trick.... Not sure yet though.

If your buddies want also I can pick up frags for them and ship them out with your package.

Sweet, I will let them know!

Are you going to be a coral dealer out there hehe. Sounds like you need a frag tank and you'll be in business.

Thats a good Idea derrick, your should set up a frag tank

I think I'm going to, the selection compared to here is horrible!

hey we can talk when I cime to pick up my ATO

don't be so quick to assume there isn't a market there. just because the internet doesn't yield results doesn't mean there isn't a selection. people still trade through other means. when I lived in Wyoming, the guy that I bought all my corals from didn't really advertise online. it was all through word of mouth. if you notice, the majority of people that have great reefs don't frequent the forums I guarantee there's people there in minot that has nice tanks. there were people all through Wyoming and Colorado with awesome corals to choose from.

I'm sure that you'll find everything there that we have here except there will be a larger price tag on it due to location, and that's to be expected because of location. if you and cory wish to go into business you'll have to consider cost of postage, survival rate etc... you'll probably realize that there isn't very much money to be made.

MxReEfEr92 wrote:hey we can talk when I cime to pick up my ATO

OK

sisterlimonpot wrote:don't be so quick to assume there isn't a market there. just because the internet doesn't yield results doesn't mean there isn't a selection. people still trade through other means. when I lived in Wyoming, the guy that I bought all my corals from didn't really advertise online. it was all through word of mouth. if you notice, the majority of people that have great reefs don't frequent the forums I guarantee there's people there in minot that has nice tanks. there were people all through Wyoming and Colorado with awesome corals to choose from.

I'm sure that you'll find everything there that we have here except there will be a larger price tag on it due to location, and that's to be expected because of location. if you and cory wish to go into business you'll have to consider cost of postage, survival rate etc... you'll probably realize that there isn't very much money to be made.

I didn't say there wasn't a market, only that the coral SELECTION was bad. All the stuff I've seen is expensive and boring(compared to what we have here)
I wouldn't try to make it into a business, by being the middle man, but I wouldn't mind buying some cool stuff for my tank, and fragging it, growing it out and selling it. It would be more of a regain some of the expense in shipping coral over from CA. I think it could be profitable if I were to say rent a car, drive out, buy a R%^&* ton of colony's and go back, frag them and grow them out a bit, then sell them. I, at this moment, am not willing to do that. I think there will be some people wanting stuff, just not as many and in such a dense location. They are having an expo like our FRAG in January, so next year I am going to see how the attendance is, and go from there. It would be really cool to get some colonies from CA, drive them to ND, frag and grow them out, figure out how much it cost, and resell them at near cost(hopefully very cheap) and flood the market with some cool stuff. I would def have to figure the cost before going down that road, but its a possibility.

Long story short, I want to see some cool stuff out that way. Seems like the stuff gets grabbed before it even gets a chance to make it out that way.

Why not minot? Because Freezin is the reason!!

Did Jimmy teach you that?

Nope my AF buddy, I told him you were moving from cali to there and he started laughing soo hard and then told me that.

Tell him the reason I want to go is its close to home for us. He would probably understand.

No, it's because he has never been there and and no idea what' in Minot...

I've been to Minot twice there bucko!

...and you don't like it?

I was talking about the guy that started laughing... Bucko

Ah LOL. I do like it. Went there in the summer and late winter(Feb)

My buddy just went there 3 weeks ago it was freezing

Then your buddy is a wimp(nice way of putting it)
All joking aside, yes its cold in the winter, but its not the end of the world.I like the area(Midwest) and the traffic(or lack there of). Its a nice place to raise a family. The city of Minot, is close to the size of Ventura/thousand oaks. So I wont completely be in the sticks.