First post and question about Live Rock

Glasszero

New Member
Hello everybody, i'm new to the forum and i'm new to SW aquarium keeping.After months of research on this forum and lots of decision making. We are really close to purchasing a RSM 250 and we are looking for a economical Live Rock which is impossible to get here in North Dakota. We found this seller in Ebay and they have a website and they seem to have FIJI premium live rock for a really cheap price. They are called Ocean Pro aquatics, has anybody bought from them before? Are they good? Would you recommend them?

Thank you all for you help.
 

Curehead

Member
Live rock is just live rock....even dead rock will become live rock.
Live rock is not magical it is just porous and therefore has a huge surface area for good bacteria to grow and filter your water of nitrous substances.
Dead rock will eventually become live, it will just take a bit longer than live rock.

With live rock you might get a few extra plant spores and critters.

If it's really cheap then you've got nothing to lose. Order a few lbs and see what it's like..depending on how they send it to you you'll probably get a bit of 'die off' but that will help cycle your tank anyway.

I understand in the USA that there are loads of live rock suppliers that will send you stuff interstate. I'm sure someone here will let you know who does it.
 
Hi and welcome i made about half of my live rock it takes a long time to cure but is very cheap to do i used the rock i made for the base and bought live rock to cover it sorry cant remember the site but you can find many different ways to do it on you tube good luck
 

seabass

Member
I just looked at there site and 50# for 95$ kinda sounds too good to be true.Thats less then 2$ a pound for live rock not base rock.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Congrats one RSM 250 one gorgeous tank !

My RSM 250 only been up 3 months... check out my tank thread (show you some pics of my startup & adding dry rock & 10% lr) ... I went with Marco Dry rock 90% & 10 LR, this is a real value way to start up a tank.

Here a link to some great LR - Live rock

IMO - You have be real careful where you get LR, read lots post here about "problem" LR, it's best to go with a "trusted" source on the LR.

Marco Rocks The finest aquarium rock available, base rock, live rock, reef rock, marco rock, reef tank saltwater fish, live corals, Marco rocks, Fiji live rock, Tonga Live rock

Never heard of Ocean Pro aquatics... sorry - I just went to thier website - Premium Fuji LR $1.99 a pound - my 1st thought - Caveat emptor, "Let the buyer beware" even LFS buying in bulk wholesale can't get it this cheap.
 
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Hi fellow North Dakotan, welcome to RS! :hallo: :wave: Doesn't it suck living in the middle of nowhere and right next to nothing? I suddenly really miss Minneapolis, but I digress....

Not sure of your location, but there is a pretty good pet store in Minot called Purrfect Pets. The owner is pretty knowledgeable, in comparison to most LFS in this state, he won't try to swindle you with things you don't need or let you over stock.

Don't even waste your time with ANY of the LFS in Bismarck, it will prove to be a waste of time and money.

I have been to a couple LFS in Grand Forks, was far from impressed but cannot pass too much judgment as I was only there briefly. They were predominantly freshwater.

Fargo may have something worthwhile, I have never checked into them.

I also have at least 100 pounds of Fiji rock I'd be willing to part with. It has been sitting in buckets, with water, for more than three years. Be advised, this would be considered base rock at this point. If you're interested, send me a PM.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
I'd get about 10% REALLY high quality uncured live rock and the rest dead rock. Over time, the live rock will cure and all the goodies will migrate to the dead rock. Win - win - win! (Environmentally, monetarily and.. well I guess the last one wasn't for anything :D)
 

Glasszero

New Member
Thank you everybody for your warm welcomes. I though about using dry rock but i think i'm going the live rock way. Santa (my wife) got me the RSM 250 for xmas. I already started setting it up. I'm so but i gotta wait till Tuesday to get to get it running, we might order the live rock from live aquaria.

Hey Jedi82, I have gone to Purrfect pets a couple of times but he has his live rock at $10.00 a pound. But i do think that most of the livestock i'm gonna get it from him.

I already have it mostly assembled, i just need to move around so stuff to set it up, as soon as i get it up i will post so pictures.
 

QuentinB

Member
Hey, welcome to RS!

