LionOfZion

Thanks guys that been quite helpfull, I don't think I'll be swimming the channel any time soon though Ive been talking to the store store in Petone and am probably going to start sitting my dive cert next week. After that I'll probably start checking the deeper areas for stuff to full my tank. The live rock thing however is still playing on the back of my mind. I might hold off making any decisions till Ive talked to a few divers and asked them what they think. I know that there is a reef of sorts off out from mercury bay in the coromandel, my dad goes diving out there regulary so I might ask him to investigate. Also Ive seen coral skeletons in people gardens over the years that Im sure I get off them, I take it this would be perfect live rock for 'curing'.

Does anyone know if the deep water rocks are more porous than the shore side ones? With NZ being a mainly composed of volcanoes I would guess that there must be porous sea rock around the coast lines. I seriously doubt you could overkill a rock pool tank, the pounding that some pools get is amazing, I went out to Island bay in the weekend to see what was available on the shore line there and I swear the weathor was to rough for me, let alone the poor sea fauna. Probably why they are so hardy aswell. But if Im forking out money I might aswell try and get the best critters I can get Another question is how much current can a seahorse take? part of the reason I was interested in sea weed was for seahorses to hide in (at a later stage )

Hey everybody, Im at the initial planning stages of building a cold water marine reef tank (or probably a glorified rock pool), in which I wish to keep native critters. Basically to cut costs as Im sure I'll kill a few things until I fully understand the in and outs. Eventually I plan to have mainly shell fish, anonmoes, plants, and probably a sea horses. I have managed to spend several hundreds dollars so far and still have skimmers, powerheads and working out a cooler to go. Although I figure by the time I get the tank cycling it will be winter and I can build the cooler before next summer. I been searching through forums including this one and still have a few unanswered questions: Firstly, NZ live rock/cold water live rock - What is the best option for live rock in this situation? Is deep water rocks better than stuff I can get from the shore lines ? same goes for sand aswell. Ive read articles about DYI rock but would preferr the natural stuff if I could. NZ Coral - I done abit of reading but havent found much info on NZ coral. Is there any good resource sites, or places to visit (Im in the wellington region). I'm planning to have my dive cert in the next few weeks so I can go out and collecting things if need be. Collecting critters - how to get sea anonmoes and stuff off rocks without hurting them. Ive thought of leaving rocks in places where things grow and hoping stuff migrates onto them home, but is there a better method ? - I was also inspecting plants growing in rock pools and the didnt seem to have much of a root system. Has anyone colelcted plants and moved them into a tank ? The Law - I haven't done any reading on this at all yet. But are there guidelines or laws I need to check with MAF over about collecting native species. I'd hate to accidentally take a few things which are illegal to harvest and then have my expensive equipment confiscated Is there anyone else doing a cold water reef tank in a reasonable ditance from wellington that I could visit and ask questions and stuff. (or if anyone knows a cheap way to get across the straight so I can visit the aquarium in picton). Thanks