Hi Dave,
We always get a few people that are not happy with the rock, but probably 49 out of 50 that are. The rock does vary from week to week and how it's handled after it ships makes a difference, heat etc. If they leave it on the dock too long, it will loose a lot of color.
It's almost impossible to tell what the rock looks like uncured though, i've seen batches that look excellent when they come and then more bare after the curing process and vice versa. You just can't tell until the rock cures and the snails eat the dust, dirt and film covering completely off the rock. Sometimes a brown rock that looks like it has no coralline coverage is actually completely covered.
There are 3 major importers of Fiji rock; Walt, SeaDwelling and WaterLife. We have bought all 3 and we like Waterlife the best. If people want the most coralline algae, they should go with Walt, but if they want good shaped pieces with lots of holes, odd shapes they should go with our WaterLife rock. To me personally, i don't care if the rock has any coralline algae on it, people should be looking for the shape and sizes of the rocks. Coralline will always grow over the rock, a big brick full of coralline doesn't do much good for a reef tank, but many people starting out want that color right then, where i would rather get the shapes and worry about the coralline later.
Far as life is concerned, i would say WaterLife usually has a lot of life, walt raw rock might have a little more, a lot of this life will die off at first though and then bounce back in the next few weeks.
Comparing Fiji rock to Gulf rock is not easy. Fiji rock does not have near the life that Gulf Rock has, but Gulf rock is almost a solid brick. I bought 40 pounds once and it was 4 small soft ball pieces, no holes or anything. 40 lbs of Fiji would be an entire box full of rock.
I try not to talk our rock up too much, because people might be expecting rock that looks like it's been in a reef for 6 months. I've been buying rock for 5 years though and i certainly think this collector is the best. We buy 1000 pounds at a time and the batches are almost always above average to great. There is always a few not so great pieces, but for the most part i don't think it can be beat. Only exception might be Marshall Island, but we are having trouble getting that rock unbroken right now,
jason
