Live Rock dilemma

Has anybody dealt with Aquacon recently? I have read the TONS of bad reviews on them but I cant find much from the past few years. The reason I am asking is because of their live rock. They have decent prices and free shipping. This is what I was looking at: http://www.aquacon.com/BaliAlorLiveRock.html

Ideally I would like to start with pretty much all dry rock and seed it with some live rock. (Ive already got 50 lbs of dry rock). Unfortunately I do not have anyplace to get any good live rock seed. I live close by to That Fish Place and checked out their live rock. Although it would probably work, I don't like it. There is very little life on it and very little coraline algae. I thought about going with the Figi from Live Aquaria which I am sure would be better but I am being picky. If I am going to spend 160 bucks on LR I am going to get exactly what I want.

If you have suggestions of other comparable LR at a good price I am all ears.

So I guess to summarize:

1: Aquacon.com still as bad as it was in the past?
2: Know anyplace to get Bali Alor other than Aquacon
3: What are your experiences with Live Aquaria figi recently? Pics upon arrival and cured?

 

Here is some others that I was looking at as well:

http://www.liverocknreef.com/liverock/index.php?l=product_detail&p=8699
Not as big a fan of this one as they say that it is very fragile and breaks up during shipping.

And this: http://www.liverocknreef.com/liverock/index.php?l=product_detail&p=10022
I really like this one but it is very expensive

 

I'll be honest,if it were me,I'd buy it from that fish place ..There would be no die off ,wouldn't smell because of that too..
Hand pick the chunks you like and get exactly what you see,plus no shipping..
Just buy a few chunks and then buy up their dry base ..
I'm sure their LR is loaded with bacteria and critters ..Remember its a pet store with the tank lights on for 12+hours ,all the critters are going to be burrowed inside.

 

Its definitely a good suggestion. they have different kinds too. Ive got a coupon for 25% off but I have to wait until next month to use it.

 

I would agree, I'd like to see the rock I'm purchasing. You can always ask them for some coralline scrapings and throw them in your tank and that will help spread coralline as well.

 

I dont mean to sound redundant, but did you check out marcorocks.com? I was just looking at their website and they now sell LR as well as DR. I also noticed that the price is 6 bucks a pound with free shipping if you use fed-ex regular shipping. It might be something to look into. Not only that but the dry rock is like 2 bucks a pound.

 

Yup I've looked there. Got my sand from Marco.

 

Personally, I prefer to hand-pick LR, then get it home and into the tank; As mentioned, little to no die-off. OTOH, I've seen several stores in the MD/PA/DE region that put $2/lb dry rocks into a tank of water then sell them for a premium price as "LR", so if you don't see life on it, it probably isn't there. If you can't find anything better local, I'd suggest checking out Marco Rocks, Live Aquaria, or Premium Aquatics.

 

I'm pretty sure the rock at TFP is real live rock and I could hand pick it. With my 25% coupon that makes it only 3.99 a lb. Maybe that's the road to go. I'll get the beneficial bacteria, there is a little coraline algae in it so I get that too. Also it's already in water so the cure will take less if any time.

 

With that being said, does anyone here in PA, DE or MD have a good LFS that has nice LR? I'd be willing to drive a little distance of the product was good.