Anyone impressed with recent live rock purchase??

[vijaym85]

Anyone bought any live rock recently from online and was impressed. I am trying to get some with a lot of corraline and life on it so I can better seed the rest of rock which came sparsely coated with corraline. I have heard that the quality of Fiji has declined over the years. I wanted to try Premium Aquatics Kanali or Marshall but am open to suggestions. If anyone knows of a place that sells good quality rock please tell me the place and rock type.

[xtrstangx]

I actually got some really good live rock from my LFS at less than online prices.

They get rock in by the 50 pound boxes. They just ordered an entire box of rock for me. The problem with this is you get a few ugly pieces per box, but you can always use those for bases (this happens with most online places as well, can't choose your rock).

So I saved the $40-50 in shipping, but I got my Fiji for $3.25-$3.30 or something. Kaelini rock was $3.80 or so per pound (prices may have changed between now and then).

My rock was completely purple in 7 months or so as I had a very small cycle (5 days) for "uncured" rock. I picked up the rock right when they got back from the airport so the rock was only out of water for 6 hours or so (flight time plus loading/unloading)

[vijaym85]

I suppose as more and more rock is harvested the quality will dwindle. Perhaps reefers with older tanks have some of the best pieces. I already have enough regular rock and Im trying to find a nice set of top off pieces. I paid around 2.75 a pound for some fiji from online including shipping and while not show stoping it was ok and gets the filtration aspect done so im happy. But I would like to cover it with something nicer.

[scumonkey]

Save a reef, buy aquacultured live rock!
Garf recommends this place (they ship in water)
http://www.floridaliverock.com/
I talked to the guy onthe phone. I likes what I heard so I think I'm getting my rock from there as well?!

[ozz1116]

Dr fosters and smith get some good stuff

[vijaym85]

I tried their fiji premium but it was not as good as I hoped for.
Maybe their other rock types are better.

[Putawaywet]

Funny you bring this up as I was just thinking that a lot of the Walt Smith rock people have been posting pics of latey has been looking rather weak.

Then a couple posts later I'm seeing good stuff again.

Seems to be a roll of the dice whether you get color and some basic life, or the plain beige stuff.

Brett

[vijaym85]

Good point, the quality of rock does dont seem as consistent as one would hope for when investing so much. I wonder if any particular island is more reliable than the rest. I have always heard a lot of praise for Marshall rocks and with one of the highest price tags of all I hope its all true. Maybe soon they will start WYSIWYG rocks online!

[yeldarbj]

www.reefermadness.us

Call and talk to them. I bought some cured rock from them that was fantastic. For the cured stuff, you are not limited to 22 lbs or 45 lbs boxes. I had it shipped from California to Florida overnight and had no die-off, no bad hitchhikers, and quite a few pods. It had a lot more coraline growth than I expected.

My tank has still never had any significant spikes in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I was able to add cleaners after one week and fish the next.

[Laakmann]

reeferrock.com has the best customer service IMO

ordered 150lb of baserock for $2.50 a pound with shipping

I dont know about live rock from him though but he will take pics of the rocks he is sending to you before you order for free.

[pllb]

premium aquatics always impresses me =)

[TKByrnes]

this place has nice rock i go there all the time. http://www.thatpetplace.com/ im not sure where you live but i go pick mine out. its in lancaster pennsylvania. hope this helps you.

[john37]

i like buying it from local reefers, cheaper and usually fully cured.

[vijaym85]

I went ahead and bought 40 pounds from premium aquatics. I got the kaelini. Any thoughts on rock from this island. I heard it' s better than Fiji but not as nice as Marshall. Hopefully I can get some good corraline pieces. I think I am not seeing the corraline alage spread in my 150g because I don't have much to start with. Also is 200 pounds in a 150 a good amount or too little?