What store in the metro would you trust the most for live Rock?

[shrike]

Starting up a tank and am debating picking up some live rock as I don't fully trust any of my sources of bacteria to not bring along unwanteds. Ideally I was planning on seeing 2x 618 media reactors to always have biomedia but would rather do that off a tank I know is established and mostly pest free. I'm only putting a little rock in the tank as it will be mostly racks, but am considering putting in a piece of two of live rock. Could order it from a reputable source but really don't need enough to justify costs.

I know some stores I probably wouldn't buy live rock from, but anyone have experience with buying "live" rock from any lfs? Is it even worth it? I've seen some stores selling Rock as live that looks like it's just has water running over it for a couple weeks, but on the other hand have bought pieces of rock rich in random zoa's and other indicators of older rock that has carried over since nasty pests or odd algaes, some I'll never be able to rid of.

Any input on this one? Thanks guys

 

[GratefulAlpaca]

Are you dead set on picking it from a local store? If you want some really live stuff, you can order from Tampa Bay Saltwater. They offer air freight where you pick it up from the airport cargo terminal. I believe it even ships submerged.

Any rock that is sufficiently “live” will carry the same good and bad stuff from the tank it came from. If you are trying to avoid all pests then it may not be worth it to you.

TBS has a pretty good guide on hitchhikers that might help you determine if the stuff you are looking at is for you or not. I know I didn’t help you with what store has good rock, but I still hope this helps!

Hitchhikers

Tampa Bay Saltwater sustainably farms ocean aquacultured live rock and hand harvested sand. TBS Live Rock provides beneficial microorganisms, creates a less stressful environment for inhabitants and provides natural biofiltration by the lifeforms found in and on it. Healthy live rock, from our...

tbsaltwater.com

Live Rock - Air Cargo

Tampa Bay Saltwater sustainably farms ocean aquacultured live rock and hand harvested sand. TBS Live Rock provides beneficial microorganisms, creates a less stressful environment for inhabitants and provides natural biofiltration by the lifeforms found in and on it. Healthy live rock, from our...

tbsaltwater.com

 

[tonyga]

I picked up some from premier aquatics. Had no concerns

 

[matticus1181]

Alternatively to live is getting the live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater, and then use dry rock. I would suspect the sand (it's more like crushed small coral/rock) would have fewer hitchhikers and that would ultimately seed the rock.

Regardless of which avenue you take, leave the lights off during the nitrogen cycle for a solid month.

 

[shrike]

Are you dead set on picking it from a local store? If you want some really live stuff, you can order from Tampa Bay Saltwater. They offer air freight where you pick it up from the airport cargo terminal. I believe it even ships submerged.

Any rock that is sufficiently “live” will carry the same good and bad stuff from the tank it came from. If you are trying to avoid all pests then it may not be worth it to you.

TBS has a pretty good guide on hitchhikers that might help you determine if the stuff you are looking at is for you or not. I know I didn’t help you with what store has good rock, but I still hope this helps!

Hitchhikers

Tampa Bay Saltwater sustainably farms ocean aquacultured live rock and hand harvested sand. TBS Live Rock provides beneficial microorganisms, creates a less stressful environment for inhabitants and provides natural biofiltration by the lifeforms found in and on it. Healthy live rock, from our...

tbsaltwater.com

Live Rock - Air Cargo

Tampa Bay Saltwater sustainably farms ocean aquacultured live rock and hand harvested sand. TBS Live Rock provides beneficial microorganisms, creates a less stressful environment for inhabitants and provides natural biofiltration by the lifeforms found in and on it. Healthy live rock, from our...

tbsaltwater.com

I wouldn't say Im determined to pick it up local. Half curious if any stores actually put time in the culturing live rock to begin with. I haven't been to every store in the Metro and asked about live rock or if they carry it, but I have purchase some locally before. Sometimes when starting up a new tank I'll try to pick a rock of cheap zoanthids or something random out of a well established reef tank from an lfs but I've had that severely backfire on me before. (Had a massive outbreak of vermatid. before I even really knew what they were or realized how bad it was I have ruined a good amount of dry Rock I was trying to seed. conveniently they grew in all the places I couldn't normally see and by the time I started to notice it was too late)

I know I'm going to pick up something one way or the other off of Rock, but a lot of my current tanks have a little bubble algae and some aipstasia (not really an outbreaks but I prefer not to cross contaminate that water on a new setup). Emeralds seem to do the job but on my bare bottom frag tank I don't keep crabs and so controlling it is a pain. Aipstasia is always hit or miss when it comes to treatment for me, but I always try to have something in a tank, peppermint shrimp, file fish, that'll keep them from being a problem and even when I don't I've never had a major outbreak. I think the specific kind I have prefers just to grow huge in size and not numbers.

There are some stores in the Metro that I haven't visited in years so I couldn't say if things have changed but the ones I do frequent are definitely much different than they were 5/10 years ago.

Thinking about it most lfs probably wouldn't want to dedicate and excess of real estate to live rock. I just recall stopping by a Petco the other day and seeing they sell their live rock and after looking at it, the state of their tanks and the price, I was just thinking "that's the last thing I would ever buy from here"


Ultimately the tank I'm setting up is going to rely heavily on biomedia or live rock even in the sump. I have a decent bit of dry or cured Rock and always figure the easiest way to turn that into live rock is to put it together with some

 

[shrike]

I picked up some from premier aquatics. Had no concerns

That was definitely one of my considerations. Premier or perhaps pure Reef if they still sell it. Thanks for the input

 

[tonyga]

They had it the other day 4 a pound

 

[shrike]

They had it the other day 4 a pound

Really? I know a while back pure Reef broke down and did some changes on their system and were keeping a couple of brutes in the back full of the leftover rock. I recall years back actually getting a decent tub of live rock from a couple of pieces I bought off of them but I want to say they charge me a decent bit for it

 

[Atalien2005]

I hoard rock whenever I find good live pieces. I know Unique Corals ships in Australian live rock with different shapes and sizes. I’ve purchased from them before and liked the pieces I received but it was a little pricey.

I’ve been cooking this rock for over two years for when I setup my big tank.

 

[siege]

Man... I'm almost starting to think I should...

and then, as I'm writing, this pops up:

I hoard rock whenever I find good live pieces. I know Unique Corals ships in Australian live rock with different shapes and sizes. I’ve purchased from them before and liked the pieces I received but it was a little pricey.

I’ve been cooking this rock for over two years for when I setup my big tank.

So yeah. I was starting to think maybe I should start seeding some of this big pile of rock I have and sell some of it...

and then I remembered I have a 220g with 75g sump sitting in my shop waiting for me... so, never mind

 

[ecoreefguy]

Live rock? None. Most don’t seed there’s tubs and other link their tubs to their coral tanks. I’ve literally seen LFS just throw straight in base rock into their tubs and try to sell it as live.
I would honestly just get bio spheres or bricks from someone you trust locally and cure rock. Cheaper and safer in long. Base rock in my tank takes less a week to start getting covered in coralline and life. All for 2 bucks a lbs vs 7-16per lb

 

[scottw]

I hoard rock whenever I find good live pieces. I know Unique Corals ships in Australian live rock with different shapes and sizes. I’ve purchased from them before and liked the pieces I received but it was a little pricey.

I’ve been cooking this rock for over two years for when I setup my big tank.
View attachment 99320

Hurry up already with that big tank you have just sitting in storage, poor tank in there all alone in the dark, not a very good tank owner LOL.