Real live rock
- Thread starter Jdadams
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I've ordered from KP Aquatics and I've known other people who have ordered from them as well as Saltybottom Supply. With my KP Aquatics rock I did not elect for water shipping and instead had it shipped in wet paper. It did arrive with plenty of critters (not bad for a 20lb order) like pencil urchins, misc worms, a weird crab, macro algae, that sort of thing. The coralline does turn very orange from dieoff in shipping and turns back to pinks and purples in the tank relatively quickly. I even got a couple of plating coralline varieties in there.
With KP Aquatics it is extremely common to get one or more small mantis shrimp in your shipment as they live inside holes in the rock. Caribbean mantis shrimp usually won't get much bigger than 2 or 3 inches so they will stay pretty small, but also will often kill each other. My 15g tank with the KP Aquatics rock is a species aquarium home to a 3" wennerae mantis. I hear some of the gulf rocks like saltybottom or the old TBS rock the more common hitchhiker there was gorilla crabs, but it probably heavily depends on the collection site.
With KP Aquatics it is extremely common to get one or more small mantis shrimp in your shipment as they live inside holes in the rock. Caribbean mantis shrimp usually won't get much bigger than 2 or 3 inches so they will stay pretty small, but also will often kill each other. My 15g tank with the KP Aquatics rock is a species aquarium home to a 3" wennerae mantis. I hear some of the gulf rocks like saltybottom or the old TBS rock the more common hitchhiker there was gorilla crabs, but it probably heavily depends on the collection site.
Yea that’s what I’ve been reading about a lot of this florida stuff is the hitch hikers which isn’t a big deal for what I’m doing. Has anyone seen this new Jakarta rock that coming in to a wholesaler in North Carolina? Carolina aquatics I believe
TBS rock was a good experience for me - a lot of hitch hikers, but that was kind of my point when I purchased.
I'm not sure if the new owners are actually up and running yet or not.
Here's the craziest hitch-hiker - perched on top of a few pieces of TBS rock - 6 years old (maybe 5 - I don't remember).
I'm not sure if the new owners are actually up and running yet or not.
Here's the craziest hitch-hiker - perched on top of a few pieces of TBS rock - 6 years old (maybe 5 - I don't remember).
If you're okay with natural hitchikers and accept that they will be an issue, go for it. Some people like the natural approach. I have seen some gnarly stuff come in on some of that rock. You can get anything from mantis shrimp to bobbit worms.
If you want a pristine system with minimal hitchikers, always go dry rock route and cycle yourself. But using natural rock is really cool for bio diversity, and the almost instant cycle.
If you want a pristine system with minimal hitchikers, always go dry rock route and cycle yourself. But using natural rock is really cool for bio diversity, and the almost instant cycle.
That’s a pretty cool hitch hiker! I’m not to concerned for hitchhikers and I would go through it and pick out all the holes for critters and get as much as I could off. It’s going to be another nem tank but with a bunch of bubble tips and a wild maroon clown pair. I just want to start this new tank with the realest I can get. I’ve been seeing post of stuff from Australia and Jakarta but nowhere to buy it. Unfortunately TBS isn’t ready yet
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That looks a lot like the old Marshall Islands live rock from a decade+ ago. Beautiful stuff.
No this is the Australian. He has some now but he’s getting 3,000 more lbs in 2 or 3 weeks. It’s coming from Western Australia near Perth via air
So that came from pure reef and at 35 a pound?
No. This is not Jakarta. This is Australian not from pure reef. Australian is 35$ per pound. Jakarta Idk about because pure reef is closed today
Where did you get it from? I don't care where it originally came from that's some nice looking rock
I haven’t gotten it yet. That’s the pics he sent me. I’m waiting till after he gets this next shipment in a few weeks. He’s in New York, pristine marine aquariums. I spoke with him on the phone today for a while, seems like a good guy and knows what he’s doing. And he sells rubble boxes for 200$ since he can’t do anything with it really. Similar to these in the photo 
Ahh ok Really good looking rock
