Live rock

[Lacie257]

I have never purchased rock online and was wondering where I should look? Anyone know of a good place?

 

[hellaasian]

 

[Convict2161]

What about your LFS? I never bought LR online for the simple fact that I do a mock scape in the store to kinda see what pieces I want.

 

[Lacie257]

My lfs has nothing but crappy rock that they want $ 8-9 a pound for!

 

[AquaRick]

LR online is quite pricey and rarely arrives cured and ready. Have you thought about using mostly base and then seeding with some LR from your LFS?

 

[Gregcoyote]

There is inexpensive sterile base rock available for about half that. I would use it and add about 10% cured live rock to seed it all. After a few months the new rock colors up and your patience saved you a lot of money and a lot of die off from live rock that gets shipped.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I ordered a box of live rock online about 10 years ago and it was well worth it. I don't recommend Florida aqua-cultured live rock.

If it's for a new tank it's fine if it's not cured. The curing process is basically exactly the same as cycling a tank and has the same end result. You get a fully cycled tank with healthy cured live rock. In my opinion the only possible drawback is cost which, to me, is well worth it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I also used rock from Fiji almost 20 years ago when I built my existing reef. It was half what it is now and had a lot of die off, which made the cycling that much more extended. Doing it over again now, I would start with sterile rock and seed it. I think the time to a stable tank is maybe a little longer this way, but a lot cheaper and without getting the free loaders that live rock carries. Most of my free loaders were not the friendly kind.

 

[Dano.]

Premiumaquatics.com is where I ordered mine from and it came in covered in purple coralline and I noticed 2 zoa polyps that have popped out since my purchase.

 

[Lacie257]

I just ended up buying overpriced ugly brown rock from the lfs. And I already had a lot of dried out base rock, was wanting some pretty stuff to color up my tank.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

I hear ya on that! Soon those ugly rocks will become beautiful! Just paying by the pound seems crazy.

 

[Lacie257]

I will say my scape looks much better now!

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Looks good!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

It certainly does!