Live Rock

jjwdiver · 08-29-2004, 10:26 AM

Where around her doesanyone get live Rock. Is it me or does $6 a pound seem kinda high? Are there any shops in the Cities that are worth checking out?

I'm inching my way closer to putting something inthe tank (other than the garden hose to check out my plumbing, which by the way was a success). Any thoughts on the rock situation. I'm only looking to get about 60 pounds. Any comments would be appreciated.

By the way, I will not be usingthe water curently in the tank...its just there to test the plumbing and assure "the boss" hat her living room will not bea swamp..........yet.

John

cuttingtom · 08-29-2004, 10:35 AM

John- I got my rock from 2 sources
1st I got 50 pounds of uncured Fiji from Premium aquatics-came shipped wrapped in newspaper and nothing else in the middle of winter-basicaly dead rock. Next i got 100 pounds from tamp bay saltwater-picked it up from the airport the afternoon after it was shipped, came wrapped in thick plastic and insulated. I'm still finding new stuff growing from it 1 year later-I also got 3 mantis shrimp. The draw back to the tbs rock is it isn't the prettiest rock around and it's very dense. The bonus is you don't have to destroy a reef to get it.
Brian

jjwdiver · 08-29-2004, 10:38 AM

Was the cost of the TBS worth it? I'm looking at the local places stuff and thinking its not the greatest. I know that the guy in Kasson can get rock, but I havent looked into hat option hard enough. Would you do the TBS stuff again or should I keep looking. The $6 a pound grip wasn't so much the $$$, but the look of the product.

John

Ben · 08-30-2004, 05:14 PM

John,

I'm still pretty new, too, but here's my experience.

I got ~30 lbs of mixed uncured Kaelini LR and Marshall Islands nano rocks with 15 lbs of live sand and 5 lbs rock curing tank crude from Premium Aquatics. It came seething with life (bristleworms, snails, terbellids, peanut worms, micro-brittle stars, copepods, amphipods, calurpa, tunicates, micro-sponges, many corallines, one live button polyp, two brains that died, etc.).

There is a $7 surcharge to get the styrofoam and heater/cooler packs from Premium Aquatics that you can choose to not pay, but the weather had better be good. I had a very good experience in contrast to Brian's, but I was given the impression at other sites that they are very good for Pacific rock. I also ordered in this past June, when the weather was more hot than cold.

TBS is supposed to be one of the best dealers in Atlantic rock from my reading, and it is teeming with life. However I know of people on other forums who have basically gotten 30 lb pieces of quartz with nothing alive on it from TBS as well. Marshall Islands live rock (often from Premium Aquatics) is reputedly one of the best looking rocks for aquascaping, but isn't as life-filled. TBS can be very mantisy, but so can most live rock, but TBS is one of the few places where you hear about people getting 5+ mantis shrimp in one order. I personally think TBS's "the package" is a bad deal because of all those hermits they want to sell you, but I want to get the rock and sand in the future, when I have more money.

Generally you get better quality rock at a reasonable price through the mail, but you increase the odds of getting something you really didn't want to, as well. Ordering in nice weather seems to keep more stuff alive, too.

cuttingtom · 08-30-2004, 06:50 PM

Agree-order in nice weather-my wife LOVED the TBS rock. If I were to set up a 400 gal show tank today-would I get TBS-no but I also wouldn't get Premium aquatics. If you want true show peices try walt smith. People like the tbs rock becauuse they finally have life in their tank. My problem is you have no control over what kind of life form they are. If I was going to set up a show tank I would pick each peice of rock personally-take my time getting well cured rock and introduce the species I choose to-not the ones that are hardy enough to survive the selection of shipping.
You've no doubt been very patient up to this point. Take you time go to something fishy and buy a few nice peices at a time-you'll be much happier in the end.
Brian

jjwdiver · 08-30-2004, 07:51 PM

Where is this live rock haven you speak of...something fishy? Is it a Twin Cities store or somewhere in the state? What about the store I hear about in Redwood Falls or something like that...any thoughts there?

Agreed, I am going very slow with the setup because I've read the horror stories and I'm not one to go the fast and easy route. There are still alot of items I need to get before he rock stage (salt mix, lighting, test kits, refractometer, etc...), but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. Thanks for the info guys (i'm assuming by the names)

John

cuttingtom · 08-31-2004, 03:02 PM

John, "Something Fishy" is by the airport in the cities. Good selection of fish, so-so selection of corals. They seem to always have a good selection of rock curing there abnd the guys are straight forward and honest.
Brian

StellaMN · 09-01-2004, 08:05 AM

I've heard of people buying "dead" rock from someplace in Hawaii for most of the tank and then topping off with a good live rock (I personally like www.gulf-view.com) to seed the dead stuff. Much cheaper this way--but you have to be patient....

