BEST Live Rock and Live Sand?

[pammy]

Looking for opinions of what everyone feels is the best Live Rock and Live Sand....especially, if you've actually seen different live rock from different vendors.

I've looked at Tampa Bay Saltwater and really like the fact that
they ship their rock in water. Their rock seems loaded with life,
but some say it's not porous and ultra heavy. How is the shape of their rock? Is it or is it not porous at all? Their Live Sand seems loaded with life too...but trying to figure out if I want the
look of their live sand, or if I want a finer sand. TBS does seem like a top notch company.

I've seen photos of Marshall Island Live Rock that a lot of people rave about ( I think from Premium Aquatics). Personally, the look of that rock doesn't appeal to me.

Indonesian Rock (from ReefScience.com I believe). LOVE the color
of this rock. But seems that they ship in wet paper. Is there much life on this rock?

Does anyone other than Tampa Bay Saltwater ship in water?

If you had to do your tank all over again, who would you go with for your Live Rock and Live Sand?

Thanks!
Pam

 

[Rouselb]

I use Fiji and Tonga mixture. I like the structures you can build will mixing med size and shape. Curing your own rock will keep the cost down, how big is your tank? remember to build a structure that allows for alot of current, and min the dead spots.

 

[RTKBA308]

I did half carribean rock and half Fiji rock. I like the Fiji rock a little better, because it's more porus(SP) . I got my carribean rock from a local vender and the Fiji from Liveaquaria.com. I would definitely order from Liveaquaria.com again, the rock was real nice and they cover it with wet newspaper and cover it in styrofoam. It was overnight shipping, so the rock was still wet.


I also like the Reefscience.com rock. I probably would have chose their rock over the carribean rock, but didn't know about them at the time. Besides, the carribean was more than half the price of Reefscience rock.

Carribean rock was 50lbs = $169.00

Reefscience.com 20lbs = $197.00

 

[DaveJ]

The best rock Ive seen was from a guy in CT that unfortunately closed up shop......

Since then, I would say that ReeferMadness.us has the best I've seen and are really good to work with with sizes and such. Most of their stuff is Tongan, you can get different types (light and porous) or heavy, including tonga branch for variety and tonga slabs for ledges and overhangs.

My tank is a mixture, plus some fiji I had from another system.

I looked at Tampa Bay.. and at the time I was looking for LR for my 140, the combination of the weight and structure of their rock, plus all the reported hitchhiker problems (at the time) steered me clear of them. I can't speak to the current situation though... so take that with a grain of salt.

If I were starting again, i would do a combo of Marshall and Tonga branch/slab. The Reefscience.com looks really nice.

 

[harday]

I just received my first part of the "package" from TBS for a 90g. It is unbelievable rock. It is heavier than the fiji I've had before, no doubt, but it has a TON of holes, crevices, tunnels, etc. What I received is also good, irregular shapes - not round or boring whatsoever, and these are just the bigger rocks to act as the base. It has a LOT of feather dusters, sponges, macro, etc. NOTHING like the part purple rock, otherwise devoid of life, that my LFS has for much, much more money. The second part of the package, I understand, will be even better, being the more decorative rock.

As far as hitchhikers - so far I have spotted two fairly big gorilla crabs, and quite a few very small ones that I'm not worried about for the time being. I'm trying to trap the two big ones tonight with the bottle trap. I also have one pistol shrimp, and at least one mantis shrimp. The one I have seen is extremely cool, but I will get him out eventually. All in all, not too bad considering the quality of the rock. I was concerned about the bad critters that would come with the rock, but now that I have seen the rock, it is well worth the trouble in my opinion.

As far as Richard, the owner of TBS, he is fantastic. You'll have trouble finding better service. I live in Lakeland, only an hour from TBS, and I met Richard to pick up my order. It was packaged as if it were going cross country regardless. I have had a very small cycle that is still continuing, with very, very low ammonia.

All in all, I would highly recommend the package - it truly is a great deal when you price everything, even if you were to ignore how amazing the rock is.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[pammy]

Thank you all for your responses!

Hardy... I'm happy to hear that your TBS rock is full of holes, tunnels, crevices etc, and not solid rock. That was what I was kind of worried about getting. I'd love to see some close=up photos of the rock if you take any. Did you get the sand from TBS too? What do you think of the looks of the sand?

I'm interested in hearing more responses from people regarding what rock they like best.

For the person that asked me about the size of my tank. It will either be a 54g corner tank, or a 58g rectangular tank.


Thanks again!
Pam

 

[RTKBA308]

YES, pictures, we need pictures:wavehand:

 

[harday]

pammy - I don't have any pics, but when I get the 2nd part, I will post some pics. The sand I know is a matter of personal preference. My previous tanks had fine sand (aragalive). I didn;t know how I would feel about TBS sand, since you really can't see much from pics. But, now having it, I can tell you that I love it. It's a mixture of fine sand, bits of shell, small shells, etc. Very natural looking (obviously, given it came from the bottom of the gulf). When I look up from the bottom of the tank, it is filled with worms making all kinds of tunnels - very much alive.

Here's what it came down to to me. I wanted the most realistic piece of "the ocean" as I could get - out of the box if you will. In my opinion, that is TBS.