Is this good live rock?

It looks like it has a lot of life on it. I don't know anyone who has used it, but from the pictures it looks good.
 
big thing when buying rock that has to be shipped is it is great to use in a new setup but when arrival if putting in an established tank it will have die off on it which means the live bacteria can be dying off and cause an ammonia spike
 
Yup, I am looking for the LR to kick start the cycle. The rock is going to cost a lot to ship, trying to see what other options I have.
 
Buy your live rock at your LFS and only about 10% of your total weight. That way you can hand pick your pieces.
Using dry rock won't extend your cycle too much and will save you $$$$.
 
I've got some curing now. It was on sale a week or two ago for $70 for 45 lbs and I couldn't resist. It is decent looking so far, but mostly flat shelf pieces. Maybe it will look like the pictures once cured, but it didn't look anything like that on arrival. There is some coraline and a LOT of dead stuff. It's been a stinky, soupy mess with a high of 6 ppm NH3. I even scrubbed the rock and rinsed it in ASW before curing it...

Certainly good stuff for cycling a tank.

For the price (even when not on sale), it certainly beats my LFS ($8/lb).
 
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My buddy just bought a bunch of this on sale too, he's been doing this for 20years and was not impressed. The rock didn't have as much on it as he's seen before or would like to have gotten. He said it looked scrubbed...

Great organization this rock just wasn't all that and a bag of chips. I've got a bunch of the left overs for sump rubble...meh
 
That rock looks nice too, I could go with the 36lb box. Did you order from there? How much did the shipping run you?
 
The majority of rock in my tank is from the Gulf of Mexico that was covered with life. I also bought some of this rock when on sale just to get some critters from the Pacific to add variety to the tank. I was not impressed. Even with large water changes ammonia was up to 8 and if there was anything alive upon arrival it never made it through the cycle. Made nice clean places to stick some corals to but not what I consider "live rock". Just my experience.
 
kevin21 said:
That rock looks nice too, I could go with the 36lb box. Did you order from there? How much did the shipping run you?
Click to expand...

That was about 8 years ago so I cant remember. I do remember that they don't ship it directly to you they ship it to the nearest airport by air freight and you have to go pick it up. It wasn't a big deal for me but it may be for some. Its a good deal though its hard to find good live rock at 3$ a pound.

Edit: One thing I can remember is that it was a lot of rock for the price. The Totoka is very light I was using it on a 120 gallon. I bought 3 boxes and I was worried that I was going to not have enough rock. I was astounded by how much I actually got and I ended up tossing a few pieces because I had too much rock.
 
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I ordered some too while it was on sale, i was expecting what i received from them in '05 and '06, but i had the same experience as JammyBirch's friend , flat rock, which i was happy about, although i was expecting more of a "holey" rock like my previous purchases. I received a few really nice shelf pieces though, one was 14.5" x 12.5" and another was 10" x 10" both were about 2" thick... the rest were around the 6" range and smaller, again, all flat, save for 2 smaller ~4" pieces...

what i was not happy about, during unboxing there was a SWARM of what i think were march flies http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/diptera/Lasioptera.htm, i was not happy about letting 2-3 get out inside my house before promptly taking the box outside. for cleaning (i had an area in the basement covered with a 15' x 15' piece of plastic for a cleaning area) not much life left on the rock, very baron except a few sponges in the crevices, and not very porous...
 
whosurcaddie said:
That was about 8 years ago so I cant remember. I do remember that they don't ship it directly to you they ship it to the nearest airport by air freight and you have to go pick it up. It wasn't a big deal for me but it may be for some. Its a good deal though its hard to find good live rock at 3$ a pound.

Edit: One thing I can remember is that it was a lot of rock for the price. The Totoka is very light I was using it on a 120 gallon. I bought 3 boxes and I was worried that I was going to not have enough rock. I was astounded by how much I actually got and I ended up tossing a few pieces because I had too much rock.
Click to expand...

Unless this is different rock, the shipment I got was UPS and I had them hold at facility so i could get it quicker. It had some wet newspaper on the rock, but this did not keep it very fresh.
 
Mike Ordner said:
Unless this is different rock, the shipment I got was UPS and I had them hold at facility so i could get it quicker. It had some wet newspaper on the rock, but this did not keep it very fresh.
Click to expand...

Pretty much all live rock is shipped with newspaper. It keeps it damp. They cant ship it in water.
 
I bought from gulfliverock.com and was super impressed. Had tons of life on it, sponges, plants, halimaeda (sp?) nemastoma, and some snails.
 
Check salty suppy. They have a few kinds plus shipping is cheaper if not free depending on how much you order. I got 50 lbs for 150.
 
Heres a picture of my old tank with the Totoka just after the tank had cycled. LOL at those old powerheads.

jb4t5dyayStIZ.JPG
 
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