Got my live ROCK... now what?

[spaulr]

I ordered a 30lb box of Lalo live rock from Liveaquaria.com. Fedex dropped off the package at work and I immediately went home to get it into the water. What was inside. 1 huge 30lb rock. There were 3 other 3 inch pieces but they were just topper. Crazy, this boulder won't even fit in my 40 gallon aquasystem. I will say that it has tons of sponges and corraline algae but....its HUGE!

Long story short, after 5 minutes on the phone with live aquaria they refunded 1/2 of the money for the order.

So, my question is, has anyone use a hammer and chisle to make smaller rocks out of a bigger piece? What would you do?

 

[DaveMorris1]

I would do just that....chop it up.

 

[mr_X]

wow..i wish you were closer..i'd take the boulder and trade you for choice smaller pieces. yeap..one swift whack with a sledge will make that 30 pound rock 10 -3 pound rocks :lol:

 

[IceMan0124]

it should be a snap to break up into useable pieces, it doesnt take much to break it apart, I'd start with a really small hammer and go up as needed, unless your looking for 30 pounds of rubble

 

[spaulr]

Thanks for your help guys. I've never had to do major surgery on live rock before. Live Aquaria suggested the use of a chisle. I guess I'll do this now while the rock is still curing. Hopefully, I'll end up with some nice pieces and not 30lbs of rubble. 8O

 

[Len]

Rocks usually snap easily and cleaning IME. Chisel should do the trick. Good luck. Most people would kill for a 30 lb piece of rock

 

[paneubert]

Just watch out for the 3 foot worm that is probably hiding inside.

 

[spaulr]

I'll definitely be on the look out for critters. I've learned my lesson about live rock and use heavy duty insulated rubber gloves when handling rock. Coral is amazing sharp and almost everything seems to cause an infection.

Len- Tell me about it. Whenever you are looking for really large pieces you can never find them and likewise with medium/small sized.

Thanks again. I'm going to home depot after work for a chisle.

 

[waymack97]

a flat head screwdriver will work as well. as long as it is fairly wide at the tip.
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joint

 

[bleedingthought]

You got a nice rock for 1/2 the price!

 

[spaulr]

Hammer and Chisel. No way, no how. :twisted: Not with this rock. Rock was so thick and dense this was not going to happen. I even resorted to using a masonry drill bit in combination with a mini sledge hammer and chisel. Small pieces kept shattering off. I finally got 1 nice piece off. The second monster piece will fit into the tank. I'm thinking that I'm going to leave it as is. The next time I get live rock with be from a LFS(maybe I'll try somewhere in Los Angeles) or will be ordered with specific instructions on the size of pieces I want. Man I need a drink.

 

[mr_X]

that's not actually a bad thing. dense rock is good rock.

 

[bleedingthought]

Did you try hitting it with the chisel/hammer right in the center? Enough hit and it will break into pieces, no matter how dense it is. (Dense rock is not good in my book, btw) Keep doing it, it will break!

 

[mr_X]

it's all good 8)

 

[ChrisRD]

Too late now, but the best solution...
...you should have gone out and gotten a larger tank to fit your rock. :wink:

The first rule of reefkeeping...
...never miss an opportunity to justify a larger tank! :lol:

 

[IceMan0124]

live rock in general should be very porous and very light for its size, dense rocks cant hold near as much bacteria due to the limited surface area, it should have broken up pretty easily, I usually just use a medium flat head screw driver and a tack hammer

 

[Anonymous]

live rock in general should be very porous and very light for its size, dense rocks cant hold near as much bacteria due to the limited surface area, it should have broken up pretty easily, I usually just use a medium flat head screw driver and a tack hammer

Agreed.

 

[spaulr]

It definitely did not break up easily. There is no way in hell that a screw driver would have worked on this particular rock. What did break up and off easily was the outer 3 inches of the rock. The outer portions where VERY porus and crumbled easily. Its the center that was a dense beast. That was when I decided I just needed to make it fit. I didn't want to destroy the entire thing.

BTW the rock initially measured 16" x 9".

Chris is right - I should have bought a bigger tank. :lol:

 

[mr_X]

that's not actually a bad thing. dense rock is good rock.

i was just trying to make the guy feel good. nothing sucks worse than to make a purchase and hear it was a mistake from everyone. been there, done that.

 

[IceMan0124]

that's not actually a bad thing. dense rock is good rock.

i was just trying to make the guy feel good. nothing sucks worse than to make a purchase and hear it was a mistake from everyone. been there, done that.

I dont know about you, but I would much rather have accurate information than being led to believe something that isnt exactly true to make me feel better about a potentialy bad purchase, we all make mistakes, hell, I probably make more most people on this forum, only upside is I seldom repeat the same mistake, all in all the OP made out pretty well, being he got the rock at a substancial discount, and he has gained some new knowledge to put into play for his future LR purchases, one good rule of thumb, if your about to spend more than 50 bucks on a piece of equipment ( I consider LR equipment due to its primary function and multiple forms and varieties) research research and research, when you find something you think you want to buy, ask for opinions on these forums first, might save you a return or regret, I'm not knocking anyone, just stating my opinion