Live Rock came in today!!!

[AirRazr]

Just wanted to put up a few pics of my new live rock. I got it this morning. 4 pretty good size rocks and several smaller pieces. I'm pretty happy with it to start with. The one thing I wasn't expecting when I opened the box was the smell. The rock was packed in a styrofoam container with damp newspaper. When I lifted the top off the styrofoam.....holy moley. The smell was horrible.

My water isn't really green. Just a bad combination of a low quality digital camera and taupe colored walls.

 

[quarryshark]

Looks good!! Who did you get it from?
With the smell, I would assume that there is significant die off. Monitor you ammonia and nitrite levels well and make sure they get to zero before adding any livestock.
Congrats, your well on your way now!!!
Any critters yet??

 

[AirRazr]

I got it from liveaquaria.com. They were running a special that I would have been a fool to pass up. LR at my LFS was like 5.99 a lb, I got all 45 lbs for half of what I would have paid at the LFS.

Just gonna let the tank cycle with the live rock for now. I guess now I should start thinking about what livestock to put in it. Silly as this is, the only thing that I have decided on right now is a Coral Banded Shrimp and a red scooter blenny, I am open to suggestions after that. I think since this is my first tank and all, I am going to go the passive route for fish.

I know in the future that I want a Lion. The only thing I am worried about with it is my roommate is deathly allergic to bee stings and I have been told that the sting of a lion is very similar.

Anyone have any (unfortunate) experience with getting stung?

Wes

 

[ScurdOfCychlidz]

AWESOME ROCK!!! I get my rock in either Thursday or Friday...ill post pics when i get it! i bet your totally excited! and nice seashells by the way!

 

[AirRazr]

I picked those up off the beach in Ft. Lauderdale about 3 years ago. Never knew why I was hanging on to them until today

 

[XXFirefighter]

Nice rock, next time you should try to look @ liverocks.com...
You get it the next day and little to no die off...FULL of life...
This is my rock the day after I got it...

 

[lando]

Congrats on the rock. I would not worry about the smell since you are still cycling. I would not put that rock into an established tank but you should be fine. It must have had a lot of die-off, how long was it in transit?

 

[AirRazr]

I ordered it last Monday. Live Aquaria only ships LR on Tuesdays for 2nd day delivery. So it should have been here Thursday. I got an email on Wednesday night saying there was a shipping delay and it wouldn't be shipped out til next week. Thursday night, they called me to tell me they were gettiing a shipment in on Friday and would I be available for delivery on Saturday. (wow thats a whole bunch of days). I got it yesterday. I think it's pretty fresh. It came from California and I live in TN.

Next time I will buy from liverocks.com so that I can have more diversity in my tank with the rock.

 

[lando]

That is certainly good customer service from them. Sounds like you got it overnight which is good. Hey can't beat the price and it looked like it had some good color on it. Enjoy your new rock...Lando

 

[philly]

is there any way to turn plain live rock into that beautiful purple live rock?

 

[Atari]

is there any way to turn plain live rock into that beautiful purple live rock?

- Scraping of coralline from an established tank OR adding piece of LR containing good coralline coverage.
- Good water flow
- Good calcium/alk levels
- Low phosphates
- Patience.. it takes time.

I didn't mention lighting because IMO there will be types of coralline that will do well in whatever lighting you have.