Favorite Live Rock: Fiji, Pukani, Tonga, Gulf, Artificial, Aquacultured or Other?

What is your favorite type of live rock?

  • Fiji Live Rock

    Votes: 93 23.3%
  • Tonga Branch Live Rock

    Votes: 49 12.3%
  • Pukani Live Rock

    Votes: 91 22.8%
  • Gulf Live Rock

    Votes: 26 6.5%
  • Artificial (man-made or synthetic) Live Rock

    Votes: 69 17.3%
  • Aquacultured Live Rock

    Votes: 46 11.5%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 26 6.5%

  • Total voters
    400

Dana Riddle

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
3,162
Reaction score
7,606
Location
Dallas, Georgia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Aquacultured live rock from the Florida Keys. Ships overnight to my front door. Coralline algae species, spaghetti worms, feather dusters, sponges, etc. all survive the trip and make a full-spectrum biotope.
 

ThRoewer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Messages
1,251
Reaction score
1,944
Location
Fremont, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I prefer real live rock (coral/coralline rock from the ocean), ideally as harvested with everything alive on it. Nothing beats that. Unfortunately, it isn't available anymore.
The manmade or fossilized rock is fine as underfill or base-rock for a coral tank where it will be overgrown with corals, but for a primary fish tank without heavy coral growth, that type of rock is a very poor substitute.
 

ClownWrangler

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
680
Reaction score
646
Location
Tacoma, WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I bought a BTA from my local coral shop. The guy just pealed it off the live rock like it was nothing. I've seen the rock countless times, but didn't know it was made of plastic until he told me.
 

ClownWrangler

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 2, 2020
Messages
680
Reaction score
646
Location
Tacoma, WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Years ago when you could actually buy real live rock, I would have said marshall island, but since actual live rock is no longer available, Pukani by far for me. Less dense, has a ton of holes, and is easy to chisel away for aquascaping. Unfortunately you can't buy live pukani anymore.

Not true. Plenty of places sell live rock. They are usually sold as zoa colonies attached to a live rock. They sell them on LA. My LFS also also has Fiji collected live rock on hand. I don't know if its true Fiji rock, but its definitely reef rock as there are skeletons mixed in. However I personally think its a bad practice to remove large amounts of reef rock from reefs. Coral can be harvested sustainably, but reef rock not so much.

I think a good approach is to use artificial rock to fill in the background and add a few pieces of real live rock towards the front.
 
Last edited:

Koigula

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
450
Reaction score
321
Location
Charlotte. NC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Has anyone ever added 20 lbs or say 40lbs of Mariculture live rock from florida keys right to there established tank if live rock was shipped in water? It sound risky but curious.

I am having what I perceive as just OK results with tons of cured live rock and considering doing something like this. Saw plenty of videos from advanced aquarist describing poor or failed tanks were dry rock failed to estiblished filtration well for a reef tank. I struggle myself to keep nutrients down with modest feeding and a refugium filled with chaeto.

Results now hover at 1.11 to 0.15 phosphate and 10 ppm nitrate. Algae is non existant and coraline grow well. N:p ratio. Alkalinity is steadily increasing every week however.
 

bdare

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 28, 2015
Messages
574
Reaction score
291
Location
Rockwall, TX
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Pukani - hands down. I've used the others. Pukani is light, porus and has amazing shapes. Fiji is too dense and doesn't have the pores for the anerobic bacteria like pukani.
 

Salt_Creep

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2019
Messages
91
Reaction score
100
Location
Minnesota
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have seen great results with each of these listed, but if I had a choice it would be live Marshall and Tonga. Most unique in my opinion. I am all for no longer harvesting the live from from the oceans/reefs, but it would be great if someone started putting tons of the "Man Made" stuff out in the ocean and then sold it as live. The man made stuff is great for not destroying habitats and is easy to scape, but it really sucks when starting a new system dead IMO.
 

Coral-vault

DFW's Premier Aquatics Dealer
View Badges
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
913
Reaction score
980
Location
Fort Worth
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The new CornerStone Reef Rock!!!! Amazing stuff brand new to the market
 

lba4590

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 14, 2020
Messages
325
Reaction score
248
Location
NC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have a mix of pukani, Tonga, and a few pieces of man made. The pukani is my favorite - super porous, easy to break apart, beautiful shapes. I love the tonga branch too but pukani is the winner for me.
 

N1Husker

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
194
Reaction score
71
Location
Olalla, Washington
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I don’t go with any type of rock, just what looks good to me. I have so many corals, you can’t see most of my rock anyway.
D8D4D9FC-0687-4F4C-9857-45B8D3E0B57F.jpeg
 

jrb1021

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
35
Reaction score
33
Location
Pennsylvania
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Mine is currently all pukani. About to embark on a major re-aquascaping--the pukani is staying, but will be adding another forty or so pounds of something in two weeks. I've got someone working with me, so not sure what exactly it's going to be, but I'm sure it's gonna be great.
 

gray808

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
263
Reaction score
164
Location
Seattle & Ashland, OR
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have Macro (Marco?) rock. I wanted pukani, but couldn't find it.

Do those of you who have pukani just have it left from the beforetimes, or does it sometime surface for purchase somewhere?

--Gray
 

LPS Bum

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 22, 2021
Messages
570
Reaction score
828
Location
Colorado
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Fiji all the way. But since you can't get it anymore, here's what I'd do...

I'd find a nice piece or two from a healthy aquarium (either a local fish store or a fellow hobbyist), buy it (overpay for it if you have to), and use it to seed the artificial rock in your new tank. Same thing with the sand bed.
 

Goaway

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 17, 2020
Messages
16,127
Reaction score
55,315
Location
Illinios
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
I said other, I never had the fortunes to have other live rock. It was usually out of stock or no longer being sold.
I do have live rock from KP aquatics. I feel like I should try to find another variety.
 

Lovefish77

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 13, 2020
Messages
951
Reaction score
341
Location
Bloomfield, NJ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The best rock is the one that is
1. Most appealing in shapes like shelves
2. Easy to drill
3. Workable in terms of using epoxy-ing
I choose rocks based on shapes no specific preference to one type over another really.
 

kaceyo

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
261
Reaction score
143
Location
Seattle
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Now...it's gotta be maricultured live rock. It's the only stuff I know of that still comes out of the ocean, and therefor has wide variety of natural micro and macro life which is, imo, a major benefit when it comes to the the tanks cycling into an ecosystem.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.5%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.2%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top