Best Live Rock

[davisg]

Ok I'm gonna be buying live rock but now I'm unsure exactly which live rock to get. I'm not overly concerned about the price of live rock, I really just want the best live rock with awesome hitchhikers and growth with little die off. Also want it to come from Florida. Have any of you used any of these live rock distributors and what are your thoughts???

Tbsaltwater.com - Tampa Bay
Liverocksales.com - Florida Keys
Liverockusa.com - Florida Keys
Gulfliverock.com - Tampa Bay

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[aquaworld75]

I have used Tampa bay and got great rock, sand/rubble, hitchhikers (sea urchins, crabs, etc



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[aquaworld75]

To clarify, I bought from TBS. I picked up locally in Tampa. What I liked is that they keep rock in water from ocean collection to packaging


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[snowmansnow]

IMO in the long haul you'll be better off starting with DRY rock. Less evil lives in it. Just my advice from very limited experience.


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[xilez]

SnowManSnow;1103181 wrote: IMO in the long haul you'll be better off starting with DRY rock. Less evil lives in it. Just my advice from very limited experience.

Was going to post something similar. Some people love the idea of live rock, I personally do think it looks cool. But the more I invest in my system, I want to be able to control as much as I can. So for me, Dry Rock and Ammonia dosing will be my method of cycling for the rest of my reefing career. The risk of having a pest introduced does not outweigh the pro of getting some cool sponges on my rocks.

 

[lmm1967]

I love our TBS rock - however, I wouldn't put it in a tank that has expensive livestock or corals / clams you aren't willing to put at risk.

I have all if it in my sump & separate refugium right now and I spend as much time watching those as I do the display tank.

If you can be patient and take your time removing unwanted hitch-hikers you would probably be OK with TBS rock in a display reef tank.

 

[jennm]

I've always preferred real live rock. It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Yeah there's a risk of some unwanted hitchhikers, but the good outweighs the bad, IMO.

I was always partial to Marshall Island rock but I don't think it's available anymore. Same with Tonga - that's been hit and miss at times with availability.

Another option is Real Reef - it's man-made cultured rock. Nice stuff, no bad hitchhikers, but good biologically.

Jenn

 

[axio]

My favorite right now the the Caribsea Life Rock. We have had VERY good success with this rock over that last year. Most of our reef installs this year have used this rock. It is dry rock so it is hitch hiker free, has a natural purple coloring similar to Real Reef. Keeps the water buffered very nicely. And the rock has dormant bacteria on it which apparently start growing and reproducing as soon as the rock is introduced to water. We sell this rock sells around $5.99/lb compared to $10/lb for similar options.

I say apparently on that last one as we obviously don't have too much of a way to test this. But it does seem to cycle rather quickly.

I personally always prefer dry rock because you can take your time with the aquascape. I love to scape over course of a couple of days so that I can "sleep on it" and have the ability to change my mind and rearrange things easily before I'm satisfied.

I hate dealing with bad hitch hikers (And I'm not considering Bristle worms because personally I believe all ranks should have at least a few bristle worm to clean the sand.), Phosphate issues caused by bad rock, etc

Jakub

Jakub