Live Rock Questions...

[hoju74]

I’ll be placing an order for about 30 pounds of live rock to place in a new 28 gallon NanoCube within the next couple weeks and I had some questions:

How well does live rock ship in winter ? I live in the Chicago suburbs and was worried about how the live rock would ship in 20-30 degree weather. If it doesn’t ship well, am I better off waiting until spring ? What shipping method would be best ?

I’m looking for live rock that has the most amount of coralline algae, life, and hitchhikers on it with a lot of nooks, crannies, and caves. What would be the best type to fit this description ? Bali Alor ? Timora ? Fiji ? Price isn’t a concern since the prices on all your rock is quite reasonable. I just want the most “alive” rock available.

In order to get the most amount of life would I be better off getting cured or uncured ? I’m worried about the smell of uncured rock since I can only cure it in the tank which will be in my living room. I don’t think the misses would be happy about our living room smelling like low tide for 2 months
I appreciate any feedback you can give me, and look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day,
Josh

 

[hoju74]

Bump.

 

[GaryR1984]

I always liked Fiji personally. I've also always have the ability to hand pick though as well.

I'd go with cured so it's easier on the wife.

I think if you shipped on a warmer week you would be fine personally, but could be wrong. I assume it won't take long to get to your house since your not far.

I'll be in Chicago in a few weeks, I'm from Florida and NOT looking forward to the cold weather.

 

[Jeremy B.]

HI,

Shipping liverock this time of year is just fine. We treat the rock as if it were live coral in a sense, to where we use insulated boxes, heat packs, and wrap in wet paper. You are in a 1-day shipping zone via standard UPS Ground, so the time in transit would be very minimal to you, again decreasing the amount of dieoff you would have in transit.

I would highly recommend going with the Bali Alor. The shapes and coloration are excellent, and since it's such a porous rock the price isn't all that much different than what you pay for Fiji.

The uncured will have more life and hitchikers, however you will also have a little more dieoff with it to deal with. You would probably have a 1.5 - 2wk recure time with the uncured, where the cured would probably give your system an instant cycle, and you would be ready to go in a matter of a couple days or so.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[hoju74]

Thanks Jeremy. Look forward to ordering in the near future.