your favorite "brand" of rock?

[rabid seacow]

It seems as though Fiji is the standard rock in the majority of our tanks. Yet the the Net and perhaps your LFS has all sorts of so called "super duper ultra awesome" types live rock.
Whether it's Fiji, tonga, moanao, marshall Is. Happai (seems like every island has a different rock)!
Is all of this a load of crap and a ploy to take more of our hard earned dollars. Or just maybe....the a noticable difference.
our LFS has overpriced, dead looking rocks. So i will purchasing from the net. Thus far they pretty much all look the same except for "deep water tonga".
Please share your thoughts.

 

[sonny]

I don't think shops or online stores are shooting you a line, this is just an easy way of denoting where the rock came from. You can know that the most important thing is what the rock has on it, such as coraline algae. The shapes and certainly the size and type of hole in the rocks are probably distinctive from different locations. I have been told that the branch rock is really bad about breaking in transit.
Sonny

 

[neko]

Like the Figi,its cheap and light.Anyone ever try agricultured LR from Tampa Bay??
[ May 15, 2001: Message edited by: neko ]

 

[mr . salty]

Just my two cents,but I would never buy rock online.First off you have to cure it.Even if they say it is already cured,it dies during shipping.Plus you can't pick your own pieces.Picking my own rock is the part I live the best.I have spent literally hours looking at holding bins with thousands of pounds of rock,and not being able to find one good piece.Also,never trust the pictures they show you on the site.That is NOT what you are getting.There must be a store around you that sells good rock.You just have to look far and wide.I have traveled five hours drive to get rock before,and would do it again in a heartbeat before I got any online..

 

[beth]

I would you transport a lot of LR traveling so far. I can see a piece or 2, but if you're going to get 40lbs, how would you transport that? Unless you got a truck.

 

[mr . salty]

I gring a BIG cooler with five gallons of tank water in it. Put the rock in the cooler then cover it with newspaper. the paper gets wet and keeps the rock perfect. This worked perfect for the 4-5 hour drive....

 

[neko]

Wouldn't mind driving for some nice "tonga branch". Haven't seen any in LFS for sometime now!!!

 

[rglenn828]

Neko, I live just outside of Tampa and the LFS sell rock from the Gulf of Mexico. The LFS where I shop said someone bought 5 million pounds of rock from the Bahamas back in the 80s and deposits it in the Gulf of Mexico (on sea floor that is leased from the State of Florida) for 6 months to three years prior to selling the LR to the LFS.
The LR is always loaded many species of coral, algea and inverts. I don't have the lighting in my tank to support the coral (hope to upgrade) so it usally dies off. I just got back into SW after a ten year absense and I enjoy the rock and creatures in it just as much as the fish.
Regards,

 

[andymi]

I did something similar to what MR. Salty stated. I bought a medium sized stryophome cooler ($5). I went to the LFS which has around 40,000 sq. ft of live rock and coral in these huge tanks. I looked for what I wanted, took a little watter from their tanks and put it in the bottom of the cooler then dampened the towel with that water also and laid the towel over top of the rocks to keep them moist. Even though this is my first salt water aquarium, and I think I rushed into setting it up. I dont believe I lost one piece of the live rock. Nothing has fallen off and it all looks good now. I had mine sitting in the cooler for about 3 hrs or so also, and with the towel it was just fine.
--Andy

 

[jimi]

Fiji and marshall island are my favorites.

 

[stormbind]

I just got some aquaculture rock...maybe the same thing as agriculture. Anyway I would not have gotten it but it had some really good growth on it and some coral as well. Over all it is much heaver that Figi. The LFS that I got it from said that it did not look that good when they got it..that it had been "seeded" from surroundng LR. Anyway I hope this answers your question neko.

 

[grouperhead]

fiji and marshall islands are good. i also like florida aquacultured. tonga branch rock is really cool looking as well. i basically like any piece of life rock that has lots of good coraline and other cool stuff on it! . my lfs usually just stocked fiji and marshall islands but now they are stocking the tonga branch rock and it seems to be selling good. has anyone ever seen tonga rock with anything like mushrooms, or any hitch-hikers? later, bo

 

[@knight]

i picked up some vanassi LR from my LFS for 6. /lb it is very nice, prolly the best ive seen so far

 

[coralbeauty]

I have alway purchased figi rock. It is what my LFS normally has on hand. Like others I have to carefully select each piece. However, today I purchased some Marshall Island rock for my 7 gallon nanoreef. It is awesome!
Connie

 

[wolffam]

I purchased my LR rock from LFS (Fiji) by the box for the initial cycle. Took what I got. I have since been finishing up the LR with pre-cycled rock hand choosen by my from their tanks. I make 1 - 2 hour drive to do this. I agree, it's fun looking for that piece that will fit perfect in your tank.

 

[misty927]

Well, I decided to order my live rock online, simply because of the lack of selection here and exorbitant prices. Yes, I did experience an ammonia spike, but it didn't matter...I was cycling my tank with the rock! I was extremely pleased with the rock that I recieved. It already had purple corraline, featherdusters, etc. I have some christmas tree rock forming! When it comes to ADDING live rock to my established tanks, however, I usually pick the best pieces from my lfs. It's really expensive though...the last rock I bought was $90 and it was about 8 pounds I'd say...although it was nice. As for the online rock, they gave me pieces of good size. Overall, I was extremely impressed. I ordered figi online by the way...that's my basic rock of choice, basically for it's price.
[ May 23, 2001: Message edited by: misty927 ]

 

[@knight]

misty, would you please e-mail the supplier website you got it from my e-mail address is d1_aaronk@yahoo.com (there is a link in my profile). I am worried about buying online rock and like what you had to say.
d1_aaronk@yahoo.com
[ May 24, 2001: Message edited by: @knight ]