Buying Live Rock

[CrayolaViolence]

I have noticed a few places (online) who offer live rock collected from the ocean already stocked with "critters" on them. While I've gotten live rock from my local dealer with bacteria and such, I've never seen live rock with actual sponges, sea stars and much more growing in mass amounts on them.
So I was wondering if anyone has ever bought any of this live rock and whether or not it's a disaster waiting to happen or does it help you stock your tank with a variety of life?

Thanks

 

[A1t2o]

The stuff is good but costs more. Since you already have your tank set up and there is some die off during transport, I wouldn't get too much of it. 20-30% of your end total weight of rock would be good. You would be better off getting most of your LR from a store that had a tub of it set up or just to use dry rock. That would give you the biodiversity and critters, if they survive, without nuking your tank.

Your best bet is probably to find someone locally that is selling rock straight from their tank and add that directly to yours. That would give you the biological filtration you need to save your anemone right away. Just make sure you are not adding problems to your tank at the same time.

 

[thegrun]

If you go that route I would quarantine the rock for a couple of weeks to be sure you don't bring in any unwanted hitchhikers, mantis shrimp and unwanted crabs are common pests on many of those rocks.

 

[Saltwaterw]

3/4 of my rock was Marco quarry rock to build the base and then I watched until my water parameters were stable in the tank for a couple of weeks.

Then I got the other 1/4 of my rock from my LFS that has a massive sump/bin of created live rock in the back room that has been stewing in their water supply for months. It was clean but covered in nice Coralline algae which will spread onto the rocks they are sitting on in my tank.. That's when I started my cycle activities, once that rock was in place

 

[CrayolaViolence]

The stuff is good but costs more. Since you already have your tank set up and there is some die off during transport, I wouldn't get too much of it. 20-30% of your end total weight of rock would be good. You would be better off getting most of your LR from a store that had a tub of it set up or just to use dry rock. That would give you the biodiversity and critters, if they survive, without nuking your tank.

Your best bet is probably to find someone locally that is selling rock straight from their tank and add that directly to yours. That would give you the biological filtration you need to save your anemone right away. Just make sure you are not adding problems to your tank at the same time.

The harvested live rock from the ocean bottom that I have see, actually costs about 1/2 the amount I can buy locally. You just have to buy a significant amount of it. I have the tanks to put the live rock in alone, to wait and see what I have, but I was wondering if it was worth it to get the extra stuff like starfish and such. Several of the sights I have looked at even offer overnight shipping to ensure a 90+ % survival rate of critters, for free, if you buy X amount. Some charge a bit extra for overnight but not much. Was just wondering if it was worth it or not.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Search TBS rock and you can read to your hearts content of people using their rock. All have been very happy.

 

[Hitch08]

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2509664