Online retailers that sell live rock with stringent QT process?

[mistergray]

What online retailers sell live rock that have a stringent quarantine process and guarantee no hitchhikers/pests? Does that exist or is it wishful thinking on my part?

 

[homer1475]

Wishful thinking.

It wouldn't be "live" rock if it was devoid of hitchhikers.

To me the term 'Live rock" has been way misused in this hobby. Live rock isn't live unless it came from the ocean, or has been in a tank with life for more then a few months. It actually has some life on it. You know some sponges, some algae, maybe an encrusting coral or bivalve here and there.

Life rock, or just cycled rock is typically what you find in an LFS these days. Bare white rock in a tub full of water. Sure it's cycled, but in no way is it "live" rock.

if you want rock that is devoid of hithikers, buy some dry rock, and just cycle it yourself.

 

[DED65]

If you want something pest free, look at Caribsea life rock or Real Reef rock. Both are dry and manmade. They are both coated and don't have the white look.

 

[mistergray]

To me the term 'Live rock" has been way misused in this hobby. Live rock isn't live unless it came from the ocean, or has been in a tank with life for more then a few months. It actually has some life on it. You know some sponges, some algae, maybe an encrusting coral or bivalve here and there.

Life rock, or just cycled rock is typically what you find in an LFS these days. Bare white rock in a tub full of water. Sure it's cycled, but in no way is it "live" rock.

if you want rock that is devoid of hithikers, buy some dry rock, and just cycle it yourself.

This may be a stupid question, but is there a way to get live rock that has positive hitchhikers and no negative hitchhikers or is that something that can’t be guaranteed? I’ve seen some websites where they quarantine their fish before selling to the public. Guess I was curious if the same existed for live rock from the ocean.

 

[homer1475]

Unfortunately nope.

Any live rock dealer(there aren't too many left) just dump dry rock in the ocean for a few months. When they get an order, they go out to their site in the ocean, pull whats needed and bag it up for delivery. So anything thats in the ocean, will be on/in the rock. Other then some gorilla crabs, or the occasional fireworm, I have yet to read a thread that used real live ocean rock have very many unwanted hitchhikers.

of course this depends on the supplier too. Some ship in water so there is no dieoff, while others just ship in wet newspaper. The latter will have more dieoff, and will more then likely kill any unwanted hitchhikers. But that is no guarantee that all or only the bad will die off.

I have heard and read a few times of swishing the rock in much higher salinity water to "shake" out the unwanted's, but have no idea if this approach actually works well or not.

 

[mistergray]

Unfortunately nope.

Any live rock dealer(there aren't too many left) just dump dry rock in the ocean for a few months. When they get an order, they go out to their site in the ocean, pull whats needed and bag it up for delivery. So anything thats in the ocean, will be on/in the rock. Other then some gorilla crabs, or the occasional fireworm, I have yet to read a thread that used real live ocean rock have very many unwanted hitchhikers.

of course this depends on the supplier too. Some ship in water so there is no dieoff, while others just ship in wet newspaper. The latter will have more dieoff, and will more then likely kill any unwanted hitchhikers. But that is no guarantee that all or only the bad will die off.

I have heard and read a few times of swishing the rock in much higher salinity water to "shake" out the unwanted's, but have no idea if this approach actually works well or not.

Ohhhhh.....sheeesh! You’re right, the term is thrown around too lightly. I thought the stores all had live live rock sitting in their tanks. Lol! I’ve been bamboozled. Lol! What are the majority of people buying? Caribsea or dry rock mostly? I purchased caribsea this past weekend at first thinking it was live rock from the ocean. The guy explained it to me, but since I am new it didn’t quite register until I bought it and went home and had time to read up on it.

Basically stated, most people aren’t purchasing true live rock from the ocean?

 

[homer1475]

Nope.

20 years ago, thats all you could find was real live ocean rock from fiji, tonga, marshal islands, etc. That stuff was everywhere. Unfortunately, the recent trend is to start with dead dry rock, because no one wants those "bad" hitchhikers. I personally feel thats 99% of the problem these days with the hobby and why quite a few people never get to experience a real live reef(there constantly battling algae from the dead rock start), and do not have the correct bacteria populations, or the micro fauna to support life.

 

[DED65]

Some LFS do cycle rock in rock only tanks, still no guarantee about what might be on , or in, the rocks. If you do use dry rock, other critters will find their way in through corals and anything else you add to the tank.

 

[homer1475]

Some LFS do cycle rock in rock only tanks, still no guarantee about what might be on , or in, the rocks. If you do use dry rock, other critters will find their way in through corals and anything else you add to the tank.

And again in my eyes this is not "live" rock, but rather just "cycled" rock with the proper bacteria for cycling a tank. Still does not have any "life" on the rock other then nitrosomonas bacteria to speed up the cycle.

 

[mistergray]

Nope.

20 years ago, thats all you could find was real live ocean rock from fiji, tonga, marshal islands, etc. That stuff was everywhere. Unfortunately, the recent trend is to start with dead dry rock, because no one wants those "bad" hitchhikers. I personally feel thats 99% of the problem these days with the hobby and why quite a few people never get to experience a real live reef(there constantly battling algae from the dead rock start), and do not have the correct bacteria populations, or the micro fauna to support life.

This is a great history lesson! Guess I’ll be happy with my somewhat accidental caribsea rock purchase.

 

[vtecintegra]

I have heard and read a few times of swishing the rock in much higher salinity water to "shake" out the unwanted's, but have no idea if this approach actually works well or not.

It definitely doesn't work for aiptasia and vermetid snails.