Live Rock or did you pull that our of your yard.

[sgtbilko]

Hey Guys;

What place would you say is the best store to buy live rock?

I dont want to say were, just incase some of you know them, but I have been to a few store looking at there live rock here in the Long Island area (3 stores) and i have seen base rock that looked more alive. I have been disapointed so far.

Any recomendations?

Also if I remember correctly it is one pound per Gal?

Chris

 

[jnfallon]

yeppers, 1lb/gal is a rough guide.

I tell you, with all the cooties running around these days, I would tell you to seriously consider base rock. Marco rocks are cheap, lightweight, come in awesome shapes, and will not have any of the pests that have appeared in the past few years.

It will color up in no time.

While I'm on the topic, one of the biggest things that have probably changed since last time is the number of coral predators that are ubiquitous.

Nudis, Red Bugs, AEFW. etc - they are everywhere. When building your system, take special care not to ever introduce these things. (Dip/qt EVERYTHING).

Of course rock is tough to dip. I would never buy live rock again.

 

[Spracklcat]

FWIW, I bought my original rock from LiveAquaria.com, and got really nice stuff. Knowing better now, if I were starting a new tank I'd get MarcoRock and seed it with LR from someone who had a CLEAN tank or from a small amount purchased. I agree though, most of the LR in stores is pretty bare. But keep in mind, if you buy LR from somewhere else, it will have to cycle through, you'll lose a lot of what is on it, and it may look like that anyway.

I'm setting up a new 12g, (NERAC raffle ) and I'll be using Marco's and some LR from my own tank.

 

[sgtbilko]

Have a link theat will tell me more about this Nudis bug?????

 

[bobbbm]

I would also use Marcos... I let one dang rock in my tank from an FLS store and now I have Aptasia AND ICK!!!! Trust me when I say there is life in Macros rock LOL Wait till you smell it the 3rd day

 

[DgenR8]

There WAS life on Marco's rock at one point. What you smell is death.
Unfortunately, you have to be VERY careful with anything you put in your tank. I got red planaria from someone that I never expected them from.
Quarantine everything.
As for live rock, I was very impressed with Marco's used to be live rock, and after I dry out my tank to kill the planaria, I'll probably add a bunch of it.

 

[jnfallon]

Larry, planaria are pretty easy to beat, no?

Get a six-line or a mandarin or other wrasse. Yummy.

I, on the other hand, have AEFW. Can't f'n belive it, as I have been so careful with corals.

 

[DgenR8]

My system is a tank, a 'fuge, a sump, and two smaller "sumps" not to mention overflows and plumbing. I can't get enough critters to eat them all, in all the places they can hide. I tried FWE three times, and each time thought I had the little buggers beat, but they came back.
Nobody wants to trade stuff with me because of them, and because of that, I pretty much let my tank go. It's now a Capnella farm with a clam, 3 Anemones, and the occasional Zoanthid polyp. I have fish and shrimp, but my lack of interest in the tank pretty much wiped out anything you could call a coral, and I had some nice pieces
I have a 110 gallon tank to put back together, and then I'll set that up in my basement, where my main sump is now. I'll put some Marco rock in there, and cycle it out while my main tank runs on powerheads and closed loop.
Once the 110 is cycled, I'll dip, treat and move the fish, shrimp clam and other incidentals to there with my new Lumenarcs above it, and drain the main tank.
There are some scratches in the tank, and I'm considering replacing it, as I don't want to look at scratches anymore, but I don't know if that $700.00 is in the cards or not.
I plan to actually dry out the tank completely. The live rock will be dried completely, and most will be offered here as dry base rock, but not before I have let it dry out long enough to be sure no FWs could live through it.
After the tank and plumbing have sat dry (again, long enough to be sure), get some more Marco rock, or maybe just use some of my own "base" rock to cycle out the main tank again. I figure it'll be a few months down the road, but then I'll reconnect the main tank to the sumps/'fuge and start again. Without pests, I hope.
This is supposed to be a thread about Live rock, and I turned it into a thread about my FWs
Sorry about that sgtbilko.

