Live Rock - How to purchase?

R

ryanstrother

Reefing newb
Okay, finally I have a location and tank. A 120 gallon reef-tank with a typical sump and adequate protein skimmer.

Unfortunately, its empty :( im planning on filling it and running the filters a couple days before adding un-cured live rock. My question is how to obtain that rock. Ive looked online, and ive heard alot of good things about Tampa Bay Saltwater as a vendor of liverock. Id prefer Pacific Reef-rock for a higher quality and greater surface area as it will be the main form of biological filtration in the tank. looks are also important, i want to have decent/natrual looking rock in the tank, of course.

Im a bit skeptical on paying so much money for a product that cant be returned or previewed before. I was wondering what the best method of buying live rock for a reasonable price, where on the internet is reliable. or wether simply ordering it through my LFS would be the best option.

any thoughts? -thanks
 
I would suggest getting most of rock dry, it will turn live in to time. A great place to buy dry rock is marcorocks.com

Then i would go to your LFS and just pick out a few rocks. Those rocks will then be able to seed the rest of your rock.
 
I purchased a small amount of live rock from my LFS and the rest from Marcorocks. In doing this, I was able to view the live rock and hand pick what I wanted. The base rock from marcorocks became live quickly and has since colored up with coralline.
 
I have bought rocks 3 different ways.

1. from my LFS cured live rock
2. From tampa bay saltwater
3. from bulk reef supply punaki dry rock

As much as I really love the sponges and tunicates and live creatures that were on the tampa bay rocks it also came with a hoard of gorilla crabs and THREE stupid pistol shrimps which I am still trying to catch one.

My suggestion would be to buy the majority as light weight dry rock like from bulk reef supply they have several types and give you awesome pieces. I got 8lbs and it was a LOT of rock because without the water weight its much lighter so you get more for your money.

Then get a few pounds from your local store that has the bacteria but not the funky creatures you dont want to have to deal with later. This will help to seed the dry rocks.
 
I too went with just a little liverock and the rest from marcorocks..
marc was great to deal with and let me decide what sizes I wanted... I reccomend calling him instead of ordering it online so you can choose...
 
I've done it 3 ways.

1. Choice, hand picked live rock from LFS
2. Gathering live rock from several different established tanks locally. Craigslist and local forum ads.
3. Tampa Bay Saltwater.


1. Expensive. And the rock is what I like to call "mostly dead" rock.... not "live" rock. By the time it gets to your LFS, most of what was once live is now dead. It took me a long time to fill my tank due to the expense, and in the end it didn't have much of anything on it other than some purple coralline which comes with time on any rock.

2. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have gone this route unless I was good friends with the person selling it and knew exactly what did and did not go in that tank. Rock can absorb and then later leach all kinds of crap causing unbeatable algae problems. It's like playing Russian Roulette. You may get lucky, you may not. But it's a good way of seeding your tank, that's for sure. If you go this route, probably better to get mostly dry rock and then one or two pieces from a really nice established tank.

3. By far, the best experience I've ever had. Good price, amazing customer service, and you will not get anything more "live" than this stuff. Ya, you get some bad hitchhikers, but they are not as bad as some people make them out to be. It's nature. And you can play God and get rid of them. It's a small price to pay IMHO, for the benefits you get. TONS of good bacteria, amazing good critters, new stuff showing up daily that you never knew was in there, little to no cycle, all the right clean up crew, rock and sand right from the start. It's like an Instant Reef Kit. And this has been my most stable, successful, fun tank. If you don't want to spend the money on the full Package, you can always get just a few pieces of the good stuff and then a bunch of their dry rock or someone else's.
 
d2mini said:
I've done it 3 ways.


3. By far, the best experience I've ever had. Good price, amazing customer service, and you will not get anything more "live" than this stuff. Ya, you get some bad hitchhikers, but they are not as bad as some people make them out to be. It's nature. And you can play God and get rid of them. It's a small price to pay IMHO, for the benefits you get. TONS of good bacteria, amazing good critters, new stuff showing up daily that you never knew was in there, little to no cycle, all the right clean up crew, rock and sand right from the start. It's like an Instant Reef Kit. And this has been my most stable, successful, fun tank. If you don't want to spend the money on the full Package, you can always get just a few pieces of the good stuff and then a bunch of their dry rock or someone else's.
Click to expand...

I do agree Ricard is awesome and he sends you tons of freebees. I might be jaded at the moment because my pistol shrimp kept me up all night LOL I really really really do love my rocks I bought from him. And if you get the package you really do get everything you need. My decorator crab was a freebee and I freakin love him.
 
+1 to everybody.

Thanks phastroh, your tank looks great. Im thinking Tampa Bay Saltwater is the way to go.

