Maricultured live rock recommendations?

malfist

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Hi All,

Wanting to introduce more biodiveristy to my old aquarium. I got an aquabiomics test back and it showed a very low biodeversity in my tank.

I believe the proper fix for this is live rock that's been maricultured like from Gulf Live Rock or KP Aquatics. I was wonder what everyone's experience was if they've bought some and if there's a general recommendation/warning for a vendor.

For vendors that offer air freight, do you think it's worth it vs overnight shipping? It seems very expensive
 

Jekyl

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Gulfliverock.com, kp, rock and reef are the top ones. Never seen any negative reviews from any. Air freight is always recommended to have the least die off.
 

Subsea

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How much diver collected rock are you looking for?

Next day air freight cost about $80 for first 100 pounds and $40 for every 100 pounds after. When I aquacultured live rock in greenhouse, I would buy 200 pounds at a time. I was like a kid at Christmas as I opened boxes.

Recently, on this forum a 17 lb nano package was bought with free shipping. I will link the thread so you can see what available with free 2 day shipping.

 

JoJosReef

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I got Tampa Bay Saltwater for my 2 nanos. Let's take a look at the two:

One was a 3 month old tank originally set up with CaribSea LifeRock and LiveSand, overrun with GHA, had diatoms and short run with dinos. After replacing half of the rocks with gulf rocks and adding more snails, GHA receded almost completely over a month with minimal intervention on my part, none took hold on the gulf rocks.

Second tank was brand new with only gulf rock and gulf sand. Going on 3 months now and yet to have an algae outbreak (although I do have some bubble algae on a couple of frag plugs).

Lots of ways to think about gulf rock. If biodiversity is the only goal, you can get the rocks shipped non-air freight and just let it cure a bit. If you're interested in the other forms of life, like sponges, corals and fans, then air freight in water is surest bet. If you don't want worms, crabs, shrimp, or nudibranches, you can do a high salinity dip, but might lose other life. Or QT the rocks to try to get pests off. Or, if you just want a piece of ocean, put the rocks right in :)

In all cases you get a major biodiversity boost!
 

Subsea

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Kudos to jojo post.

I started this 55G tank with diver collected live sand and live rock 11 months ago. Some of the live rock went into 75G twenty five year mature tank.

image.jpg image.jpg
 
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