Live Rock

Happy Friday everyone. Got a question. I am new to the addiction and I am in the process of setting up a 100g FOWLR tank. Currently I have saltwater mixed in the tank with two SEIO 620 and two Maxijet 1200 powerheads, two 200w Jebo heaters, Remora Pro w/mag3 skimmer and two 96w PC 10k and two blue actinic 03 96w PC. I am at the point were tomorrow I would like to purchase live rock. I have visited several local stores(here in Los Angeles area), Aquatic Outlet and Jeff's Exotic Fish, but I am not to sure what I should be looking for in the Live ROck as it sits in their containers. None of them seem to have the abundance of color I see on some of the etailers websites(is this because the pictures on line are of rocks that have been through curing and are starting to establish themselves?). Any help on what to look for would be of great help. Thanx

 

the lighting in curing vats might be really icky. ( I know my LFS is) Maybe the can hold it under actinic or other lighting so you can get a good idea. The general concensus is if your order live rock online from a specialty dealer you will get a better deal and much higher quality rock.

 

There are certain live rock vendors on the Internet that sell rock that is particularly rich in all kinds of sponges, and even nice corals like zoanthids.  I know that a lot of people rave about, for example, Tampa Bay for the critters that they find on the rock they get from them.  You'd have to do a search to find the vendors that sell rock that are heavy with these kinds of things. I bought locally and I'm happy with what I got, although I probably did spend too much compared to what it would have cost over the Internet.

I'd look for some big pieces of rock for the foundation, which you want to be stable.  Stability of the rock is important so be conscious of how you stack it up when you do. After you put some rock on top of other rock, press down from different angles so that you are confident that it won't tumble down after you're all done.

You have to decide also, whether you want the rock to lean up against the back wall and or the sides of the tank or you want an area around the rock on all sides.  

 

Live rock is a tricky thing. Most of the live rock available at LFS's is not "live" in any sense other than microbially. The more "stuff" is growing on, in, or out of the rock, the better it is from a filtration/water quality perspective. Paradoxically, this is also the stuff that fares worst when shipping.
A word about "curing" live rock. When somebody tells you that their rock is "cured", what they mean is that there is little or nothing dead or dying on or in the rock. This, of course, also means that there is little life on the rock. I try to order from e-tailers when possible, for a couple of reasons. They are cheaper, and the rock has sat in holding tanks (dying) for less time. In my opinion, it is better to get "fresher" rock with more stuff on it (and have a long cycling period while die-off occurs) than to have a quick cycle with few goodies on the rock. REALLY high quality rock (if you can find it) is like having a reef tank already on each rock. You know it when you see it. Try buying a small amount from a specific e-tailer and see how it looks. if it looks good, order more, and TELL US WHERE YOU GOT IT, so we can support the best companies, and see that they thrive. Nothing sucks more than spending hundreds on something that looks grey and devoid of life....

 

If you buy from this website its likely that he will take your order and dive for the rock later that week. He is a smaller etailer that has cery fresh high quality liverock. I have not purchased rock from him but have purchased Gorgonias from him. I hear a lot of people raving about how fresh his rock is.

Jay
http://www.gulf-view.com/prem_coraline.html

 

I've purchased from Dale, excellent stuff IMO. We used some to stock a 680g COSA, along with a bunch of gorgonians from him as well. I'd do business with Dale again anytime, if I need Gulf maricultured rock.

Cocerning wild collected rock:

CITES basicly makes it so the rock HAS to be pretty much devoid of living corals, shipping dictates it should be devoid of larger life and curing dictates it should be sponge and macro free as well. So wild will be far less "live" then maricultred gulf rock. Over the last 5 years, the quality of wild live rock has sunk to an all time low. For the life of me, I can't figure out 2 things: 1. Why are people buying this crud as primo rock 2: why are they collecting such crappy rock? I had a direct shipment of Mashal Island rock sent straight from MI to our facility (well, it stopped at LAX prior to SFO) and it looked decent, but really not much coraline at all. When I was selling rock 5 years ago, it had to have coraline otherwise we considerred it base rock. Seems now adays, it's only about the shape