Good Petco Live Rock?

Steelheader09 · Sep 8, 2019

So I restarted my Nuvo Fusion 10 from scratch. Walked into Petco to look around and fell in love with a piece of Live rock and bought it. The lady was awesome, bagged it in water and gave me a Styrofoam cooler to keep it in for the ride home. My question is, does anyone know where they get their rock? It looks like Caribsea Life Rock. Clean, only had a couple bristle worms. What does everyone think?

flchamp89 · Sep 8, 2019

It does look like Carib sea life rock. Some love it. Some talk about it falling apart. Some talk about lack of porosity. I do know there are a lot of tanks with it. Mine included. I do know in recent years the construction of the rock has improved. Looks good

Steelheader09 · Sep 8, 2019

flchamp89 said:
It does look like Carib sea life rock. Some love it. Some talk about it falling apart. Some talk about lack of porosity. I do know there are a lot of tanks with it. Mine included. I do know in recent years the construction of the rock has improved. Looks good

Thanks! I was concerned about the porosity. I added 250ml of Matrix in the back, I thought it might supplement the surface area.

flchamp89 · Sep 8, 2019

I don't see a problem with the rock. I have about 30 lbs. I also run marine pure spheres. I have a fusion 20. You can see my rock by clicking my build thread badge.

Steelheader09 · Sep 8, 2019

flchamp89 said:
I don't see a problem with the rock. I have about 30 lbs. I also run marine pure spheres. I have a fusion 20. You can see my rock by clicking my build thread badge.

Wow, that is a nice tank. I think the rock will do just fine. I am interested to see how it cycles, or if it does. The lady told me they almost never sell their rock. It could have been in there for a year or more and already be pretty well embedded with bacteria. I did add a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only. I am gonna give it a few days, do some phantom feeding, and see if I register anything on tests.

lakai · Sep 8, 2019

Expensive stuff. About $19 for one cantelope size rock but it is very nice looking. http://products.coasttropicals.com/products/by_category/200

Steelheader09 · Sep 8, 2019

They called mine aqua cultured "Premium". I got a really good deal on it. It was $27 for a 5+ pound piece. I also had $10 in points so I paid $17

YurgiReef · Jun 9, 2020

Steelheader09 said:
They called mine aqua cultured "Premium". I got a really good deal on it. It was $27 for a 5+ pound piece. I also had $10 in points so I paid $17

I've been doing my aquascape with Marco dry rock; however, yesterday I saw some live rock at Petco. I've been really concerned about hitchhikers, bad parasites, etc. on live rock. Your thoughts?
Have you had good experience with your live rock purchase? Did you see anything you didn't like about/on/in the Petco live rock?

I live in Maine too - north of Portland.

fishlover1478 · Jun 9, 2020

lakai said:
Expensive stuff. About $19 for one cantelope size rock but it is very nice looking. http://products.coasttropicals.com/products/by_category/200

glad to see its peaceful lol why did they put that there

Steelheader09 · Jun 11, 2020

YurgiReef said:
I've been doing my aquascape with Marco dry rock; however, yesterday I saw some live rock at Petco. I've been really concerned about hitchhikers, bad parasites, etc. on live rock. Your thoughts?
Have you had good experience with your live rock purchase? Did you see anything you didn't like about/on/in the Petco live rock?

I live in Maine too - north of Portland.

Nice to meet a fellow Mainah! I had a lot of bristle worms in it. I bought it from the Augusta store. However I usually shop at the Topsham one. Are you on Maineaquaria? If not you should join. Its not super active bjt lost of local hobbiest selling stuff and chatting.

X-37B · Jun 11, 2020

Looks nice.
On another note I would find a lfs to buy from.
I would never buy anything that is wet from petco if you want to be succesful in this hobby.

jeffrey750750 · Jun 11, 2020

Looks like your off to a great start!

Steelheader09 · Jun 12, 2020

90's reefer said:
Looks nice.
On another note I would find a lfs to buy from.
I would never buy anything that is wet from petco if you want to be succesful in this hobby.

I usually buy from local reefers. There is an LFS but its an hour and a half drive. My wife used to work for PetCo as a trainer so we got crazy discounts. Also the Aquatic specialist at this PetCo is good friends with me and special orders things for me direct from suppliers. I do prefer the LFS though.

YurgiReef · Jun 12, 2020

Steelheader09 said:
Nice to meet a fellow Mainah! I had a lot of bristle worms in it. I bought it from the Augusta store. However I usually shop at the Topsham one. Are you on Maineaquaria? If not you should join. Its not super active bjt lost of local hobbiest selling stuff and chatting.

I WILL certainly join the MaineAquaria.com website - THANK YOU!!!
I will take a trip up to Topsham next go around and check it out.

FYI - those of you who do NOT live in Maine or have not visited -> reefing isn't really a big deal here, like , at all. There is a LFS in Portland and several LFS that are actually located in people's homes, you literally park in their driveway and go in the house to purchase. Sadly, Petco and Petsmart are the major pet stores here.

As for live rock: I have almost 50 lbs in my 50 gallon DT; however, I thought adding a few live rocks to the sump would help get the corraline growing faster. I'm now leaning towards purchasing several pounds of live, fully cured aquacultured live rock for this purpose.

Happy Reefing!

Steelheader09 · Jun 12, 2020

YurgiReef said:
I WILL certainly join the MaineAquaria.com website - THANK YOU!!!
I will take a trip up to Topsham next go around and check it out.

FYI - those of you who do NOT live in Maine or have not visited -> reefing isn't really a big deal here, like , at all. There is a LFS in Portland and several LFS that are actually located in people's homes, you literally park in their driveway and go in the house to purchase. Sadly, Petco and Petsmart are the major pet stores here.

As for live rock: I have almost 50 lbs in my 50 gallon DT; however, I thought adding a few live rocks to the sump would help get the corraline growing faster. I'm now leaning towards purchasing several pounds of live, fully cured aquacultured live rock for this purpose.

Happy Reefing!

Its true! I was just at Son and Sand a few weeks ago. Literally his basement. Mostly the hobby survives from private purchases, or you drive 2 hours to the closest LFS. If you live in the northern region, could be a 4 hour drive. Surprisingly though, Maine has some major suppliers. Sea and Reef Aquaculture is a Clownfish breeder and wholesaler. Cultivated Reef propagates coral and ships all over the country.

YurgiReef · Jun 12, 2020

Steelheader09 said:
Its true! I was just at Son and Sand a few weeks ago. Literally his basement. Mostly the hobby survives from private purchases, or you drive 2 hours to the closest LFS. If you live in the northern region, could be a 4 hour drive. Surprisingly though, Maine has some major suppliers. Sea and Reef Aquaculture is a Clownfish breeder and wholesaler. Cultivated Reef propagates coral and ships all over the country.

Totally! The store in Gorham said they will order me whatever I choose from Sea & Reef, so planning on getting a pair of clownfish from there. Kind of leaning towards their Maine Mocha, but the family wants a bright orange clown.
Joined the MaineAquaria website. Looks like a good place for us to purchase frags/livestock from locals. Thanks again for that advice! Have a great weekend.