South Caribbean Rock: Your Take

[tenpercenter]

Hello everyone,

I am curious to get some opinions of live rock from the south Caribbean. I found a local distributor that sells zaboga (I had never heard of it either) and says that it is imported from the south caribbean. I have heard some negative things about haitian live rock and Florida aquacultured rock (hitchhikers and phosphate leaching) and wanted to know what you all think.

Thanks,

TenPercenter

 

[JamesJR]

Caribbean rock really varies in terms of quality. We used to get it in from various locations, Haiti, Florida and a few others and I can tell you that when it is good it can put the best pacific rock to shame and when it is not you are better off using lace rock.

Generally speaking, if it is brought in quickly, the curing process is a lot shorter and you can get some really nice orange and yellow ball type sponges along with some really nice halimeda algae. Coralline algae coverage never quite matched what we could get out of pacific rock but then again it is really nice when you get little stony corals and feather duster worms in it.

What I don't like about it is that it is usually much denser than pacific rock so buying it pound for pound it doesn't go as far. Also because it is much denser there aren't as many crevices that pacific rock has and I don't think it is anywhere near as porous as pacific rock.

I would consider buying it and using it in my tank but I wouldn' buy it unless I could see it in person. The only online resource I would consider buying it from is Tampa bay saltwater as they have been around a long time and I have heard good feedback from lots of people. It is pricey though!

 

[tenpercenter]

Thanks for the info. I have found a few other threads here about the zaboga rock but no first hand expiriance. I will be able to take a look at it before buying but don't totally know what I am looking for. The pictures seem great but inperson could be a whole different story.

Here is a link to the ebay sale:

Zaboga Rock on Ebay

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Anyone else with input on this subject?

Thanks,

TenPercenter

 

[JamesJR]

It looks pretty good from the picture. If it is as good as the picture than I think it should be totally decent rock. 5 bucks a pound and no shipping ( I am assuming you are picking it up yourself) isn't bad.

I honestly can't commnet on caribean rock causing phosphate problems.

 

[herostar]

Looks pretty good to me.


I bought 12 lbs from sealifeflorida.com and couldn't be happier with it. The guy basically collects the rock per order and ships the same day. I got tons of hitch-hikers and nothing bad came with my rock. It was very open (not dense at all) and probably 75% covered in coralline. Thumbs up for fresh caribbean rock from me.