best place to buy live rock
- Thread starter rwesurfn
- Start date
have not ordered live rock in quite some time.
do a search on this, i do believe reading something on this topic.
Another thought, if you are not in a rush.... pick and choose as you go, what i mean is... keep your eye out on this site.... for sale forum... many people sell live rock all the time and usually already cured, pick up couple pounds here and there.
one thing i do recommend. if you do buy from online.... CURE your own live rock...many say it is cured, do not believe that! If it smells foul, probably has not been cured yet.
wish i could help more.
do a search on this, i do believe reading something on this topic.
Another thought, if you are not in a rush.... pick and choose as you go, what i mean is... keep your eye out on this site.... for sale forum... many people sell live rock all the time and usually already cured, pick up couple pounds here and there.
one thing i do recommend. if you do buy from online.... CURE your own live rock...many say it is cured, do not believe that! If it smells foul, probably has not been cured yet.
wish i could help more.
For TBS Rock
http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forums ... ight=tampa
For some pacific rock, deep water Tonga etc from Dr. Mac & Sons
http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/fij ... _all.nhtml
I think a mix of different types of rock would be best ie pacific rock from MAc & Sons, Harbor aquatic, Palmetto reefs, PAragon aquatics...one or more of these places. Using the pacific rock for shape and filtration and some Florida aquacultured rock from Tampabay saltwater or Gulfview for color, decoration, diversity of life.
Hope this helps some, I'm going through the same process.
Frank
http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/forums ... ight=tampa
For some pacific rock, deep water Tonga etc from Dr. Mac & Sons
http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/fij ... _all.nhtml
I think a mix of different types of rock would be best ie pacific rock from MAc & Sons, Harbor aquatic, Palmetto reefs, PAragon aquatics...one or more of these places. Using the pacific rock for shape and filtration and some Florida aquacultured rock from Tampabay saltwater or Gulfview for color, decoration, diversity of life.
Hope this helps some, I'm going through the same process.
Frank
I ended up getting LR from TBS and some Marshall and Tonga from the LFS. The TBS rock was full of life with lots of sponges, corals, tube worms, clams, anemones, coralline algae. I did however get a mantis shrimp that I luckily trapped, 3 small red crabs similar to emeralds, and 2 small hairy stoney crabs that I may end up having to get rid of in the future. The Marshall Island rock is very nice in that it is light (porous) so it is better for filtration and has lots of nooks and crannies. Getting a mix is the way to go. Just be aware that you may get some bad with the good with the Florida aquacultured LR, but overall it is worth it. If I can get my digital camera to take lower pixel pictures, I will try to post them.
You cannot beat the quality of live rock from Aquarium Arts! http://www.aquariumarts.com
Their live rock is guarenteed to be fully cured for a minimum of 30-60 days and can go into an established tank withou any ammonia spikes, etc. None of the junk and dying stuff that is straight from the overseas shipper and often sold as "cured" rock.
I bought 100 lbs of it last November for my 75gl tank and was VERY pleased (I than added another 25 lbs of live rock covered in mushrooms and polyps, etc from local places to finish it off). You should read their website and look at the pictures of how much coraline growth is on the rocks they sell. Great customer service too -- follow-up phone calls, call to confirm shipping, etc.
Their live rock is guarenteed to be fully cured for a minimum of 30-60 days and can go into an established tank withou any ammonia spikes, etc. None of the junk and dying stuff that is straight from the overseas shipper and often sold as "cured" rock.
I bought 100 lbs of it last November for my 75gl tank and was VERY pleased (I than added another 25 lbs of live rock covered in mushrooms and polyps, etc from local places to finish it off). You should read their website and look at the pictures of how much coraline growth is on the rocks they sell. Great customer service too -- follow-up phone calls, call to confirm shipping, etc.
Ok...........I checked out the site that is very pretty but still would never puchase liverock that is not in a tank with fishies. I also would like to say that if you purchase this rock online from a company and you do not have any ammonia spike then in my opinion it is dead rock. You will have a die off in shipping...and you do not know what they are going to send you. Thats the bottom line. Ever get Live rock and in a few days find a lot of Aiptasia on it? Handpick your own whenever possible.
