Live Rock

[Nokiaec11]

For longest no one has stocked Tonga branch rock or Bali rock online or local; this is some of the best and can be a difference in a nice looking tank and one that pops...I have reasearhed and found that there was a ban on harvesting coral and rock from the area around Fiji....not mention other areas. My local LFS said they could order it, but only by the pallet. Aquarium Creations online list the rock as in stock, but many have reported issues with them. Is anyone aware of the ban and have any information on when or if the ban will be lifted?

 

[Brad Miller]

Ban wil like be permanent, there are man made ones replicating them online from what I was looking at about 2 weeks ago

 

[Ashish Patel]

It sucks but if you really want natural rock aquarium specialist has haitian rock that they have shipped directly from wholesaler.
when I setup my larger system the last thing I want is worrying about finding the right rock so i've been searching and purchasing as much tonga, fiji, haitian and pukani as I can. This is just some of it but i have about 200LB

 

[Ashish Patel]

IMO using 100% man-made stuff has its pros and cons that should be addressed.. I have some real reef tonga and some caribsea shapes - which I absolutely love, however, it has no porosity - It will literally dry up within 10 minutes so its no better than cement. The real tonga or fiji or any other natural rock including Marco will take days to fully dry. If i am not mistaken the inside of the rock is where nitrifying bacteria lives and if there is no porosity then what good is the rock really? If I had no choose id go with Marco as base and some mad made stuff to make it interesting.

 

[Nokiaec11]

This may sound hard to believe, but if you take a piece of real tonga branch from fiji as an exsmple...that has been in water for a very very long time and break it, you will notice the rock is moist on the inside through...that is calcium carbonate that has built up over time, and acts as sort of a sponge, thats how it gets the odd shapes over time before breaking off. Even when that rock has been out of water for days it will still have that ocean aroma, because the rock is still wet inside. But of course if it has been out of water for days, do not place it directly in your tank...there is reason they pack that rock straight from the gulf/storage chambers as they do when shipping...if you are able to buy that rock that is cured or straight out the gulf locally make sure they wrap it in news paper and wet the paper.