I use tap water and grocery RO as I am waiting for my RO unit to come in still.. dang americans ;)
I havent had any problems from the water, just problems from carbon dosing with bad carbon. Ro is Ro, if the tds is good I say your ok, you can get a TDS meter from walmart for about $10 so it might be a good investment, if you go that route for the time being. There are lots of people who do this, and use tap water as well with no real issues, but RO/ ro/di is always a good choice if possible.

Ok I got it out of my system.....

I'd suggest getting some Live Sand to help get your bio-filter going.

I used SeaChem's Stability to help get my tank cycled, in fact I never really did experience a full cycle as I had used Cured Live Rock.

But the real key here is PATIENCE, do things slowly, take your time to research your purchases. You will end up with a healthier tank and save you a lot of money and headaches down the road.

Are you referring to chemicals or elements (like calicum, mag, etc.)?
Only the latter are necessary for reef keeping IMO.

I have used tap water with no issues, as well as bought some live rock from someone online, then topped up from the store. There was some nice pieces at big als. Cycle only took about 2 weeks.

I would agree with almost everything said, except for the dry rock....I hate dry rock....it will cause you nothing but trouble and I will bet my life that Marko rock is not lighter than good live rock....it is basically petrified live rock, so I seriously doubt it will ever have the capacity to be as good as live rock.....dry rock could take anywhere from a couple monthes to a year (or more) before you will be able to count it as part of your biological filtration.....for the 25-30 pounds that you will need for that size tank, I would bite the bullet and get all live rock.....start a tank with 100% live rock and you need to be patient, start a tank with dry rock and you will have to be REALLY patient....I know others will chime in and say that they never had any issues with using dry rock, but I work at a LFS and see and hear about the problems on almost a daily basis...

And cured rock and pest free rock are NOT the same thing. You can have cured live rock that still have critters in it. I also vote live rock vs. dry/base rock. But I'm very impatient lol

The live rock we got came with some critters, almost all good! And reduced our cycle time, its nice to have purple in a brand new tank.

Wow lol, lots more stuff to read about!! Thanks so much everyone. So, if not pisces, where would you guys recomend I get my live rock from? Wais? Red Coral? I personally think I want to go the live rock route.

Hi and welcome!

I would check out Red coral for live rock, they always have a great selection of interesting pieces. I would look at others tanks and decide how you would like your aqua scraping to look, then find pieces that would work. I have dry rock in my tank but wish I didn't, simply because true live rock is so much cooler looking.

As everyone else has said, go slow, and ask here, very helpful friendly crowd!

Congrats on going salty, can't wait to see your tank come to life!

Thanks!! I will go check out red coral then :) I'd rather pay full price and get something better than use my 10% odd coupon and be disappointed :P And yes, I am ready to take it slow and easy with the tank! A lot of places I went to told me that I should add my bleaning crew inside of 2 weeks!! I told them I would rather be safe than sorry and wait for longer :P I really want to be successful at this! It is something I have wanted to do for many years :) Friday seems SO FAR away right now lol