Id like to have as much live rock in my tank as possible, is 120 pounds for a 120 gallon aquarium going to be enough? or should I go with more, if it is more dense than pacific rock?
 
My 80Gal tank has 80lbs Live and 80lbs Dry from TBS. It was about even as far as how much it looked like of each but man I can't tell some of the dry from the live.

The biggest difference is the formations of these little bumps on them that look like little volcanoes where things live inside. The dry I put down in back is not a dicolored as some of the rest out in the lights. That green piece on top is the newest one to get algae as it was only put up there like 3 weeks ago.

I live near them so I didn't have much of a cycle. it was over in about 2-3 weeks. I know now that I got a real test kit from API as opposed to my Red Sea junker.
 
Last edited:
i puchased live rock from an online vendor, i don't think it was tampa bay saltwater, but it was definatley live! It was A LOT of fun to find new things literally EVERYDAY, from feather dusters, coraline algea, sponges, and even what may have been a small zooanthid, I continued to find new stuff for 6-10 months. I was Originally extremely impressed with the life and quality of the rock.

On the flip side... one of the critters that came with the rock was 4-5 inch red worm with like a million legs, he looked evil so i killed him. The other critter was a gorilla crab that i could never catch and i blame for 3 M.I.A. fish, and the downfall of my first tank. As i created and design my second system what is hopefully the best way.... i will most likely be using dry rock and seeding it with live rock.
 
Dam I never heard of a Gorilla Crab getting 3 fish never mind one fish.

Just slap some squid in a trap.

I caught or killed 15 as of now. I have none left but still.
 
When you buy high quality live rock, you have to take the good and the bad together. There's no way to guarantee live rock that is full of great hitch hikers, but has no bad hitch hikers. If you don't want to deal with bad hitch hikers, then using dry rock or crappy quality live rock from the LFS is the way to go -- at least at my LFS, the only thing live about their live rock is the bacteria. I've never gotten one hitch hiker -- good or bad -- from that rock.

If you want to be continually surprised by what's on your rock, and you want to get a variety of sponges, tunicates, corals, feather dusters, worms and other things, then Tampa Bay Saltwater is great. But, you will also get some bad guys mixed in.

It's all about what you are willing to deal with.
 
When i got the rock it was in water. I live close so it is better for me but I had plenty of time to search for jerks.

I didn't. I was dumb and just moved them to a cardboard and quickly took off just what fell.

There is no guarantee I would have gotten a lot more out but I would have let the rock dry out searching for the Mantis I can hear right now downstairs popping some poor crabs or snail. Actualy I notice missing Herms but not many snails if any.

I tried searching for it with a red light to see where it is but no luck.

I hate that doosh. Pardon the language but I want it out. I really thought my Eel would get him but nope. I think they are friends and the Mantis kills him a crab for dinner.

Little lovers. I want to get in the tank and slap them down.

Uh... sorry I got sidetracked by my anger.

Yeah what she said um yeah dood get a lot of dry rocks and then get a little live even from TBS and just get the jerks out.

I would "guess" if you tok the time to soda squirt the holes or RO/DI them they will be fine. Just keep the bag o water close to redip it after like 10 mins.

Yes I spell things my way somethymes.
 
phastroh said:
Dam I never heard of a Gorilla Crab getting 3 fish never mind one fish.

Just slap some squid in a trap.

I caught or killed 15 as of now. I have none left but still.
Click to expand...


I tried a few traps, but i used shrimp. i would stay up all night looking for him. i only ever saw him once... and he was gone before i could get the shotgun. :helm2:
 
ryanstrother said:
+1 to everybody.

Thanks phastroh, your tank looks great. Im thinking Tampa Bay Saltwater is the way to go.

Id like to have as much live rock in my tank as possible, is 120 pounds for a 120 gallon aquarium going to be enough? or should I go with more, if it is more dense than pacific rock?
Click to expand...


I suggest you email Tampa bay and talk to Richard the owner he will help you out he is really cool the rocks are really really awesome with real stuff right out of the ocean.

If you do go this way I would suggest trying to do a fresh water dip with each rock to see if what jumps off and then keep what you want and get rid of the rest.

I am still trying to catch a freakin pistol shrimp which has kept me up for 3 nights in a row. :grumble:
 

Similar threads

L
40 Gallon Live Rock, No Fish yet, any advice appreciated
Replies
11
Views
2K
SarahSmile
SarahSmile
M
Calling all branch live rock reef tanks
Replies
1
Views
1K
Daghda124
Daghda124
istrahd
A Few Things Everyone New to SW Tanks Should Know
Replies
4
Views
2K
ErinCahir
ErinCahir
O
Stocking ideas for a new 75g, mostly FOWLR
Replies
3
Views
3K
Northstar24
N
L
40G Tank, Any advice Welcome
Replies
1
Views
1K
Jml32788
Jml32788
Back
Top