I also agree that Premium Aquatics is a good retailer as well. There's also a place in Redwood Falls that sells liverock for VERY cheap. I have the e-mail addy of the owner. He'll ship overnight using Speedy Delivery for very reasonable.

Jodi

Ben · 09-01-2004, 09:39 AM

I've heard of people buying "dead" rock from someplace in Hawaii for most of the tank and then topping off with a good live rock (I personally like www.gulf-view.com) to seed the dead stuff. Much cheaper this way--but you have to be patient....

I did this. I have 30 lbs of hirocks in my tank along with about 10 lbs of tufa from Fish & Pets. The hirock is fairly dense as aquarium rock goes and makes a good bottom layer to your tank (the stuff that is often half/mostly buried under sand and anchors all the rock above). The tufa started getting colonized with algaes within days of adding, but the hirock is turning live much more slowly.

http://www.hirocks.com/Our_Products.html

jjwdiver · 09-01-2004, 08:08 PM

Stella, could you post the email or PM me the address for the Redwood Falls guy. I'd be curious to know his prices.

Ben, did yu get any critters, wanted or otherwise from the rock from F & P?

John

kalmarrin · 09-02-2004, 07:46 AM

Hi, I'm getting ready to set up a 72 gal bow-front tank and I have a couple of questions. I'm kind of new to this (grew up in Miami and had tanks as a youngster, but things are a bit different these 40 years later). Anyway - I was interested in those of you who ordered your live rock thru the mail. The place that I'm buying my tank from has live rock, but it pretty much looks lifeless. I wondered about the Premium Aquatics that was mentioned...sounds like they have some nice LR. I tried to find them on the internet but only got links to their forums. My next question is whether or not to remove the bio balls that I'm getting with my 'package' deal. I've heard so many conflicting stories about how good and bad they are - all of which make some sense. I'd really appreciate some input from those of you who have been doing this awhile. Thanks.

jjwdiver · 09-02-2004, 08:38 AM

I do not have any experience with the bio balls, but I can give you the link to Premium Aquatics: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv

I would also suggest you take a look at reefcentral.com for additional information. Many people there comment on live rock and where they've bought it. I'm guessing you will find plenty of info on the bio balls as well.
John

StellaMN · 09-02-2004, 09:02 AM

My suggestion is to remove the bio balls. I've not read one good thing about them in saltwater aquaria. I've never used them, but I believe the general concensus is that they are nitrate factories.

As far as live rock goes...the type of live rock that you buy depends upon the look you are going for. I've heard nothing but good things about Premium Aquatics. Personally, if I had it to do over again, I'd order rock from two different sources to maximize diversity.

HTH...

Jodi

Ben · 09-02-2004, 10:28 AM

John,

The tufa I bought from Fish and Pets was dry rock, so no life on it. I got a tiny bit of rubble from them when I was cycling to get initial bacteria colonies and so I looked at their rock twice. The first time, I didn't see and signs of life on the rock. The second time it had a fair bit of life and my rubble had some little feather duster worms on it. They are expensive for live rock, but the tufa base rock is pretty decently priced if you buy the bulk stuff instead of the stuff that's been carved to get big holes in it.

I think maybe the fact that they keep their live rock in a spot with basically no light is why it starts looking really lifeless after a while... No algae to form the basis of the little ecosystem and the animals die off.

kalmarrin,

I found the Premium Aquatics Kaelini to be beautiful rock and I actually had it shipped 2nd day air (cheaper than overnight) and it was still teeming with life. Live rock is under livestock on their site. I think if I had been setting up a larger tank, I would have followed Jodi's advice about using two sources, though.

AnemicOak · 09-03-2004, 06:45 PM

I live up in the Twin Cities & have been pricing rock a little so I'll share what I found locally.

Something Fishy between $8-$10 a pound depending on type & amount
Aquatropics $11 or $12 a pound Marshall Island (looked pretty dead to me)
Fish & Friends $6 a pound, not sure what kind
Har-Mar Pets $5.xx a pound on mondays (they have 25% off livestock on mondays), not sure type

You could also pm Jerry (JnS) or Dirk Griffin on these forums & see what they have. Jerry has some pretty good prices IIRC. Jerry's in Coon Rapids & Dirk's in Red Wing.

HTH