Live rock purchase

[EDJFA]

I'm getting ready to purchase some live rock for my 55g. I've searched the forums here and on other sites, but I can't find any reviews on a specific company. They're a company called Blue Water Corals. I found them on eBay selling 50lbs of Fiji Premium for $130 with free shipping. Anyone know anything else about them?

I've also considered liveaquaria, gulfliverock, and tbsaltwater, and a host of others. If they're a well known outfit, I've considered them. My LFS sells their rock for $6 a pound. Not interested. Can't seem to find anything on Craigslist.

Is there any benefit to rock from the Gulf vs rock from the Carribbean vs Pacific Islands?

Any feedback on the Blue Water folks would be appreciated. Or if they're any great deals out there right now, give me a heads up.

[thebkramer]

WELCOME TO RC & THE ADDICTION!!

Why don't you like LFS LR??
$6 /lb is great IMO!!!! My LFS sells $9 /lb! some go as high as $12/lb!

[donwilson]

Buying LR online was my first mistake. There's a reason why the LFS LR is so expensive

[Fish Biscuit]

Premium Aquatics in Indianapolis. A friend recommended them to me, only ordered 10 # of fully cured manado LR for my nano. There was very little rubble and just a small piece had broken off, I think mainly due to shipping. Our UPS guy at the office likes to throw boxes around in the truck. There were small amounts of coraline on the rock already.

I think the Manado is available since you can't get your hands on Marshall Islands anymore. I bought a piece of Fiji from a LFS in the area & it's just ok, finally getting the start of coraline after 4 weeks in my tank.

I wasn't in a rush since I was just starting my tank & put in the notes of my order that it needed to be fully cured or I would wait until they had some. Premium is supposed to have some of the best customer service people over there if you need to call &/or want to be specific with your order.

[Dyzio545]

Originally Posted by donwilson

Buying LR online was my first mistake. There's a reason why the LFS LR is so expensive

Oh man I'm in the same situation. When I was starting out, I never heard of reef saver rock and dry rocks. I thought buying LR online fully cured was my only option. Grrrrrr...I regret it but I'm definitely using dry rock for future builds.

[BlueFyre]

I fully plan on ordering my LR from premium aquatics. It will end up being cheaper than getting it at my LFS($8/lb, if it has coraline on it $12/lb). I just have a nano though.

For a tank that size I would get some nice pieces of LR from your LFS and use it to seed some dry rock you can buy from Bulk reef supply or marco rocks. Will save you a lot of money in the end. But the cycle will take longer.

[firebirdude]

$6/lb for live rock seems to be a nation-wide norm. Higher in some places and cheaper in some places, but $6/lb is very common. The next variable would be quality. Some LFSs sell empty rock that has just been a huge tank for awhile as live. Well, I'm sure it probably has some bacteria and microfauna on it.... but some LFSs sell rock with coralline algae, sponges, tunicates, etc for $6/lb.

From the years of experience I have, I'd like a little color for $6/lb. If it's totally blank rock... $4/lb at most. Your fellow local reefers will probably sell blank rock for $2/lb, so $4 at the LFS is completely fair. $9+/lb is simply too much for all but the most premium stuff. Even then, only from an LFS, where I'd have minimal die-off in transfer to my tank.

[snorvich]

Saving money on your initial live rock purchase is penny wise and pound foolish. Poor quality rock may leech phosphates or other undesirables into your tank that will take a lot of time, effort, and money to fix. I am NOT an expert on this, but I am lazy and would prefer to prevent rather than fix.

[firebirdude]

Originally Posted by snorvich

Saving money on your initial live rock purchase is penny wise and pound foolish. Poor quality rock may leech phosphates or other undesirables into your tank that will take a lot of time, effort, and money to fix. I am NOT an expert on this, but I am lazy and would prefer to prevent rather than fix.

While I understand your point, I guess I don't understand what you're saying. Paying top dollar for live rock full of life has all of (if not more) a chance to leech out phosphate. In fact, bone dry completely dead rock would be the way to go if that's what you're trying to prevent.

[WaterKeeper]

Originally Posted by firebirdude

While I understand your point, I guess I don't understand what you're saying. Paying top dollar for live rock full of life has all of (if not more) a chance to leech out phosphate. In fact, bone dry completely dead rock would be the way to go if that's what you're trying to prevent.

Phosphates on LR? It is the dry rock, devoid of a good biological population, that usually leaches phosphate. The living organisms on true LR are phosphate consumers.

