shopping for LR online

[JoJo]

after doing a couple searches, i couldnt find the thread i was looking for so i'll start it. since i already have about 60# or so of BR, i'm looking for online sites to get some nice LR. i'm also looking to find out what would be the process after receiving the LR, like number of weeks of curing & such.

i have read a little on TampaBay SW LR, including that it has hitchhikers, good & bad. so it would have to get a FW bath, which kills it & it turns into BR, right?

any & all help will be greatly appreciated

 

[Octoman]

I've got TBS rock and the hitchhikers were not a problem. I snagged out some crabs and still have a couple that I will catch one day, but none have caused any problems. I also removed some whelks, but other than that, lots and lots of good hitchhikers and a very quick cycle. The FW bath would kill a lot of the good stuff and defeat the purpose of the water shipped rock.

I would highly recommend the TBS rock; Goldenmean, Dentoid, and I think some others on here have gotten it as well. When I set up a bigger tank, I plan on ordering from them again.

 

[JoJo]

so you just picked off some crabs and put the rock into your tank?

 

[Octoman]

I gave it a good shake in the bag which dropped a few critters off, then dropped it in. Then I hunted more crabs for the next couple weeks while it cycled. Tweezers work pretty well for snagging them.

 

[Cavinca]

i highly recommend pacific east aquaculture. they can cure for you if you want. i started from scratch with them (uncured) and my tank cycled in like a week and a half. i watched levels closely.. only hitch hikers i got were pods, vermatid snails, and a few feather dusters. great coraline coverage and one of my rocks is completly pink now. they call and ask what sizes you want along with shapes.

 

[JoJo]

thanks for the info

 

[rmlevasseur]

not live, but I suggest Marco Rocks all the way. Hands down. Nothing else I have seen compares.

 

[BarbMazz]

Jojo, I'm going with a mixture of the dry Marco Rocks and the Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock. I have 50lbs of Marco, and I'm going to order "The Package" from TBS for a 35 or 40g tank. My display tank is 65g. What rock I don't use in my display I'm going to distribute to my sump tub and fuge tank whether it's the dry rock or the live rock.

Did you read about The Package on their website? It sounds SO cool! You get the rock, live sand, and the cuc. From everything I've seen the rock looks SO alive when you get it.. it ships in water. I've never had a sw tank before, so I'm actually looking forward to the hitchhikers. They seem like part of the ride! I'll get to see some cool critters even if I have to get them out.

Let us know what you decide!

 

[rmlevasseur]

Nothing wrong with that viewpoint Barb - until something starts chomping on your expensive corals and you don't know what it is. To each his own, but I like to know exactly what is in my tank.

 

[rapscallion]

I would go with the MARCO ROCK, I have it and think it's the best, lightest and most porous rock you can find. It's very easy to epoxy together and make the greatest shapes and caves with.
When I started I brought TONGA KAELINI from reeferMadness.us.
This I thought was the best "live" rock I ever purchased. Large super shaped rock, no pests but plenty of "life" developed after curing including a few rock mussels which are still alive after 3 yrs in the tank.
HTH
chuck

 

[BarbMazz]

Nothing wrong with that viewpoint Barb - until something starts chomping on your expensive corals and you don't know what it is. To each his own, but I like to know exactly what is in my tank.

Oh, yeah, I understand what you're saying Robert!

 

[JoJo]

so it would be a problem if i used Marco Rock because it cant be counted as LR & i will already have 60# or more of BR right?

 

[BarbMazz]

so it would be a problem if i used Marco Rock because it cant be counted as LR & i will already have 60# or more of BR right?

If you are using LR as your main biofiltration, then yes, you probably wouldn't want more dry rock.

But, of course, since I don't even have a tank set up yet you may want to wait for some of the others to chime in on that!

 

[JoJo]

i cant believe this will be your first tank, you give alot of good info to not have done SW before. others have mentioned other sites i should try, to get the best filtration

 

[BarbMazz]

i cant believe this will be your first tank, you give alot of good info to not have done SW before. others have mentioned other sites i should try, to get the best filtration

I had FW tanks many, MANY years ago, but this is my first foray into sw. Thanks for the compliment, JoJo! Mind you, I've been studying this whole thing since November, '07 so I'm way read up on the whole thing. Hopefully that will translate into some sort of success when water goes in.

 

[rmlevasseur]

It doesnt take long at all for base rock to become colonized. I think if you saw the Marco and compared it to just about any LR, you would see why it is so liked. If you go slow and don't add a huge bioload to your tank right away, you can let the base rock catch up. You can also add some live sand to help the process.

 

[JoJo]

from what i've read & heard it can take BR a minimum of several years to colonize, some say it never fully colonizes & shouldnt be counted into the LR filtration calculations. also i will have LS, how much depends, i may do a mixture. from what i've been reading that may be the best way to go.

 

[rmlevasseur]

who says that? I'd like to read that article. Certainly slab rock or blocky rock often used as base rock doesn't have the surface area to colonize that more natural rock might. That is the beauty of Marco - its so light and porous. It is LR - just dead LR, lol. I know people who have cultured rock in their main tanks just to sell it. Not many things on this planet reproduce as fast as bacteria. Once you have a sufficient colony, it actually grows very fast assuming there is enough fuel. Similarly, it dies off pretty fast if there isnt enough.

If you surf the competition a little, there are many examples of all-Marco tanks. Some are just fantastic.

All right, I'm done with my Marco plugging.

 

[JoJo]

gotch. so should i be feeding the BR i have now, to start the bacteria growing?

 

[rmlevasseur]

assuming the LR you already have has some die-off, you got all the fuel you need. I threw a deli shrimp in to help with my cycle because I was worried my rock was to clean. I cycled in 4 weeks (180).