Which way? Live Rock delima!!!!

[mmotown]

Hello again reefers. I had more time to type out my question in depth so I am hoping someone can explain the difference. I am new to this hobby. I have spent alot of money on the equipment and it has taken over a year to get everything together and now I am down to my last purchase. I live in Dallas TX and work in CA. I am going to have a local pet store maintain my tank semi-monthly. I can't buy uncured rock because I am not home to do the necessary water changes so I am left to buy cured rock. I was at fishsupply.com store in Hunington Beach CA. I was told I could buy 300lbs of Walt Smith from them which is 6.6 boxes (45lbs) @ $98/box. that came out to be about $646.00 plus 60lbs of sand and shipping had me at around $1k. They said they cured their rock by spraying it at their facility at LAX. I could put this in my tank and let it cycle for about a month as that is when I would be able to put live stock in it and I wouldn't minf the wait because it will allow me to save more money. Waiting a month would be good for me. I could go another way and buy fully cured live rock from Prem Aquatics at $3.99 a pound. They said it was not as coloful as Walt Smith's rock but retained more life because it is never out of water and they put it into curing vats etc. Going that route I am looking at $1197 + sand + shipping which is taking me to about $1457. Going the fishsupply.com way everything rock, sand, shipping is going to run me about $1100.00 (savings +- $500). Is there in quality difference in how each company handles thier rock? If spraying the rock still has to cycle that is not a problem for me. As long as the water changes can wait every two weeks. Which way would you go? Thanks for the input.

[bertoni]

I think you could cure the rock at your home if you don't mind the smell. It's good to do water changes, but it'll cure without any, and even if you're only home during the evenings, I'd probably do water changes at most once per day in any case.

The live rock from Premium Aquatics is probably from Tamp Bay Saltwater. You could check their web site. I would go with the Walt Smith rock because I like the looks more, and a lot of the extra animals on the TBS rock tend to die out after a while. A search should turn up a lot of discussions on this topic.

[NwG]

Eather way there is going to be die-off from transport of the rock... I know it may not be possable, but IMO a reef tank needs daily mointoring/maintnence... especally a new tank.... Is there anyway this could be done?
Nate D

[mmotown]

Originally posted by NwG
Eather way there is going to be die-off from transport of the rock... I know it may not be possable, but IMO a reef tank needs daily mointoring/maintnence... especally a new tank.... Is there anyway this could be done?
Nate D

Can't be done. I wish it could....

[mmotown]

Originally posted by mmotown
Can't be done. I wish it could....

Actually my wife can do some maint but not the heavy duty stuff because she has no idea about this hobby...

[WayneL140]

Originally posted by NwG
Eather way there is going to be die-off from transport of the rock...

How true. We bought 20lbs of rock from liverocks.com at their place of business, transfered it directly to an ice chest with water, and transported it home, a total time of about 3 hours from tank to tank. Some stuff still died, creating a minor parameter distubance.

Good luck with your project. You have a real dillema.

Wayne and Lynn

[Jeremy B.]

The live rock from Premium Aquatics is probably from Tamp Bay Saltwater.

Premium Aquatics does not stock any of the Gulf aquacultured rock. While we do have a little bit of manmade aquacultured rock in at this time, our typical stock comes from Marshall Islands, Fiji, and Tonga.

[bertoni]

Okay, sorry for the misinformation!

So the rock you have is Pacific in origin? How is it treated from point of collection to your doors, and then to the customer?

[Shooter7]

Here is a link to their website page describing how they acquire, keep, and ship their LR.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Liverock

[Jeremy B.]

While I can not speak for other vendors, as most of the rock we carry is not brought into the US in a great deal. Our Fiji and Kaelini is both harvested from the ocean and to our airport (IND) within about 48 - 60hrs. The Marshall actually makes it to us in about 36hrs. Once we receive the rock it is immediately tanked into extremely large volume curing systems with commercial size protein skimmers and calcium reactors, along with strong metal halide lighting and circulation that could rival that of a hot tub.