There seems to be a trend lately for people to tout the benifits of using dead sand and rock. That is just not the case. If you can afford it then live rock and sand will get a tank up and started far sooner than a tank without it. A marine tank is a big investment so spending some bucks on the on the ingrediants that will get it up and running, in the shortest amount of time, makes a lot of sense to me.

[firebirdude]

I guess I just figured dry rock is dead of everything. Good and bad. It's just a calcium chunk.

[mike5051]

Just my 2 cents.... I started my tank in January, 50 lbs of dead rock sitting in my garage for 5 years. I added 25 lbs of live rock from aquacon!!!!! I wouldn't recommend, check the reviews. They were the cheapest and free shipping!!!! Cured that rock in my garage for about two weeks before ammonia levels were zero, put it in my tank and it still is the worst looking rock in there. I added 25 lbs from my lfs, appx $6.00 per lb, and I do believe it seeded everything in my tank! My sand was that Carribsea stuff in a bag. I bought a lot of it but it wasn't really alive. My tank didn't start getting going until I added the LR from the LFS, I would go with their rock if I were you.

[willy0508]

Originally Posted by Fish Biscuit

...... Premium is supposed to have some of the best customer service people over there if you need to call &/or want to be specific with your order.

I've never bought LR from Premium Aquatics in Indianapolis but have bought many other products and can attest to their customer service. I'll say they have the best I've dealt with in any company large or small lately. The guys over there like to make the customer happy.

[rich850]

craigslist keep looking i am trying to sell 100lbs right now for $2 a pound and my local reef club wont even buy it !!!!!

[EDJFA]

I already have some rock that the previous owners killed. I haven't weighed it yet, but I think it's about 50 lbs. The girl added too much salt directly to the tank and gave everything a hypo bath. So they broke the tank down and let the rock die. I got it for $1.50 per pound.

I'm only looking for about 25 lbs of live rock to seed everything else. I haven't spent much time looking at the LFS's rock, so I'm not sure how good it is. I'll stop by there next week and take a look.

So, nobody's used the Blue Water people?

[4wheelvfr]

Haven't used the Blue Water place but I highly recommend Premium Aquatics as well. Ordered 110 lbs of Manado rock from them and I'm very happy. I've done dry rock, craigslist rock, lfs rock.....this stuff is better lol.

[Dubbs]

I'm debating where my live rock would come from too. My LFS sales LR for $6.99 a pound. It's not fully cured, but it's pretty close. After ready everyone's reply's, $6.99 a pound isn't bad.

[Hextall]

I just purchased about half of my rock I'll need from bulkreefsupply. After shipping it was about $3.50/lb. I got dry reef saver rock from them.

The other half of what I need I'll get from my lfs at about $8/lb. I'll also get argonite sand from them as well (it comes in a bag... anybody have a reason not to get it from them?)

Being new, I initially balked at the price of live rock from my lfs, started researching alternatives such as craigslist (found some very very cheap rock there, but chickened out because I'm not sure how good it is, did the guy treat disease with copper, and it's been sitting dry in his garage for a month, and I don't feel like reviving it). but finally just believed that getting rock from my lfs, even if it's half of what I need helps support my lfs, and gives me the best possible live rock quickly (search and read reviews about your local lfs... mine had really good reviews and when I went in they were more than willing to answer all my questions and show me around the store).

[TeePee]

I got mine from That Fish Place, but had the luxury of being able to drive up there and pick it out myself then get it back home to avoid any shipping die off. In addition to LFS rock typically being more "live", a secondary benefit of using the LFS is that you can pick through the pieces and get the ones that will best suit the aquascape that you want to do.

[4deepwater8]

I got mine from Live Rock Ranch and I am happy with it. I got some nice big flat pieces for ledges and some cool hitchhikers. Price is good too.

[Sport507]

Premium Aquatic is a very professionally run, family owned business. They have geared themselves toward customer service and satisfaction. I’m lucky, I can drive there in 45 minutes and when I set up my DT I could hand pick the LR pcs I wanted. They have five large pools of different kinds and encourage you to get your hands wet. It made it nice because I could not only handle but also smell them for that sweet smell of truly cured live rock that only a reefer can appreciate. There packaging and shipping practices are impeccable.

By the way I do not have friends there or know the owners. I just know what I seen.

[phillyfishguy]

Waterkeeper, I have a question, So if you have plenty of time to let your tank cycle with the lastest trend of using bulk or macro rock you still think you should use quality live rock instead? The reason I ask is because I am about to start my main display and figured it would be less of a hassle with no pests using macro then buying live rock. I was still going to buy live rock to seed it but since you said something I figured I would ask. Does macro or brs pest free rock leach more phosphates into the water?