What rock to get?

[clancaster23]

I want to figure out what rock I should get for my tank. I found a guy on Craigslist that has a good bit of it who is charging $2.50/lb. This is rock that was in his tank two years, it's now moved to a big bucket since he tore the tank down but it is in water so it should still be good cured live rock. The other option is I was looking at Live Rock Ranch and they have a 50lb deal, 40 of it dead, and 10 live for 135, free shipping. That equals out to $3.20/lb. Or, they have 50 pounds of live for $163. Seeing as I am still in the early cycling phase, I don't think I have a huge need for actual live rock. What direction should I go or does someone know of a even better deal? I'm really not wanting to go any higher than $150 with shipping right now so want to get as much as I can to start filling this tank (75 gallon).

 

[rdahlke1105]

Actually its the live rock that causes it to cycle. Its the die off from the rock that will cause the ammonia to spike.

 

[Bifferwine]

When buying on Craig's List, just be wary of pests that may come on the rock, and be sure to ask if they've ever treated the tank with any medications. If the rock is healthy, I'd go with the cheaper option and buy it from that guy.

 

[d2mini]

I'm just always leary of buying "used" live rock.
You don't know the history of the tank, unless you know the person like if they were from your local club or something. You have no way of knowing what meds were put in the tank, what pests they had, how many phosphates the rocks could have soaked up, etc. And then a few months down the road these things could surface in the form of algae problems. I'm not sure what to tell you other than to be very careful if you go the used route.

 

[kyle]

Actually its the live rock that causes it to cycle. Its the die off from the rock that will cause the ammonia to spike.

do u need live rock to start the cycle. i thought u could cycle with live sand and put in matured rocks after the cycle

 

[kyle]

i per fur all live rock. but im sure u can use a bunch of dead rock and a lil bit of live rock and soon the dead rock will be live rock. i like to look for nice porous rock with lots of little holes.

 

[Pwny]

you should check out macro rock Dry Rock its dryrock but most of there stuff comes precured so you can just toss it in your tank. nice rock for the price but you still got to get a few peices of live rock to sead it.

 

[rdahlke1105]

If you are looking for good base rock, check out Tampa Bay Saltwater. His prices are reasonable and they are very pretty.

 

[clancaster23]

I asked the guy that has the rock what has been used in the tank and he responded "Nothing besides standard stuff used in a tank, reef builder, purple up, Magnesium, etc."

Is that all ok stuff to use and not have to worry about anything carrying over to mine? I'm thinking of getting 50 pounds of the dry rock from Marco Rocks and going from there.

Also, all three pieces of "live rock" I got from Petco. Is this really live or did they just sell me a couple pounds of wet rock? All of them were kept in water from the store to my house and put in the tank.

 

[Pwny]

i wouldent buy petco live rock if it looks anything like the one my petco sells, try cheking out some saltwater stores nearby you only need like a few peices of live rock to seed the macro rock. look for rock with nice coraline on it purple/reds. as far as stuff like purple up its all safe prurple up is used to raise calcium i think reef builder is for calcium also but not 100% on that they use that stuf to help dile in the water for corals to grow. if you do buy live rock from someone local just look for nice coraline growth on it and give each peice a lookove to make sure your not itrodueing a pest algae and hichhickers normaly people on craigslist that are selling cheep rock are doing it to try and get rid of it or there is somthing wrong with it. if it dosent look like good rock dont get it :P

 

[clancaster23]

He sent me a couple pics. I'll attach them but they look to have some color in them. I was thinking maybe get a couple from him then order the dry rock and hopefully that will be good for now.

 

[Bifferwine]

That looks like good rock. The stuff he listed is fine.

 

[clancaster23]

I live in an area where there aren't many aquarium shops around. I'm thinking of going to one that is about 40 miles away and see what they have. They say it's $5/lb. The guy who has the rock is about 80 miles from me so I want that to be a last resort. Either way, I'll probably get some live from one of those sources then get me a batch of the dry rock.