Best Live Rock?

koiman6

Member
Im interested in ordering some LR off the internet for my new 20H. I figure ill be gettin a fair amount of money for christmas and i wanted to get some top quality LR. I checked several sites and would like more sites. It will be a reef tank so ill probably want 20-25 lbs. Hmmm i bet this will get deleted oh well.
 

arkman

Member
I'd highly reccomend aquacultured rock. Ther is a product from Fiji that is man made, and very inexpensive - supposed to be porus as well, but I have not seen it 1st hand. - I think this would make GREAT base rock.
I have UNCURED live rock from florida. IF you are just seting up your tank, I would definately get some of this and addd it as top level coraline rock. Its AMAZING - loaded with bivalves, corals, sponges , tunicates, worms, etc. - it is denser than s.pacific rock, so a smaller piece is heavier (and possibly less surface area for bacteria), but it is beautiful.
AND - you will know that you didnt cause any distruction of natural reefs if you buy aquacultured rock.
 
i make live rock out of portland cement, southdown, and crushed coral. i also mix in some pvc shavings to get the coraline started. i learned how to make it at garf . i figure that if i can do it, anybody can!
 

charvel

Member

Originally posted by arkman
I'd highly reccomend aquacultured rock. Ther is a product from Fiji that is man made, and very inexpensive - supposed to be porus as well, but I have not seen it 1st hand. - I think this would make GREAT base rock.
I have UNCURED live rock from florida. IF you are just seting up your tank, I would definately get some of this and addd it as top level coraline rock. Its AMAZING - loaded with bivalves, corals, sponges , tunicates, worms, etc. - it is denser than s.pacific rock, so a smaller piece is heavier (and possibly less surface area for bacteria), but it is beautiful.
AND - you will know that you didnt cause any distruction of natural reefs if you buy aquacultured rock.

Can you tell me where please? Thanks, Mike
 

arkman

Member
I don’t want to encourage you to go off SWF.com...but if you do a search for aqua cultured live rock you'll get some good hits. The Florida stuff comes from a couple of sources - I've seen other people mention Tampa Bay Saltwater on this board, and the manufacturer of the man made Fiji is "Walt Smith" - he only sells through distribution so you can't buy direct anyway.
LORD - cool that you made it yourself, then you can do custom size, etc. -- I assume you're happy? - Lots of nooks and crannies? Can animals bore through it?
It would be GREAT if SWF carried aqua cultured rock, I'd prefer to point you right here...
Really glad to see the interest in the AQ stuff --- I've seen damage to reefs 1st hand as a diver --- not saying our hobby is THE reason - but we should be loud advocates to support and sustain the natural environments we try to imitate in our homes. - IMHO
 

justinl

Member
Well, there's a site out there that offers a money back guarantee on their cured live rock, but I've never ordered from them. Heard good things though. Everyone seems to like SWF.com rock, so do a search on the board to see user opinions of what they've gotten.
 

attml

Active Member
I have Fla. aquacultured LR as well and love it. It comes with a lot of critters and different color coralline. Here is a really good article http://www.garf.org/2nd.html about it and If you want to see some pics of mine go to my website (listed below)
 

fshhub

Active Member

Originally posted by JustinL
Well, there's a site out there that offers a money back guarantee on their cured live rock, but I've never ordered from them. Heard good things though. Everyone seems to like SWF.com rock, so do a search on the board to see user opinions of what they've gotten.

guarentee?? why? what are they gonna guarentee? I find this interesting. The only thing that I would want a guarentee on is that it is LR and that I will get it. I prefer to cure it myself when it comes anyway. Any LR will come live(may have some die off but........) and will more than likely ahve hitchhikers too. can't see how it woued not. Besides, if it does cycle or have an unwanted critter(which is the only thing I could think of guarenteeing), wht are they gonna do, send a new piece? That won't heelp, teh damage would have already been done and they will not guarentee a tank full of losses against natural causes(mantis or cycling or will they?)
I could almost guarentee that, if not, I would ahve to see it to believe it and not see their guarentee, but see them actually doing so without putting you through the mill first.
ps, I have ot agree, look here, price is right, esp after you figure in shipping. others may be cheaper. but it is very expensive to express ship those heavy packages. So the cost is very similar, even form those places offering it at what seems to be half the price.
 

fshhub

Active Member
I am pretty sure it is, but with any MO ther is a chance of die off, so curing yoursel should be done anyway, JMHO.
 

dsa_mom

Member
I thought due to conservation laws and such that all LR sold was aquacultured. If not "farmed," then at least stuff that has fallen off of reefs, etc. So it was my understanding that enything purchased from a reputable vendor was not reef-destructive.
Pls correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks
 
out of all the fish stores i've been to, i would say about 70% of them have no clue exactly where the livestock is coming from. most stores don't care about reef destruction, they care about a profit. that really steams me! i i'm in the planning phase of starting a small aquacuture reef store soon. for now it will have to be run out of my basement though.
 

justinl

Member
The guarantee is of satisfaction, of course. I'd be pretty miffed if I got a shipment of live rock that had no coraline, macroalgae, or other critters on it- and I've seen some pics and heard horror stories of people getting rooked.
Like I said, I have no first hand experience with the aformentioned business, but I've read posts from other people who have been quite satisfied with the rock.
The fact thay they would make such a claim would lead me to believe that they have a good deal of confidence in their rock, not that they're expecting any returns.
Anyway, I've read both good and bad posts on this board about swf.com orders or rock, so do your homework.
You can't please everyone.
Ona a side note I don't think I've heard one bad thing about the Florida live rock people mention- with the exception of the fact that it's heavier than fiji.
 

arkman

Member
I think there is a HUGE difference between cured and uncured rock. If you get good uncured and you "cure" yourself it's night and day. This is amazing stuff, covered with corals, bivalves, feather dusters --- not premium species, but beautiful none-the-less. You definitely risk unwanted hitchhikers though.
The "cured" natural rock may be more porus, but it's nothing much to look at. May be covered in purple coralline algae, and have a great bacteria bio-count – but good uncured aquaculture from FLA Is nice DISPLAY rock – I’ve been adding it like a fish or coral though – only small amounts at a time
Dsa_mom – I think LORDOFTHEREEF it 100% correct. Many don’t know where exactly the stock is coming from. I’m not convinced that this rock “rubble” isn’t “encouraged” off the reef. You should know that CORAL and rock are CITES II controlled (taken from http://www.nap.edu/issues/17.1/bruckner.htm ):
All stony corals, including live rock, are listed in Appendix II of CITES. Commercial trade in Appendix II species is permitted under CITES, provided that the exporting country finds that the take does not constitute a significant risk to the species in the wild or its role in the ecosystem.
I’m pretty sure most of the 3rd world countries we get our stock from have bigger problems, and even appreciate the $$$ we bring into their economy (fraction of the price we pay) --- to take ”rock” from under the surface of the ocean
LORDOFTHEREEF – you open a 100% aquaculture store, you have a customer here. That offers open to SWF.COM as well --- it would be cool if this store would put all the aqua cultured in a section…
Stepping off my soapbox…
---Noah
 
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