Ground shipping live rock?

Razzagas · 03/27/2006, 09:07 PM

Is it bad to get my LR ground shipped? I dont think i can afford the air shipping. They said ground would take about 5 days...
Thanks

Aescleah · 03/27/2006, 09:12 PM

i have the same problem i solved it by just ordering reefer base rock. its a big sacrifice but i just can not justisify the cost with my checkbook

= (
Ashley

krismist · 03/27/2006, 09:39 PM

if you ground it you may have more die off on the rock. I agree if you are going to have LR ground shipped you should just buy base rock or check out your lfs. If you are buy LR in bulk they should work with you on price.

guitarfish · 03/27/2006, 09:51 PM

Every day out of water is that much more die off. Two days out of water, tops. Post a message in the trading & selling forums, see if any local reefers have rock for sale. I got some that way, it's the best rock in my tank.

leeweber85 · 03/27/2006, 11:09 PM

I've gotten it shipped ground (from ebay) and it came fine, little die off... no smell (it was cured to start with). It came with wet news papers around it.

As long as the weather is right-- 70-80F it shouldn't be a problem.

Aescleah · 03/28/2006, 12:26 AM

though my chioce is base rock if i had to do it i would try when the weather was not in the extremes i would definatly not do it in winter time or the worst part of the summer

Ashley

guitarfish · 03/28/2006, 07:30 AM

Just thought I'd mention this...

"Cured rock" - sellers make this sound like it's such a wonderful thing. All it means is the rock has been in their tanks long enough that anything dead has been removed or decomposed. Now, take a piece of "cured" rock out of a tank, ship it overnight, and guess what? It isn't "cured" anymore - that's because things on it have begum to die. Put it in your tank, and there will be some decomposition.

I mention this because some places I spoke to in the past when I was building my tank made it sound like all you had to do was buy their "cured" rock and put it in your tank, and voila, you're good to go. But it's not that simple.

Now, if you could buy cured rock at an LFS, and get it in your tank in an hour, then you would probably avoid going through the curing process again.

Hope this helps.

sttroyiii · 03/28/2006, 11:57 AM

Where are you located? I just ordered live rock from Premium Aquatics yesterday, and its 2 day ground shipping from IN to GA. Seems like that would be a pretty large circle for ground shipping if you havent considered them. I highly recommend them.

Razzagas · 03/28/2006, 03:43 PM

im in MD

guitarfish · 03/28/2006, 05:09 PM

Dr. Mac is in MD too, they're great.

Pacific East Aquaculture

nccmike · 03/28/2006, 05:18 PM

sttroyiii, can you post some pics of your rock when you get it?

I'm looking to buy some rock online and am curious to see it.

garvondavis14 · 03/28/2006, 05:22 PM

ask premium aquatics how long it would take to get the rock ground shipped to you...their rock is awesome

swims withthe fishes · 03/28/2006, 05:48 PM

i wouldn't waste the money on liverock for it to sit 5 days dry....

sttroyiii · 03/29/2006, 07:32 AM

Yeah, give PA a call and check to see if your ground shipping. Surely you are if GA is.

Ill take a picture of the rock I get today. UPS always get to me around 6pm.

I like Premium Aquatics because you can specify what size rocks you want, get any quantity you want, and ask them about what they currently have. I read a few places that Figi rock has been very branch-like lately, so I asked the sales rep. about what theirs looked like. He said it has definitely looked closer to their picture of Marshal Islands rock for the past two months. So I told him I was really wanting boulder shaped pieces, and he recommended the Kaelini Tonga. They only had uncured, but thats what I wanted. He said it has more coralline and stuff living on it anyway. It was $.50 more per pound ($3.99), but I dont want anything with branches for starting a tank up.

Last time I looked PA was the only place you could order any quantity of rock. Other places had it by the box. Ground shipping 62lbs. to me was only $36! I got 40lbs. of LR, a sump pump, and a skimmer. Oh yeah, they threw in a ground probe for $2 as well, instead of $11.95. Ill post pics tomorrow.

