AquaGrizzly
New member
Where does/did everyone get their rock from? I want big pieces atleast a foot long or longer. No where carries a good amount. I find some here and there but the stores want an arm and a leg for the rock.
Live Rock
- Thread starter AquaGrizzly
- Start date
AquaGrizzly
New member
It would be nice to have them 2 feet.
AquaGrizzly
New member
I would rather see what I'm getting before I pay for it. That is where I usually get my rock from (Ark).
JNye
Moved On Up
I found a guy on the Bay who had nice dry rock. I told him what i was looking for and he sent pics. They looked good. I asked for a 2' shelf rock and a 2' round large piece. He delivered with pics cept the round one was only 18". they ended up wieghing 18# and 25# respectivly, I never ordered though. This was only a month or so ago and I need more corals before I need more rock! My bro-in-law ordered his 30# box and said he was happy with it, I haven't seen them in person yet.
pescadero
In Memoriam
marcorocks.com. its dry base rock that you have to cure, but they have a WYSISYG option for display rock. you get the piece of rock that's shown in the photo. its kind of like Diver's Den for rock. i've seen HUGE display piecesl
http://marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=25
http://marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=25
BreadmanMike
New member
I got my rock from Phishybusiness.com
I ordered the super select rock and got huge pieces.
Here it is after I unpacked it and placed it in my old 125 to cycle.
I ordered the super select rock and got huge pieces.
Here it is after I unpacked it and placed it in my old 125 to cycle.
AquaGrizzly
New member
I've been there and it's hard to get some help. A lotof stores are like that. Not sure if it's just me or what. The price they have on their rock the last time I was there was insane.
crewf16chief
New member
selling my rock I brought in not ready to setup my tank. I have about 100lbs of fiji rock I'm willing to sell it for 3.50/lb. send me a message if interested.
pescadero
In Memoriam
Pet Haven does have some nice looking rock, but there prices are ****ing stupid. My experience has been that they don't deal on it either. If the truth be told, the reason that I bought 100 lb. of Marco Rock and set up a rock curing sump in my basement is precisely because buying it at Pet Haven would have cost me about $800. I like the people there, but there's no ****ing way I'd pay a stupid price for live rock, or be forced into begging for a deal.
In contrast with Scott's experience, I've always found the people at PH to be the most attentive of any LFS I've been to. There are a couple of people who stay in the fish area and never leave the basement. I'm surprised that you would have had problems getting help there. That's never been my experience.
Even at $3.00 per pound, there's a limit to how much live rock I'd want to buy if I were putting together a large tank. If you're willing to take the time bringing that second tank up, it might be worth thinking about starting with base rock and seeding/culturing it yourself. It'd be a lot cheaper.
In contrast with Scott's experience, I've always found the people at PH to be the most attentive of any LFS I've been to. There are a couple of people who stay in the fish area and never leave the basement. I'm surprised that you would have had problems getting help there. That's never been my experience.
Even at $3.00 per pound, there's a limit to how much live rock I'd want to buy if I were putting together a large tank. If you're willing to take the time bringing that second tank up, it might be worth thinking about starting with base rock and seeding/culturing it yourself. It'd be a lot cheaper.
I have always been treated with respect and any purchase really over 5 lbs. they have gone down on... But I also go there alot and BS with them. I know it is expensive I was just saying if you want big pieces arond that is an option. I hear Premium in Indy has a massive amount of rock at good prices you could do a economic analysis of making your own as pescadero did, pet haven, or driving to Indy gas included. Either way good luck I feel like buying LR sucks becuase it is expensive and usually bring along things you do not want i.e. crabs.... But it is a MUST... OR try and get Pescardo to cure some rock for you if you trade him some frags or something if he already has a curing station....
pescadero
In Memoriam
i don't want hitchhikers, so i start off with BASE ROCK. to clarify things: i don't cure live rock, only base rock.
its simple enough for anyone to set up their own curing station, just like I did. just get big tubs and some pumps for good flow, feed the rocks every day and wait...
there's a reason that the rock costs $8 per pound at the LFS. after you've taken $2 rock, fed it every day, performed countless water changes, done lots of water testing, removed and replaced the rock to siphon the crud out the tubs, etc., then you've done a lot of manual labor and its not $2 rock anymore. you've got a lot of time in it, including a lot of hidden costs like that extra bucket or two of salt.
curing rock isn't rocket science, but it does involve a lot of mindless labor. the idea of paying someone else to do something that takes attention every day for 3 months just isn't realistic. curing rock isn't at all hard, its just time intensive. if anyone wants to save money, the best way is to just DIY.
its simple enough for anyone to set up their own curing station, just like I did. just get big tubs and some pumps for good flow, feed the rocks every day and wait...
there's a reason that the rock costs $8 per pound at the LFS. after you've taken $2 rock, fed it every day, performed countless water changes, done lots of water testing, removed and replaced the rock to siphon the crud out the tubs, etc., then you've done a lot of manual labor and its not $2 rock anymore. you've got a lot of time in it, including a lot of hidden costs like that extra bucket or two of salt.
curing rock isn't rocket science, but it does involve a lot of mindless labor. the idea of paying someone else to do something that takes attention every day for 3 months just isn't realistic. curing rock isn't at all hard, its just time intensive. if anyone wants to save money, the best way is to just DIY.
Last edited:
pescadero
In Memoriam
To put in perspective, I was curing 100# of Marco rock in about 50g of volume. The rock pretty much filled all of the containers all of the way to the top, so there was a lot of rock per gallon of water. There was only enough water to fill-in around the tanks full of rocks, so the water got really nasty really fast.
The Marco rock is full of crud and it takes longer to cure it than clean base rock. I mean FULL of crud, like dead sponges and all sorts of dried gelatinous goop. You'll get all kinds of nasty stinky foam coming out for the first few weeks, then when that clears up you'll get NH3 / NO2 / NO3 spikes that are off of the charts and stay there for weeks. The spikes are so high they stop the nitrogen cycle and you have to to massive water changes to get it going again. Yeah, Marco is a lot dirtier than it looks.
It probably wouldn't be as hard to do if you were only doing a small amount of rock in a decent size water container, or if you wanted to just toss some new rocks into the sump of a working system. But when I was doing 100# of rock in one batch, it turned out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be.
Now that the sump is running and everything in it is fully cured, I don't think it would be a big deal to toss a few pieces of rock in there for curing.
The Marco rock is full of crud and it takes longer to cure it than clean base rock. I mean FULL of crud, like dead sponges and all sorts of dried gelatinous goop. You'll get all kinds of nasty stinky foam coming out for the first few weeks, then when that clears up you'll get NH3 / NO2 / NO3 spikes that are off of the charts and stay there for weeks. The spikes are so high they stop the nitrogen cycle and you have to to massive water changes to get it going again. Yeah, Marco is a lot dirtier than it looks.
It probably wouldn't be as hard to do if you were only doing a small amount of rock in a decent size water container, or if you wanted to just toss some new rocks into the sump of a working system. But when I was doing 100# of rock in one batch, it turned out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be.
Now that the sump is running and everything in it is fully cured, I don't think it would be a big deal to toss a few pieces of rock in there for curing.
