Would you purchase live rock on Craigslist?

[dodgerblew]

I agree with above poster, go and see it. Make a decision when you get there. I think if you have at least 6-7 yrs experience in the hobby which you mentioned you can trust your gut feeling

 

[Ghxst]

Just throw a hot dog in the tank first to make sure there are no bobbit worms in there. Or look up bobbit worm on google and quit the hobby before you start JK, but seriously watch out for bobbit worms, they are real.

 

[kenniole]

i would personally start with dry rock . once you get something bad in your tank you might not ever be able to take it out.

 

[Steved350]

Be careful buying rock off craigslist

 

[Jc0187]

Wanted to post an update. Yesterday I went to a reputable salt water aquarium store and purchased cured live rock for $5/lbs. it's not purple stuff, but i did find some great pieces. I decided it wasn't worth the risk to save a few bucks.

 

[Jc0187]

Just throw a hot dog in the tank first to make sure there are no bobbit worms in there. Or look up bobbit worm on google and quit the hobby before you start JK, but seriously watch out for bobbit worms, they are real.

Welp. Thanks man. I'm NEVER going in the ocean. Ever again. Lol

 

[Big G]

Wanted to post an update. Yesterday I went to a reputable salt water aquarium store and purchased cured live rock for $5/lbs. it's not purple stuff, but i did find some great pieces. I decided it wasn't worth the risk to save a few bucks.

Best of luck! Enjoy the build!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I paid $6/lb for cured live rock. That's a good deal.

 

[reefguyty]

I bought a lot of dry reef rock off Cl for $2 a pound. I was having a whole lot of cyano problems and it turns out the rocks were dumping mega amounts of phosphates into my tank. As a beginner it almost made me quit the hobby.

I'm not trying to discourage you but I would proceed with caution

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I bought a lot of dry reef rock off Cl for $2 a pound. I was having a whole lot of cyano problems and it turns out the rocks were dumping mega amounts of phosphates into my tank. As a beginner it almost made me quit the hobby.

I'm not trying to discourage you but I would proceed with caution

Now you know you can just use muriatic acid to fix that.

 

[Forsaken77]

Hello all. Just about to get my tank up and running. Got my rodi system installed and it should be completely filled by tomorrow morning. So I was perusing Craigslist earlier today and came across a very small salt water aquarium supply store that basically operates off Craigslist. This individual basically sells live sand and live rock at a much cheaper price than going to one of those aquarium stores. He offers standard live rock at $3/lbs and $4/lbs for the purple live rocks.

I'm just curious if it is the norm to always purchase live rock from a reputable seller or if I am taking a huge risk by buying from this guy. He's got adds plastered all over Craigslist. Would you buy from him?

You also have to find out what type of rock it is. Fiji is generally the most expensive, Pukani gives you the most porosity and is lightweight. Then there's base rock, which is like foundation rock with almost no porosity, so it will help very little biologically. It could be man made rock that he seeded in bacteria.

Craigslist is like Russian Roulette. You could get something perfectly fine, or it could be phosphate locked and you'll have constant algae problems. If you don't know the seller and their quality I would pass.

 

[reefguyty]

Now you know you can just use muriatic acid to fix that.

Haha that is what I used! I gave the rocks a nice bath. Next time I'm making sure there are no little holes in the gloves when I go to get the rocks out!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Haha that is what I used! I gave the rocks a nice bath. Next time I'm making sure there is no little holes in the gloves when I go to get the rocks out!

Ouch.