sttroyiii · 03/30/2006, 08:01 AM

nccmike,
Here are the pictures as requested. I havent really set up the rock yet. I just wanted to get it in the tank and have as much flow around it as possible while it cycles. That link doesnt have the actual images, just links to my gallery. I cant get the pics to show for some reason today, so you might just want to go to my gallery and look for Kaelini Tonga. There were 7 'main' rocks (one rock about 15lbs.), 4 smaller rocks, and about 2lbs of rubble in a 40lbs. order from Premium Aquatics. It was a very pleasant experience. Ive ordered cured rock before, and this is uncured. I think the only difference is a small, and I mean small difference, in the purple coralline. Last time I ordered cured it bleached out anyway, so I will stick with uncured for now. Obviously thats not how the rocks shipped. They were all individually wrapped in brown paper, and then all of it bagged a couple times. However, it was a little dry in my opinion.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...75#post7073875

guitarfish · 03/30/2006, 08:24 AM

I once bought some "live rock" online from some outfit on eBay. The location said NJ, so I figured it would get to me in PA a day or two later. The yutz shipped it ground from CA. 11 days later it showed up. It may as well have been from Mars, there was no life on it. I ended up getting my money back.

tehon3299 · 03/30/2006, 08:39 AM

I have also ordered from PA 3 times now and jay has been great everytime. Just ordered figi live rock uncured and very happy with it.

sttroyiii · 03/30/2006, 09:05 AM

Was it mostly branch like rock? He told me it has been for about 2 months now....just curious.

03/27/2006, 09:07 PM	#1
Razzagas Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 653	Ground shipping live rock? Is it bad to get my LR ground shipped? I dont think i can afford the air shipping. They said ground would take about 5 days... Thanks

03/27/2006, 09:51 PM	#4
guitarfish Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Milford, PA Posts: 2,666	Every day out of water is that much more die off. Two days out of water, tops. Post a message in the trading & selling forums, see if any local reefers have rock for sale. I got some that way, it's the best rock in my tank. __________________ "For wisdom is better than corals, and all other delights themselves cannot be made equal to it." (Proverbs 8:11) Current Tank Info: Former tank: 75g AGA MegaFlow, 30g sump, 100lb LR, MAG 9.5, AquaC EV-120w/MAG 5, Aqualight 260w PC

03/27/2006, 11:09 PM	#5
leeweber85 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Posts: 2,482	I've gotten it shipped ground (from ebay) and it came fine, little die off... no smell (it was cured to start with). It came with wet news papers around it. As long as the weather is right-- 70-80F it shouldn't be a problem. __________________ -Lee Current Tank Info: 120g reef, 20g reef

03/28/2006, 07:30 AM	#7
guitarfish Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Milford, PA Posts: 2,666	Just thought I'd mention this... "Cured rock" - sellers make this sound like it's such a wonderful thing. All it means is the rock has been in their tanks long enough that anything dead has been removed or decomposed. Now, take a piece of "cured" rock out of a tank, ship it overnight, and guess what? It isn't "cured" anymore - that's because things on it have begum to die. Put it in your tank, and there will be some decomposition. I mention this because some places I spoke to in the past when I was building my tank made it sound like all you had to do was buy their "cured" rock and put it in your tank, and voila, you're good to go. But it's not that simple. Now, if you could buy cured rock at an LFS, and get it in your tank in an hour, then you would probably avoid going through the curing process again. Hope this helps. __________________ "For wisdom is better than corals, and all other delights themselves cannot be made equal to it." (Proverbs 8:11) Current Tank Info: Former tank: 75g AGA MegaFlow, 30g sump, 100lb LR, MAG 9.5, AquaC EV-120w/MAG 5, Aqualight 260w PC

03/28/2006, 05:09 PM	#10
guitarfish Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Milford, PA Posts: 2,666	Dr. Mac is in MD too, they're great. Pacific East Aquaculture __________________ "For wisdom is better than corals, and all other delights themselves cannot be made equal to it." (Proverbs 8:11) Current Tank Info: Former tank: 75g AGA MegaFlow, 30g sump, 100lb LR, MAG 9.5, AquaC EV-120w/MAG 5, Aqualight 260w PC

03/27/2006, 09:12 PM	#2
Aescleah Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Cary,NC,USA Posts: 260	i have the same problem i solved it by just ordering reefer base rock. its a big sacrifice but i just can not justisify the cost with my checkbook = ( Ashley

03/27/2006, 09:39 PM	#3
krismist Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Jacksonville Posts: 76	if you ground it you may have more die off on the rock. I agree if you are going to have LR ground shipped you should just buy base rock or check out your lfs. If you are buy LR in bulk they should work with you on price.

