buying live rock online

So there are 5 LFS near me, 2 of which carry live rock. Ive asked them for certain kinds of live rock and was told "what you see is what we can get" :(

So I was looking online at various types of rock, in particular Vanuatu which has a nice color appeal.

Question is....should I be worried about a site that offers free shipping (1-5) days? Can the coraline on the rock survive this long?
 

whippetguy

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Free shipping is a must if you're getting live rock. Also the coralline will do fine, in fact all types of life has a chance to survive the shipping process. I've seen some lucky folks get fish and nice coral that survives the trip. I have some Vanuatu rock in my tank and like it.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
With any live rock you order online, there will be some die off. This is to be expected. You'll have to make sure you cure it, but other than that, you should be fine.

This is also an excellent time of year to order LF and other online livestock. Not too hot, not too cold.

As for your LFS, I would be very disappointed in them. It sounds like they just don't want to try too hard to get in desirable live rock. Don't be afraid to look elsewhere.
 

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
Okay, I finally get to talk about my experience with purchasing live Vanuatu rock. First, I'll tell you it's a full time job. Second, I'll tell you there's something new every day. Third, I'll tell you you'll get to the point when you find something new you'll say, "Oh no, not another thing I have to identify." Fourth, I'll tell you that I went through two buckets of salt curing it.

I ordered three boxes of live rock from livestockusa.org and I give them a 10 out of 10. To put it very bluntly, I highly recommend them. As far as shipping, I got my rocks in two days or less a few hours. I've got hundreds of hitchhikers and that's not an exaggeration.

They also have a link on their site that is the best I know of on how to cure live rock.

Well, anyway, here's the site:

http://www.livestockusa.org/

Now that I think about it, I got my rock in more like 24 hours from Vanuatu. Mitch will arrange it that you're at the airport at the same time the rocks come in.
 
So, my tank is 2 weeks old today....still cycling....is this the best time to add new live rock directly to the tank and it will cure in the tank?
 

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
IMO color isn't a factor when looking for live rock, all or most of the coralline is likely to go away while cycling. It's super easy to introduce coralline from a coral frag, etc. and so long as you maintain calcium and alk it will spread and grow faster than you want it to eventually.

Given the choice I would always prefer to pick out my pieces. This gives me the opportunity to select pieces for base rock, etc., I just built my rock scape on the floor of the LFS until I was satisfied I had enough of the type of pieces I was looking for.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Lots of good advise from all above...

Several ways to proceed... with pros & cons - my 1st tank I had beautiful expensive uncured Tonga Branch LR flown in overnight (wrapped in wet newspaper) added it to the tank at startup & let the tank cycle for 6-8 weeks - worked fine

2nd tank - 80% beautiful Marco Dry Rock & 20% LR hand picked from lfs - worked fine

http://www.marcorocks.com/dry-rock/

Just looked at this site... looks like very nice LR, if you want to go that route - http://www.livestockusa.org/
 

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
When you order live rock like I'm telling you about they ship it just like a live fish or coral. There's sponges that don't survive being exposed to air and some other die off, so you'll have to do big water changes every other day to dilute the ammonia so you keep all your corals and animals alive. Read the curing live rock link on their site.

Here's one picture of when the live rock was real new. See that encrusting coral, there was a lot of that on the rocks. I now have at least a dozen hitchhiker corals that are still growing.

 

Mike Johnson

Well-Known Member
Here a good read from RS sponsor Dr Mac, Pacific East Aquaculture - if you go the 100% LR route

http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/curing_rock.asp

Just read this for the first time. A very good article, although there are some points that I don't completely agree on.

One of those points is on water changes. When your curing live rock and you want the higher forms of life to live you do water changes frequently. If your ammonia is 4, you do big water changes. It's just a couple days at first then the water changes get less frequent.

I'm not a proponent of telling people to start dosing immediately, rather I am a proponent of doing water changes and testing frequently until dosing is needed. I'm also not a big fan of anything in a bottle. Several of his sentences disclaim the use of miracles in a bottle. And, several of his sentences are telling the virtues of a particular product in a bottle.

Anyway, my absence for awhile was due to my reading that article.
 
Top