Gulf live rock or Live Rock N' Reef ?

[hoju74]

Anyone have experiences with either of these live rock vendors ? I'll be ordering rock soon and it seems they're still shipping out.
I reached out to Tampa Bay Saltwater, but Richard said he isn't shipping out rock right now.

 

[klimfish]

Haven't heard of either of those, but KPAquatics is also very good from what I hear.

 

[dwair]

I would look into KP Aquatics as well. They are down in the Keys and have amazing Live rock!

 

[hoju74]

I know KP ships overnight, but their price seemed considerably higher than the other vendors.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I ordered all of my live rock from gulfliverock.com. They were packed with corals, macroalgae, sponges, and tunicates. Very nice pieces for the money.

 

[hoju74]

I ordered all of my live rock from gulfliverock.com. They were packed with corals, macroalgae, sponges, and tunicates. Very nice pieces for the money.

Was the rock pourous, or was it dense and heavy ?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

It was porous, dense, and heavy! LOL Lots of openings and porosity but with the density you'd expect from limestone that was quarried and aquacultured.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Current tank pics

 

[hoju74]

Very nice. I'll have to keep them in mind.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

That O. robusta colony in the center of the first pic came in alive on the live rock. It survived for 5 days in a box in November with only a wet newspaper and plastic bag covering it.

 

[hoju74]

Did you get a lot of undesired hitchhikers ?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Did you get a lot of undesired hitchhikers ?

Depends on what you define as undesirable. Some of the tunicates can be problematic just because they'll grow over the top of corals.

I had a few aiptasia, but they're not the Pacific variety that spreads rapidly. They're easily controlled and don't replicate quickly. In fact, I have a few that I've resigned to living with. They don't really cause any issues.

The aiptasia were really the only nuisance hitchhikers. Some turkey wing clams survive today in the tank along with several varieties of coral, sponges, and tunicates.

 

[Kdub Koral Guy]

I ordered all of my live rock from gulfliverock.com. They were packed with corals, macroalgae, sponges, and tunicates. Very nice pieces for the money.

You are the first person I have seen talk about Tunicates. I have some that came along on a Goni Frag that I got. I haven't done anything about them. What is your opinion on these?

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

You are the first person I have seen talk about Tunicates. I have some that came along on a Goni Frag that I got. I haven't done anything about them. What is your opinion on these?

I would say it totally depends on where they're located. Most of mine are located in places that don't interfere with coral or other inhabitants, and they're beneficial filter feeders so I leave them in peace. However, I had one that was WAY too big and growing over nearby corals, so I pruned it back with a scalpel. The pruning did not kill it, just made it smaller

 

[Kdub Koral Guy]

I would say it totally depends on where they're located. Most of mine are located in places that don't interfere with coral or other inhabitants, and they're beneficial filter feeders so I leave them in peace. However, I had one that was WAY too big and growing over nearby corals, so I pruned it back with a scalpel. The pruning did not kill it, just made it smaller

Cool, Thanks. Ya I kinda like them, but don't need an invasive species in my tank

 

[EMeyer]

AFAIK all the cultured rock from liverocknreef is that painted purple concrete.

I think all the Gulf cultured live rock is mined limestone, but at least its rock instead of concrete! I wish someone would find a source of porous (=lightweight) rock for these projects.

That is a beautiful Oculina colony. I love hitchhikers.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

AFAIK all the cultured rock from liverocknreef is that painted purple concrete.

I think all the Gulf cultured live rock is mined limestone, but at least its rock instead of concrete! I wish someone would find a source of porous (=lightweight) rock for these projects.

That is a beautiful Oculina colony. I love hitchhikers.

That is correct. The limestone is mined from the internal Florida peninsula and is the remnants of ancient coral reefs. The geologic processes that turned it into limestone also increased the density of the rock. This is the reason why live rock from living reefs is much less dense than aquacultured live rock.

Personally, I'm okay with the higher density if it saves living reefs without introducing silicates from concrete.

 

[hoju74]

The hitchhikers is why I'm going this route. My last tank was about 6 years ago and I used pacific rock from a company called Premium Aquatics. Watching all the cool stuff appear was one of the highlights waiting for the tank to establish.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I have 80lbs of rock from KP Aquatics being delivered today. Check my build thread this evening for pics, I’ll be posting them there.

 

[hoju74]

I have 80lbs of rock from KP Aquatics being delivered today. Check my build thread this evening for pics, I’ll be posting them there.

Oh man...are you excited ? It's such an awesome feeling when you come that far in your build. I'll definitely check it out