Gulf Live rock or Salty Bottom?

hawk82 · Feb 9, 2020

Has anyone ever got any rocks from either of these? And if so how are they? And I notice they both have "Premium" rock and just "coralline". Would I still get some good life with just the coralline option? Im not really interested in all the plants ect that I see on the "Premium". It says "Coralline Live Rock is rock from our lease sites with minimal hitchhikers, simply live rock. It is the best of both worlds! You have real LIVE ROCK with a super fast cycle time and minimal hitchhikers at a great price!"

fermentedhiker · Feb 9, 2020

I've ordered from Gulfliverock a couple times. Always been happy with it. I always got premium though so I can't comment on what the coraline is like. Email him your questions. He's always responded to me within a day.

Larry L · Feb 9, 2020

I haven't ordered from either of those two but I recently got some fantastic aquacultured rock from KP Aquatics (kpaquatics.com)

Reefahholic · Feb 9, 2020

Avoid Gulf Live Rock at all costs. That guy ripped me. I bought through Paypal and let me just tell you...you are not protected. The rock arrived dead. I took video of everything and Paypal would not issue a refund. They side with their dealers. Good luck.

If you want the best...Tampa Bay Saltwater. The absolute best live rock around. Ships in water and he'll call you to collect at your local airport! Doesn't get much better than that!

shadesatsetbreak · Feb 11, 2020

I got gulf live rock and I'm not particularly impressed. Looks like it sat in a tank for a while. Most stuff on the rock was doa and the ammonia spike during the cycle will kill off anything else that's remaining.
I will go with kpaquatics next time or TBS if I can afford it.

Larry L · Feb 11, 2020

shadesatsetbreak said:
I will go with kpaquatics next time

I was really happy with the stuff I got from them. Best as I could tell it was collected on a Wednesday morning, shipped Wednesday afternoon, and arrived Thursday morning by 10:30am via Fedex overnight. It was wrapped in wet paper and had almost zero die-off, lots of hitchhikers survived the trip (feather dusters, mithrax crab, pencil urchins, snails, sponges, etc.).

Midrats · Feb 11, 2020

Another happy KP customer here!

Reefahholic · Feb 12, 2020

shadesatsetbreak said:
I got gulf live rock and I'm not particularly impressed. Looks like it sat in a tank for a while. Most stuff on the rock was doa and the ammonia spike during the cycle will kill off anything else that's remaining.
I will go with kpaquatics next time or TBS if I can afford it.

The Shape of Gulf live rock absolutely sucks. The worse aquascaping rock of all time.

hawk82 · Feb 12, 2020

Well that sucks. Sorry but KP and TBS seems a bit too expensive for me, looks like ill give Salty Bottom a try then since it seems everyone has a bad time with Gulf.

shadesatsetbreak · Feb 12, 2020

hawk82 said:
Well that sucks. Sorry but KP and TBS seems a bit too expensive for me, looks like ill give Salty Bottom a try then since it seems everyone has a bad time with Gulf.

I've heard good things with salty bottom. Someone just posted a thread and it looked really nice. Granted, they live in Florida and just drove a couple hours to pick it up so there was basically no die off. But it seemed like good stuff

Apotack · Feb 12, 2020

shadesatsetbreak said:
I got gulf live rock and I'm not particularly impressed. Looks like it sat in a tank for a while. Most stuff on the rock was doa and the ammonia spike during the cycle will kill off anything else that's remaining.
I will go with kpaquatics next time or TBS if I can afford it.

I had a similar experience with gulf a few months ago. I was less than impressed with the customer service. Rock arrived basically dead, my house stunk for two weeks. He tried to convince me the rock was good, then accused me of trying to scam him. After a lot of bs we worked things out. I had ordered from them twice before and was very happy, not this time. Even the replacement rock wasn’t great , I won’t order from them again.

Robb1821i · Apr 2, 2021

fermentedhiker said:
I've ordered from Gulfliverock a couple times. Always been happy with it. I always got premium though so I can't comment on what the coraline is like. Email him your questions. He's always responded to me within a day.

Sorry to resurrect this thread after so long but I'm considering ordering from them now. How was the die off? How does the rock look over time?

Scdell · Apr 2, 2021

Nope on Salty Bottom. Got some fish from them and it was a horrible experience.

missourimud · Apr 2, 2021

I purchased from GLR couple months ago, literally no customer service. Rocks ok but all the higher life forms were dead for me. Sat in shipping for a week, cant say its their fault but when i reached out to them there was never a reply. Another person on R2R had similar experience and dude from gulf took the time to downvote the guys thread multiple times but wont reach back out via email or phone. I will spend my money elsewhere

Pistondog · Apr 2, 2021

Gulfliverock.com is a great deal and great looking live rock. $85 for 17 lbs premium-deco-live-rock shipped. 3 days to nh. Obviously some die off, but live limpets, clams sponges worms crabs, halemedia, snails, feather dusters and I'm sure stuff I can't see. Looks just like the pics on the website.
He will airship to nearest airport if you are willing to pay.
Will definitely use again.
Can't beat per pound prices.

hawk82 · Apr 2, 2021

This is what my gulf live rock looks like after a year in my tank. Anything thats not a coral was a hitchhiker, plus I had two hitchhiking urchins, one pistol shrimp, and lots of sponges which are still alive today. I was actually thinking of getting about 10 more pounds here soon just to add a little refresher to the tank. Thats about 35 pounds in a 40 breeder.

Robb1821i · Apr 3, 2021

hawk82 said:
This is what my gulf live rock looks like after a year in my tank. Anything thats not a coral was a hitchhiker, plus I had two hitchhiking urchins, one pistol shrimp, and lots of sponges which are still alive today. I was actually thinking of getting about 10 more pounds here soon just to add a little refresher to the tank. Thats about 35 pounds in a 40 breeder.

Wow! Nice. Did it take a long time for it to be stable?

hawk82 · Apr 3, 2021

I added fish about a month after adding the rocks.

fish farmer · Apr 3, 2021

hawk82 said:
This is what my gulf live rock looks like after a year in my tank. Anything thats not a coral was a hitchhiker, plus I had two hitchhiking urchins, one pistol shrimp, and lots of sponges which are still alive today. I was actually thinking of getting about 10 more pounds here soon just to add a little refresher to the tank. Thats about 35 pounds in a 40 breeder.

Was that the coralline rock?

Timfish · Apr 3, 2021

Over the decades I've gotten a lot of live rock and the best has been Walt Smith's which I haven't been able to find in a while. I have been happy with Gulfliverock.com premium live rock and always find blushing corals and once in a while a rose coral, both which can only be gotten on maricultured live rock. I should add that I ONLY get it sent air frieght to minimize dieoff. I do have many of the clams and more complex live forms that come on the rock die but that's not any different than other wild maricultured live rock I've gotten in the past. Quarintining live rock like any fish or coral and keeping an eye on it and removing any dead stuff before it has a chance to pollute the QT should be done. As far as getting coraline live rock what's is essential IMO are the cryptic sponges which you'll find on the coraline just as well as the premium. Just a reminder cryptic sponges remove DOC about 1000X faster than the bacterioplankton that's removed by skimmers recycling it to be but back into the food chain by higher organisms. As far as which supplier to use, how fast you can get it is as important IMO as the cost, the less time it spends in a box the better. I will add that working with Gulf Reef it seems like they work on island time, communication can be haphazard and I have to bug them to get airway bills so I can track my shipment to get it as soon as it arrives at the airport.