I just bought 100 pounds of live rock and 50 pounds of live sand from gulf-view. I cannot say enough great things about my ordering experience, support and friendly service I got from Dale at Gulf-view!! As if that wasn't good enough, my rock and sand arrived promptly and was AWESOME. In fact, I have a friend who has had a reef tank for over ten years and was initially skeptical of anything other than Fiji rock. He was amazed at the quality of the life on these rocks. We had urchins, corals, sponges, feather dusters, plants, and a few snails on the rock. As two days have passed since I put it in my tank, I see new life each day. Trust me - you wont be dissappointed!! Do a search on Gulf-view - I did and found not one negative comment. 8)
No....I am not wrong here...........I stand by my statement. I have never ordered "liverock" on line and never will. I will never order liverock through a LFS..........I did my research and I would be out of my freakin mind to purchace it any other way than the way I do! Just my opinion. :!: I have bought my best piece of cultured rock for 4 bucks because I shop around.
I'd definitely go with Gulf-view.com I also dealt with Dale and it was a great shopping experience. I ordered about 50 lbs and got snails, stars, dusters, polyps, plants, sponges and even a small baby open brain. Ordering lr from them was the best part of my reef hobby. I felt like a little kid on Christmas when I opened up the lr shipment. The only negative things I encountered was the newspaper wrapping(not a big deal) and the aptisia(sp?). Simply amazing. Tonga branch rock comes in second place because of the unique shapes it has.
Like I said above, the LR from Aquarium Arts was incredible. LR from certain on-line sources can be better than anything locally and for a better price.
For example, Aquarium Arts guarentees that is is fully cured and can go into an established tank w/o issue. They pack it very well, insulated and with some water, etc. Most importantly, they deliver it themselves to the FedEx terminal at the very end of the day for AM priority delivery -- i.e., LR is only out of the tank for less than about 15 hours when a customer receives it. After three months, my new tank has 1000% the corraline color and growth than many tanks I've seen that are long established and much better than my old tank with live rock from a local place.
I would never trust the opinion of someone about on-line retailers when they say they have never ordered the product from online retailers, but simply have preconceived ideas without personal experience. If they don't want to order from someone who advertises online, FINE, but don't try to claim that the product is bad and that people's personal experience and recommendations are wrong.
For example, Aquarium Arts guarentees that is is fully cured and can go into an established tank w/o issue. They pack it very well, insulated and with some water, etc. Most importantly, they deliver it themselves to the FedEx terminal at the very end of the day for AM priority delivery -- i.e., LR is only out of the tank for less than about 15 hours when a customer receives it. After three months, my new tank has 1000% the corraline color and growth than many tanks I've seen that are long established and much better than my old tank with live rock from a local place.
I would never trust the opinion of someone about on-line retailers when they say they have never ordered the product from online retailers, but simply have preconceived ideas without personal experience. If they don't want to order from someone who advertises online, FINE, but don't try to claim that the product is bad and that people's personal experience and recommendations are wrong.
I ordered 70 pounds of Kailini LR from PalmettoReefs.com. Very good customer service also included a garretee that if I didnt like it he would take it back. We had several phone calls about it. My rock came in primary in several large chunks which fit well and only a couple small fragments. I got several hard corals including a brain of some kind. Look much more unique than I have seen in other LR, I am going to avoid the fiji look if I can when adding new corals later on. Check this site too, they are pretty good and are a small business not one of these giant blood sucking conglamorates like some DRs I know. By the way I was planning at first on liveaquaria rock but when I did research everyone... EVERYONE who ordered from them tht I talked to was highly dsappointed in the rock. One person said it was no better than just fiji baserock.
I also HIGHLY recommend http://www.gulf-view.com/
Dale's rock is even better than the pictures. He will give you the particular sizes and shapes you want at no extra charge. Tons,and I mean tons of life.
I also like the fact that my money is going to the "little guy" rather than some big company.
Dale's rock is even better than the pictures. He will give you the particular sizes and shapes you want at no extra charge. Tons,and I mean tons of life.
I also like the fact that my money is going to the "little guy" rather than some big company.
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