03/28/2006, 12:26 AM	#6
Aescleah Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Cary,NC,USA Posts: 260	though my chioce is base rock if i had to do it i would try when the weather was not in the extremes i would definatly not do it in winter time or the worst part of the summer Ashley

03/28/2006, 11:57 AM	#8
sttroyiii Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 378	Where are you located? I just ordered live rock from Premium Aquatics yesterday, and its 2 day ground shipping from IN to GA. Seems like that would be a pretty large circle for ground shipping if you havent considered them. I highly recommend them.

03/28/2006, 03:43 PM	#9
Razzagas Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 653	im in MD

03/28/2006, 05:18 PM	#11
nccmike Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 158	sttroyiii, can you post some pics of your rock when you get it? I'm looking to buy some rock online and am curious to see it.

03/28/2006, 05:22 PM	#12
garvondavis14 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: The nasty 'Nati! Posts: 539	ask premium aquatics how long it would take to get the rock ground shipped to you...their rock is awesome __________________ WE ARE ALL WITNESSES LBJ23 LET'S GO CAVS, BUCKS, BROWNIES, REDS AND MUSKIES Current Tank Info: marine- 65 BB reef... freshwater- 55g mbuna tank, 20g fry tank, 30g community, 5g planted, 150g red eared slider habitat

03/28/2006, 05:48 PM	#13
swims withthe fishes Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Woodstock Posts: 1,330	i wouldn't waste the money on liverock for it to sit 5 days dry.... __________________ Fish are Icthy Current Tank Info: 12 Gallon non photo synthetic, 200 gal DAS Reef Pond, setting up 90gal sps/clam

03/29/2006, 07:32 AM	#14
sttroyiii Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 378	Yeah, give PA a call and check to see if your ground shipping. Surely you are if GA is. Ill take a picture of the rock I get today. UPS always get to me around 6pm. I like Premium Aquatics because you can specify what size rocks you want, get any quantity you want, and ask them about what they currently have. I read a few places that Figi rock has been very branch-like lately, so I asked the sales rep. about what theirs looked like. He said it has definitely looked closer to their picture of Marshal Islands rock for the past two months. So I told him I was really wanting boulder shaped pieces, and he recommended the Kaelini Tonga. They only had uncured, but thats what I wanted. He said it has more coralline and stuff living on it anyway. It was $.50 more per pound ($3.99), but I dont want anything with branches for starting a tank up. Last time I looked PA was the only place you could order any quantity of rock. Other places had it by the box. Ground shipping 62lbs. to me was only $36! I got 40lbs. of LR, a sump pump, and a skimmer. Oh yeah, they threw in a ground probe for $2 as well, instead of $11.95. Ill post pics tomorrow.

03/30/2006, 08:01 AM	#15
sttroyiii Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 378	nccmike, Here are the pictures as requested. I havent really set up the rock yet. I just wanted to get it in the tank and have as much flow around it as possible while it cycles. That link doesnt have the actual images, just links to my gallery. I cant get the pics to show for some reason today, so you might just want to go to my gallery and look for Kaelini Tonga. There were 7 'main' rocks (one rock about 15lbs.), 4 smaller rocks, and about 2lbs of rubble in a 40lbs. order from Premium Aquatics. It was a very pleasant experience. Ive ordered cured rock before, and this is uncured. I think the only difference is a small, and I mean small difference, in the purple coralline. Last time I ordered cured it bleached out anyway, so I will stick with uncured for now. Obviously thats not how the rocks shipped. They were all individually wrapped in brown paper, and then all of it bagged a couple times. However, it was a little dry in my opinion. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...75#post7073875

03/30/2006, 08:24 AM	#16
guitarfish Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Milford, PA Posts: 2,666	I once bought some "live rock" online from some outfit on eBay. The location said NJ, so I figured it would get to me in PA a day or two later. The yutz shipped it ground from CA. 11 days later it showed up. It may as well have been from Mars, there was no life on it. I ended up getting my money back. __________________ "For wisdom is better than corals, and all other delights themselves cannot be made equal to it." (Proverbs 8:11) Current Tank Info: Former tank: 75g AGA MegaFlow, 30g sump, 100lb LR, MAG 9.5, AquaC EV-120w/MAG 5, Aqualight 260w PC

03/30/2006, 08:39 AM	#17
tehon3299 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 268	I have also ordered from PA 3 times now and jay has been great everytime. Just ordered figi live rock uncured and very happy with it. __________________ +90g AGA Megaflow +30g Custom Sump +100lbs Live Rock +ASM G3 Skimmer

03/30/2006, 09:05 AM	#18
sttroyiii Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 378	Was it mostly branch like rock? He told me it has been for about 2 months now....just curious.