Getting back into the hobby... Whre's the live rock?

A

azguy

Premium Member
hey all, been out of the hobby for a while but now I'm looking to set up a 32 biocube. My favorite part of the hobby used to be purchasing live rock from all over the world and watching what would crawl out of it for months. I'm guessing the governments put an end to importing the good stuff.. Are there any places still operating? Is the fake rock that is supposed to have the beneficial bacteria actually good enough to cycle a tank?

Thanks!
 
There's very limited live rock available these days, especially from the Indo-Pacific.

If you want live rock, Tampa Bay Saltwater (as Ned mentioned) is good.

There's also KP Aquatics (Caribbean rock), Gulf Live Rock, and I heard Salty Bottom Reef Company (who closed a while back) may be reopening.

There's also limited supplies of Australian live rock occasionally available but it's been pricy at $25/lb.
 
6622132108776507522.jpeg
 
That’s what is looks like raw fresh out of the ocean from australia

I got it about 5 days later and it was moist in a plastic bag, it looked exactly the same

I wish it was covered in wet paper, I think that would help with coraline survival

I had a ton of die off but it was also 20 degrees upon arrival in NY
But it cycled in a month
Water is crystal clear and I’m biologically diverse. Coraline slowly coming back

I’m going to get some more
 
Also, my understanding regarding Australian is it’s very light weight and you get a lot more bang for your buck. No direct experience. Just what’s been said.
 
It is pretty light for its size

I picked up 70# and that would be good for to aquascape approx 120 gal tank

It’s beautiful rock
Shapes and life

I just hope I have less die off this time
 
I am back here on RC since reef2reef seems to have pretty low volume of replies now.

So i have 20lbs of gulf live rock that i got a week ago. I have it setup in a bare bottom 20 gallon with some koralias, heater, cheap led, and two fish to provide nutrients. I have a 3 month old 20 gallon reef that i started with dry rock. It already has lots if corals, and has been problem free. I started it with caribsea south sea base rock. Didnt even get any ugly stages. I want to replace a chunk or two of the dry rock in the reef tank with this live rock. I am nervous to introduce something and cause problems, when this tank has been problem free. I have been watching the live rock closely for a week, and havent really seen anything concerning. I have seen some small crabs(removed two, but theres more), an orange slug looking thing that crawled up the glass, some spaghetti worms that send out tons of little strings. I have seen little jets of waste get squirted out of holes from time to time. It also had several turkey wing clams, which i removed. It has various colors of sponge. Should i just closely inspect a chunk or two, give it a good strong swish in a bucket of SW, and add it? I was thinking of replacing the rock on the bottom that the favia coral is leaning on, and the top right rock with the torch. Id love to add the additional strains of coralline that the rock has. Heres my reef, and my live rock quarantine tank.
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20250329_111816.jpg
 
@skiergd011013 I would just add the rock personally. That's part of the magic of buying that kind of rock. There will be hitchhikers coming out of that rock for months that you never knew were there... no way to kill any of them off without killing off all the good stuff you personally actually want.
 
All forums, RC and R2R took a hit when FB became popular, so that’s no surprise.

Anyway, if the gulf rock is fully cured, I’d go ahead and add it but, I like a lot of bio-diversity.

If not cured, you probably get away with adding a piece each week.
 
I agree with the others. I’d just add the rock. If you’re concerned about bad guys, you could swish in high salinity saltwater and that should flush out many of them.
 
Reefing102 said:
I agree with the others. I’d just add the rock. If you’re concerned about bad guys, you could swish in high salinity saltwater and that should flush out many of them.
Click to expand...
That wont kill coralline, good bacteria, sponges etc? I will probably just go ahead and add the rock in the next few days. It will have been almost two weeks that it has been in isolation and nothing alarming has been observed. I will just give each piece a close lookover, a strong swish in a bucket of normal SW, and in it goes.
 
My previous shipments with KP came covered in newspaper and had some die off. Many animals including crabs, pistol and mantis made it through shipping. My last shipment came fully immerged in water with no die off, no dead animals. My first shipment had a mantis which I caught out with a bottle trap because I was told they were so bad. I have one in my 180 and it has been there for not sure. It is about 3" max and just like the one I caught before only smashes liverock. I have caught several gorilla crabs pretty easy when rock first comes I pull a couple off the rock, then place the rock in a 100 gallon rubber maid tub for few days and feed catching the crabs. Many years ago I ended up losing fish to a large rock crab that came from Indonesia? Good luck with your new tank and welcome back
 
How much was it a lb? And do thhey have live sand, starting my tank again. I have lots of rock from my prvious 90g tank. Looking to add some life back into them.
 

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alton said:
My previous shipments with KP came covered in newspaper and had some die off. Many animals including crabs, pistol and mantis made it through shipping. My last shipment came fully immerged in water with no die off, no dead animals. My first shipment had a mantis which I caught out with a bottle trap because I was told they were so bad. I have one in my 180 and it has been there for not sure. It is about 3" max and just like the one I caught before only smashes liverock. I have caught several gorilla crabs pretty easy when rock first comes I pull a couple off the rock, then place the rock in a 100 gallon rubber maid tub for few days and feed catching the crabs. Many years ago I ended up losing fish to a large rock crab that came from Indonesia? Good luck with your new tank and welcome back
Click to expand...
I wanted to order from KP, but experienced poor communication/lack of response from them, so i ordered from gulf live rock, and just ordered some more from them as well.
 
skiergd011013 said:
I wanted to order from KP, but experienced poor communication/lack of response from them, so i ordered from gulf live rock, and just ordered some more from them as well.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. They've always been very responsive in my experience. I believe they are just a two person operation.
 
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