I'm over here in Grand Forks, I take it you're in Minot? My RA from living in the dorms my first year is from there. Jedi82Knight) mentioned that there were two LFS here in town, but one went out of business(Stonegate Pets - hit a bad spell, ended up having people walk out of his store with puppies and such... Sad story.) The one that's left is in the main mall in town, called Pets-r-Inn. They have a website, not much on it though. They're running at $5.99/lb, not bad rock though, I put 10 pounds in there to start, and then bought 30 pounds of base rock from John Maloney at Reefcleaners(a great sponsor to this site, even if you don't buy his base rock, definitely check him out for a clean up crew! ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home ). I used most of that 30 lbs as well. Here's a link to my tank, the first page has the LFS rock, and the second shows the Florida base rock, and I think page 9 or 10 has my last decent FTS:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-chronicles/62661-quentin-shells-jbj-28-a.html

Oh, and petco in town is actually just starting to do saltwater here, I think they would have to order in live rock though, I'd personally go with liveaquaria if you're gonna order it though. I couldn't find anything on ocean pro, but I do recall someone with a sob story a while back about a deal very similar to yours, and they didn't get ANY rock. Just out $200 like that.

But hey, good luck to you, and try to hit me up if you ever make it over this way! Have fun!

Edit: Almost forgot, Fargo has a Pets-r-Inn as well. Petco there is just as worthless as any, I don't believe they have saltwater set up anyway. There is also a little store downtown, I think it's like "The Tropical Fish Shop" or something oh-so creative, but they only have freshwater fish as well, and their store was nothing spectacular either. Also, I haven't really checked in a while, but the LFS here in GF has had a pretty bad aiptasia problem, I wouldn't want their live rock in my tank anymore, and I've also vowed not to buy another coral from them until they get things sorted out. Just my opinion, especially if you're going to put a good amount in your tank.

Thank you everybody for your warm welcomes. I though about using dry rock but i think i'm going the live rock way. Santa (my wife) got me the RSM 250 for xmas. I already started setting it up. I'm so but i gotta wait till Tuesday to get to get it running, we might order the live rock from live aquaria.

Hey Jedi82, I have gone to Purrfect pets a couple of times but he has his live rock at $10.00 a pound. But i do think that most of the livestock i'm gonna get it from him.

I already have it mostly assembled, i just need to move around so stuff to set it up, as soon as i get it up i will post so pictures.
 

Glasszero

New Member
Hey Quentin thank you for all the information. You are correct i am in Minot. We just got 45 pounds from Live aquaria and we are thinking to get 10 more from Fargo or Grand forks (pets r in) but because of what you told me i think i might go with fargo then. I could not help to notice in your profile picture that you might be a pilot as well. I got my private pilot license.
 
I see you already got your live rock. Congrats. I just put my system up on Wednesday. I have a 90g reef tank. I went with 50Lbs of LR and find someone taking a system down locally. The LR in his tank was 4 years old. It has so much purple and life on it. Best decision I made.

One thing to think about is that the recommended Lbs/g is fictitious. You do not care about the weight. The most important aspect is surface area. This does not simply mean the external surface, this includes all of the nooks and crannies as well. An example is taking 5Lbs of Marco Key Largo Rock vs 5Lbs of brick. You will have immensely more surface area on the Marco rock. I found that ~75LBs of rock is all my system can accommodate with my plans for corals.

My recommendation is to see how the 40Lbs aquascape. From there, you can determine if you want/need more rock. If you need more, I recommend getting dry rock vs live rock.
 

catran

Well-Known Member
Welcome!
I'm glad you didn't order from Ocean Pro. I didn't see your post earlier, but I would have told you that I ordered from there and my rock arrived in awful condition. Good thing it wasn't for my display tank! It was dry and dead.
Good luck with your tank!!
 

Glasszero

New Member
Yes i din't go with the Ocean pro because they looked shady. I got mine from live aquaria and i am really happy with the purchase. The only bad thing is that FedEx left the rock in my cold garage.

Bigrednole, I was reading about that lately, about what is important is the surface area. I am quite happy with the 45 pounds i have right now but i want to add a bit more both for more surface area and aesthetics. I am starting to consider life rock for my last 10 pounds, i wanted to get 10 more locally (to support local businesses "GO North Dakota" and to get more bio diversity in the tank.) I hoping to have it by the 9th or 10th.
 

1PunchKO

New Member
I'm researching where to buy my live rock and I spoke with the owner of Oceanpro Aquatics Inc Mike Baker (surprised he talked to me in person) and was happy to explain that Oceanpro is one of only four companies who actually have their own facility located in Suva, Fiji and being exporters, they are the ones who supply many wholesalers who sell to our LPS. So that's how they can sell quality so cheap. I also found out they own LRI. I'm going to buy a case and I'll post photos after I get it.

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Link to their Facility I found on their site : http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=OceanproAquatics#p/u/34/nwzwZSjWpWQ
 
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