Live Rock

[LoveJC03]

http://www.marcorocks.com/5lbs50lbsl...rockcombo.aspx
5lbs dry / 50lbs live / $132

Or..

Fiji Live Rock: Select Premium Fiji Live Rock from Drs. Foster & Smith
45lbs live / $149

Would it be fine to order either of these? I hear these are good places, but people are also saying not to buy live rock online..because you have to cure it. Don't you have to cure it anywhere you buy it?

Also, would 55lbs be too much for my 29gal tank?

 

[Waddi]

55lb wouldnt be too much, i think it is Smitty that has a good 100lb in his tank which is a 37g.
But i would say Marco, have heard good things and its free shipping, whereas Dr F&S i dont think it is, but dont quote me on that.

 

[LoveJC03]

55lb wouldnt be too much, i think it is Smitty that has a good 100lb in his tank which is a 37g.
But i would say Marco, have heard good things and its free shipping, whereas Dr F&S i dont think it is, but dont quote me on that.

Yeah I saw Smitty's! ;)

I don't think Dr Fosters is free shipping. I think we're going to go with Marco! Is that a good deal..and good rock? ---How long does it take to receive it?

 

[Waddi]

Well your paying $2.40/lb which is very good, considering i pay $9+ :grumble:
But maybe wait to see what someone else says about Marco, i have heard good, but also bad. Guess its like any company, but maybe wait for a second opinion. :mrgreen:

 

[LoveJC03]

Decided that we're going to make our own rock! Gonna add a little bit of live rock to our DIY rock and we'll have all live rock ;) Of course it's going to take more time to cure.. but I think it'll be worth it, it gives us more time before we jump into fish.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFFJJAtmbE&feature=related]DIY Live Rock By John C. - YouTube[/ame]

Apparently, alot of people do this.. going to save us $$ if it turns out! We made a couple small pieces last night, we'll be seeing what they look like sometimes today. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the white portland cement.. so we had to settle for gray.

 

[LoveJC03]

Some of the rock we made looks pretty good :D We made a couple more pieces today.. have to see how they look tomorrow. This rock making is pretty cool!

 

[Mr.Diggler]

I wanted to make my own for my 75. It was just easier to buy it. Damn house remodeling...........

 

[LoveJC03]

I wanted to make my own for my 75. It was just easier to buy it. Damn house remodeling...........

We payed under $30 for all of it! 94lbs portland cement, 50lbs crushed oyster shells, 40lbs pool salt, 50lbs sand :)

I really hope they all turn out good

 

[LoveJC03]

So, it's been a few days.. we've made a pretty good amount of rock and the PH is off the charts.. we're changing the water daily.

How long til the PH shows any sign of an actual reading? We're currently using the strips and the PH part is green on the chart..our PH on our strip is actually blue..so it's technically not even a comparison that it's so high.

Do we need to rinse each piece of rock while we're doing water changes? :)

 

[marcah]

it will take time for it to drop, stick with it but dont use strips for testing they are very innacurate get the liquid tests..

 

[little_fish]

+1 Marcah

Also i think it takes a few months for them to cure.

If the rocks are small enough you can put them in the back of your toilet so they constantly get new water, and you become more water friendly!

 

[LoveJC03]

Lol I have read alot that people are putting them in their toilets.. we're curing ours in plastic tubs ;)

We're taking our last bit out of the sand today and rinsing everything again before adding new water.. I'm gonna snap some pics to show everyone!

 

[LoveJC03]

Our DIY rock

A potential aquascape

With a little computer editing... in our tank

We still have plenty of time to decide how we're going to display it (seeing how curing will take a while).. we definitely want plenty of rock surface for our corals but also plenty hiding spots for our fish & stuff.

 

[Waddi]

LOL the computer ediing, but wow, that turned out great!

 

[little_fish]

I would drill a bunch of holes in the rocks so you have handy places to insert frag plugs

 

[LoveJC03]

LOL the computer ediing, but wow, that turned out great!

Thank you :)

 

[LoveJC03]

I would drill a bunch of holes in the rocks so you have handy places to insert frag plugs

The little things that corals come attached to?

 

[little_fish]

Most corals come on a frag plug and imo one of the most annoying things ever to deal with if you dont have lots of little nooks and crannies to put them in. Here is a picture of a pretty standard frag plug

 

[reeftanker84]

i agree they are very anoying,why dont they just use a piece of rock at least you can encorperate it into the tanks looks without being as noticable

 

[marcah]

I always break off the bottoms of those plugs.. most annoying things invented for us...most of the plugs i get with chalice frags I break the coral right off the plugs, a friend that has farmed corals for about 25 years told me alot of the chalices and favias dont respond well to them..