Where to buy live rock online?

[BonnieC]

Was searching the forums but all threads on this are old and a lot of links don't work.

An suggestions on where to buy live rock online?

 

[thincat]

follow this link:live rock - Google Search

 

[Tank2379]

Try your LFS first then hit the Online Retailers

 

[BonnieC]

LFS stinks here. Was hoping for something with good reviews.

 

[Tank2379]

Premium Aquatics(Sponsors here on our forum) has some good LR you can contact Jeremy and he can help you out with pricing and shipping.

 

[melosu58]

IMO Liveaquaria has the best LR.

 

[Krypt]

+1 for liveaquaria.com, I ordered 40lbs of the premium Fiji rock and it came fast and only took a week and a half to cure in my curing tub. The rock sizes ranged from a few fist sized chunks to around 6 inches in diameter.

 

[dskidmore]

If you want aquacultured Caribbean rock, Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock has the oldest permit in the country, and therefore the most mature rock. Pros: more types of critters, some of which are cool. Cons: more types of critters, some of which are detrimental.

 

[cmor1701d]

+1 for LiveAquaria (the doctors purchased a great seller and maintain that quality). There are quite a few good on-line sites. Blu Zoo Aquatics seems to have some nice Bima rock now. eBay has several sellers, but I can't vouch for any of them though some folks have had good experiences.

 

[BonnieC]

Thanks guys! When setting up a new tank, can I put all the live rock and sand in at once or do I have to limit it?

 

[melosu58]

Even though it says pre cured by the time it gets to you it will have some die off. Just put the rock and sand in there and cycle the tank like that. Cure the LR and cycle the tank at the same time.

 

[Zer0]

Liveaquaria LR sucks.. IMO. I've also met two other people that have had the same experience as me. Their rocks are grimy and disgusting and i would never buy rocks from them again. Even now.. with the rocks dead and dry, they look terrible. They are horribly shaped rocks and you can't aquascape with them.. at all. I even asked them for baseball sized rocks and they gave me 4 gigantic boulders. So to me.. liveaquaria is garbage and i wouldn't even buy anything live from them either. I bought plumbing parts from them.. that's it.

I would go with bluezooaquatics because i ordered TONS of live things from them and every single item was exactly what they said it was going to be, and none of the live things i bought ever died or were in bad health. Bluezoo has my vote.

 

[dskidmore]

If you're getting live rock for the bacteria and coraline, get it/add it all at once. You're going to have to cycle just about any rock you mail order. If you're aiming for hitchhikers, put in 1/2-3/4 of the live rock or a base rock in first, cycle, and then order your remaining rock. This way your ammonia won't spike so high when curing the second order of rock, and more hitchhikers will survive.

 

[thincat]

Zer0, cover those boulders and break them up into smaller pieces. Sometimes it's just bad timing and you should have sent the rock back. That way it becomes a pain for them and they will think twice before mailing junk out.IMO

 

[nxb161]

I purchased LR from premiumaquatics before, it was very nice rock and would have had nice critters if I hadn't ordered it in the winter ( I have an order shipping out Monday actually so when it gets here on Wednesday I'll try to take some pics of it if I remember.

 

[Zer0]

Zer0, cover those boulders and break them up into smaller pieces. Sometimes it's just bad timing and you should have sent the rock back. That way it becomes a pain for them and they will think twice before mailing junk out.IMO

Yeah, that's what i did. I covered them with towels and just hammered them like heck. Got them down to decently sized pieces, but they still all look ugly. I probably should have sent the rocks back, but it just seemed like too much of a hassle on my part. I didn't want to go through the trouble so i just kept them. Plus, ever since i took down the 55G, i've been playing around with the rocks trying to come up with a nice structure for my cube, and i finally have. I'll be using acrylic rods and silicone, but it's going to be freakin awesome. These darned rocks finally get put to good use. The rest of them go to my moms tank.. which happens to be my 55G..

 

[thincat]

I knew there was some talent somewhere! hahaha lol

 

[Zer0]

Haha.. I blame my previous tank. -_-

 

[BonnieC]

Is there a thread anywhere on how to use rods and silicone?

 

[Zer0]

Err.. not that i know of. But there will be one shortly, considering i will be using this method. If you want, i can take pictures along the way and put up a tutorial of some sort. Wouldn't be much of a hassle for me. Unless someones comes up with a thread.. then i guess im out lol.

But the closest to a guide on how to do it, is this:
Aquascaping <br>Tricks and Tips