Live Rock

[headshrink]

I am SOOOO out of $$$ but need LR to get my new tank running. Of course one of the reasons I am out of money is because I do want to do things right. With that being said....
I am looking at possibly buying LR from PA but hesitate to do so since I can't see what I am getting. I have seen some pretty good feedback about the company overall which is comforting.
How much am I looking at for shipping? I have noticed some companies offer free shipping on LR... how on earth can they afford to do this!!!???

 

[dkh0331]

headshrink,
From a business perspective, nothing is free. You may not see a line item for shipping, but you are paying for it in the price of the rock.

Depending on how much rock you are looking at buying, you may want to check out www.eastcoastclams.com Good quality rock, I think the fiji is $2.25/lb. You will have to travel to your local airport to pick it up, and pay the airline the shipping cost. I think that runs around $65 for the first 100lbs. So if you are looking at 90 lbs, your cost of rock and shipping is $268, which works out to less than $3/lb. You will have to cure the rock. But from a cost standpoint, pretty good pricing.

HTH!

David

 

[jasonfrey]

Hey, not very nice plugging another company in our section DKH!!!

Headshrink, please email me at sales@premiumaquatics.com and i can get you some shipping options for shipping the rock. We sell uncured and cured fiji rock and marshall rock.

We also sell it by net weight. Like DKH said, nothing is for free. The reason why eastcoast can sell rock for 2.25 a pound is because it's gross weight. You get a 45 pound box total weight, after you take the rock out, you have left the wet packing material and wax coated box that usually weighs about 10 pounds. So you basically get ripped of 10 pounds per box. Unfortunately this is how we buy rock from wholesalers, but we do not pass this method on to our customers.

Also, no matter where you buy rock right now, be prepared for the Fiji to not look super nice. It's really gone down hill for about the last year. We have tried every importer of fiji rock available and all the quality is down accross the board. Not trying to scare you off of fiji, it's still a good rock and the best value out there. Just doesn't have the coverage it use to and the pieces are starting to get a little sawed off and dense.

Drop me an email on the weight you want and i'll get you prices, depending on your location, we might be able to save you some money, or might be too expensive. We ship right to your door, or if you have Southwest airlines in your main airport, we can go airport to airport.

thanks

jason

 

[Mark]

Hi Jason,

In terms of diversity, shape, and coverage, what rock do you recommend over fiji? I have heard deep water rock looks great, but usually loses color under metal halides. I'm looking to create a diverse tank, very natural, lots of life.

Mark van der Wal

 

[jasonfrey]

Hi Mark,

For best shape and quality, we like marshall rock. It doesn't have a lot of life though, you'll usually get a few plants and sometimes some sps coral, but mostly coralline and rock.

We are doing some tests with the Tonga Deep Water rock right now. I have a feeling it will be the new Fiji soon if they do not find better fiji. They swear there is plenty of fiji available, but the drop in quality makes me thing that it's over mined now and needs to recoop.

The Fiji branch is really cool stuff, but it looses almost 100% of it's color, comes in really cool purples, oranges etc but bare in about 5 days. It's super nice shape makes it a good addition for small pieces though.

jason

 

[Mark]

Thanks Jason. It'd be great if the tonga deepwater kept it's color under halides. Let me us know what you find out.

 

[DensityMan]

*bump*

Also interested in Marshal or Tonga rock (or for that matter "good" Fiji), but prefer uncured (as my tank is still new)...

Any news on when you might be getting new rock in?

 

[jasonfrey]

Hi,

We are suppose to get a large shipment of Marshall in monday or tuesday and a large shipment of fiji middle to end of next week. We have a new collection station in Fiji and the last shipment was excellent, so this next shipment should be really nice as well.

On the marshall, it's always good, but last shipment was even better then usual, so looks like rock quality is going back up with our collectors.

thanks

jason

 

[Ti_Lavender]

sorry to but in on the post but I am in need of lr within the next month. I live in chicago so shipping should be quick. But my real question is why is your rock so much more per pound then other retailers for instance liveaquaria has 44 lb box of figi for 99. but you guys can't macth that can you?

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hi lexusboy,

What you are receiving from liveaquaria.com, and may other online retailers who sell rock at a very low price is transhipped rock. This means the rock is coming in from the Islands, to the reseller, and setting in boxes, on a shelf until you, the purchaser, buys it. You pay for gross weight as well, which means you pay for the weight of the box and packaging material (usually around 5 - 7lbs), plus all of the rubble in the box. You usually end up paying for anywhere from 8 - 12lbs of rock, that is not rock, rather rubble and box weight.

All of our rock flies into LAX, where it immediately transfers planes and comes straight to IND. We pick the rock up from the aiport and immediately tank the rock in an 1800gal rock system that has a calcium reactor and industrial sized protein skimmer, along with Dolphin 5000 pumps on each vat in a closed loop setup. When you purchase rock from us you can specify sizes and shapes you are looking for, as well as only paying for the actual weight of the rock you receive. If you purchase for example 40lbs of rock from us, you should expect to receive a box that weighs anywhere from 45 - 50lbs.

I hope this helps clear up some of our pricing descrepencies between us, and liverock retailers who tranship. IMO it is not worth transhipping, as you end up eatting too much cost that you should not have to, plus you have no idea how long that rock has been out of the water, setting on a wholesalers shelf.

 

[Ti_Lavender]

Jeremy thanks, also I didn't realize at your site that if you buy 40+ it is cheaper. Thanks and also b/c I live so close do you think I could get away with a cheaper shipping for example ground b/c I bought a pump and a uv and you guys shipped it monday and I got it tuesday. Would this work? Thanks and I will most likely be ordering some rock from you guys.