 

[Spracklcat]

Am I missing something? Isn't Marco Rock the dry coral skeletons, real lightweight stuff? There is nothing live on that at all--not meant to be.

 

[shyland83]

I'm pretty sure that whatever was living on it when they pull it out of the water dies off, then when you put it in water again the dead stuff starts to break down. thats why you still have to cycle it. not sure if thats what you meant. I bought 50 lbs of marco at nerac and i added 50 lbs of walter smith pukani that i bought from a local guy and i'm really happy with it. The rock in my first tank i bought from liveaquaria and really liked it. I might actually have more than i can fit in the new tank when i finally switch everything over so if anyone needs a few pieces of 2 year old fiji i might need to sell them off. there not real big but they have a lot of growth on them.

 

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9837484#post9837484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spracklcat
Am I missing something? Isn't Marco Rock the dry coral skeletons, real lightweight stuff? There is nothing live on that at all--not meant to be.

I'm not sure of it's origin, Christine. I did talk with the guys at last year's NERAC, and they said it did have remains on it that would have to be cycled, or cured if you will.

 

[sgtbilko]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9837672#post9837672 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shyland83
I'm pretty sure that whatever was living on it when they pull it out of the water dies off, then when you put it in water again the dead stuff starts to break down. thats why you still have to cycle it. not sure if thats what you meant. I bought 50 lbs of marco at nerac and i added 50 lbs of walter smith pukani that i bought from a local guy and i'm really happy with it. The rock in my first tank i bought from liveaquaria and really liked it. I might actually have more than i can fit in the new tank when i finally switch everything over so if anyone needs a few pieces of 2 year old fiji i might need to sell them off. there not real big but they have a lot of growth on them.

I would be intresting in looing at it to purchase.... If its not realy big it may go well for my 28 gal nano.

 

[billsreef]

Why buy rock that was alive, yanked out of the sea to dry, still has enough organic remains to need to cycle when you can buy live rock that will yield lots of interesting life and any nasties can be taken care of with simple patience?

 

[shyland83]

Here is a pic of what the tank looked like before i started moving to the new tank. It's a 29g just to get a sense of scale. this week sometime i'll know how much if any i'm going to need to get rid of. You live close enough, you can come look at it this week if you want. I'll let you know.

and to answer bills question, my guess is $$$$$$$$$$ thats the main reason i bought it anyway.

 

[shyland83]

oops, forgot the picture

 

[sgtbilko]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9838320#post9838320 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
Why buy rock that was alive, yanked out of the sea to dry, still has enough organic remains to need to cycle when you can buy live rock that will yield lots of interesting life and any nasties can be taken care of with simple patience?

Bill


I am not sure what rock you are talking abount on you second part of your statement. Please explanin.

Chris

 

[billsreef]

By live rock that the yields lots of interesting growth, I'm referring to proper live rock such as Fiji live rock, etc. While even the "cured" stuff will still need to cure, letting it cure in the tank for couple of months is quite worthwhile and gives you time to eliminate problems like aiptasia before they become a problem

 

[sgtbilko]

That what I always did 6 years ago when I did my 125. But most replies are saying dont because of this reason or that reason...

I know things have changed over the years, so hence the questions.

then back to my orgional question, Were in LI would one find the best LR, most places I looked at has what looks like dead rock. Were would people recomend to buy on LI?

 

[DgenR8]

If I were looking to buy live rock. I wouldn't look in LFSs. I would watch for a local that's selling off their system, and buy their cured live rock.

 

[drej424]

When I first started, I bought my live rock from Aquarium Adventure. It was on sale (50% off), so I paid about $6.25/lb. plus tax. Since then, I've gotten Fiji online, Marco's rock at NERAC, and LR that was included in a whole set up sale. The best stuff I got was from Aquarium adventure. They let me pick the rock from the curing tubs before they were in the display tanks. That rock has lots of purple on it, the original cycle was minimal, and I got no nasties from it. I know they can be pricey on a lot of stuff, but if you can wait for a sale, their rock is the best I've seen.