most trusted or cleanest live rock you have bought?

[Bakedpwn]

I usually use dry rock and sand to keep things clean even though it takes longer but i want to setup a tank fast. I am paranoid of pest hitchhikers and in a new city without a trusted LFS. There are stores i just am not sure i trust the rock to be cleanish.
So where have you bought live rock online and had good success?

 

[mudkip]

Probably use dry rock and get a few pieces of live rocks from friends with good tanks

 

[RedoubtReef]

I bought Australian live rock from Tankstop / @Eric Cohen . He will schedule a zoom meeting for you so you can see and pick out what you want. The rock has great color, sponges, a few fan worms etc..
I did have some aptasia on the rock but I've managed to eradicate most with berghia and recently added peppermint shrimp. I would QT if adding to an existing system but overall I'd do it again if I needed live rock.

You can see the rock I got in my My Tank Thread link.

 

[fishface NJ]

kp aquatics

 

[piranhaman00]

lol this is sort of funny.

If it’s true it’s ocean liverock then you roll the dice. No one controls the ocean

 

[Bakedpwn]

Probably use dry rock and get a few pieces of live rocks from friends with good tanks

i got no friends with tanks but my old LFS in FL may be willing to ship, no hurt in asking right

 

[Bakedpwn]

lol this is sort of funny.

If it’s true it’s ocean liverock then you roll the dice. No one controls the ocean

doesnt need to be from ocean for me. long matured rock thats least pest inhabited is all.

 

[Bakedpwn]

I bought Australian live rock from Tankstop / @Eric Cohen . He will schedule a zoom meeting for you so you can see and pick out what you want. The rock has great color, sponges, a few fan worms etc..
I did have some aptasia on the rock but I've managed to eradicate most with berghia and recently added peppermint shrimp. I would QT if adding to an existing system but overall I'd do it again if I needed live rock.

You can see the rock I got in my My Tank Thread link.

ill check it out! im starting a fresh tank or two

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I trust all of it.

I haven’t rinsed off…much less cured…a piece of live rock in almost 30 years. Straight out of the box and into the tank.

Same with maricultured rock.

Also, I’m not advising it. Just throwing it out there as another example of how it can be done.

 

[wattson]

if you were closer to western Pa , I have about 100lbs. of super clean live rock that has been below my rack in the dark ,no pest and no algea what so ever...Actually for sale right now since Im downsizing drastically .

 

[Bakedpwn]

if you were closer to western Pa , I have about 100lbs. of super clean live rock that has been below my rack in the dark ,no pest and no algea what so ever...Actually for sale right now since Im downsizing drastically .

dang yea thats what i mean. someone that purposely cultured some live rock as clean as they could

 

[wattson]

I have a about 90-100lbs. of medium sized pieces live rock that has to go ,plus another roughly 40-50lbs. of medium to small live rock too. Nothing below 3-4" , I kept this all below in my rack since I didnt want any rock in my frag tanks . super clean and pest free, wish someone local would buy it to set up thier tank correctly, Im selling it for a more than fair price..wish you luck in your search for clean live rock.

 

[wakejumper22]

I just got an order from gulf live rock and it’s awesome.. sponges, gorgonians, macro algae.. had some die off for about a week but has since cleared up. Had like two aipatasia, no big deal though.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I purchased TBSW live rock and sand on my last build. I will never go back to dry. I have a thriving reef in less than 6 months. I added coral including acro in the first week or two.

 

[Tired]

You don't want clean. Clean would be dry rock. You want dirty with good stuff- and that includes algae.

A small order from a place like Tampa Bay would probably be a good way to go. Put it in a separate tank (or in the main tank, with no other rock or sand) and inspect closely for pests at night, remove any you see. Once confident you've gotten the concerning stuff, add it and some dry rock to your full tank, and it'll seed the dry rock all nicely.

 

[Doctorgori]

you can make “ wild” rock work..

I’ve got gulf rock a few times, my advice is to put it over a bare bottom and inspect ….
eventually stuff falls off or migrates to the shady underside…

I’ve tossed dozens. crabs, fireworms, isopods, et …also was able to score mantis and spaghetti worms…et

 

[Sabellafella]

I usually use dry rock and sand to keep things clean even though it takes longer but i want to setup a tank fast. I am paranoid of pest hitchhikers and in a new city without a trusted LFS. There are stores i just am not sure i trust the rock to be cleanish.
So where have you bought live rock online and had good success?

Jakarta live rock. I setup a 300 gallon reef savvy and a 200 gallon flat with this stuff.

Was able to stock both tanks to the max without a single issue in less then a month, with the addition to kalkwasser coralline algae covered everything in less then 2 months time.

If your worried about pest, cure it in the dark for two months with a small handful of sea urchins. They clean nearly every dead sponge or hydroid off the rock.

Moving forward I don't think I would ever use just dry rock again. Even half and half works incredible, just needs to be cured properly.

 

[Tired]

I'm a bit skeptical of curing live rock in the dark. First of all, you don't want to cure it- you want to do a lot of water changes on it so there's minimal ammonia and therefore minimal impact on the stuff that came in. You also do actually want that algae, and the pests that people are usually worried about (fireworms, mantis shrimp, crabs) don't care about darkness anyway. I know the "stick it in a tub in the dark and see what comes out later" technique is popular, but a gentler approach might work best a lot of the time.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Best Live Rock, I got basically came off the Boat, into my Buckets. Battery Operated Air Pump, drove back home from a Florida Vacation. Still have that Rock over 20 years later, still amazed at the growth. I had a Few Crabs, Long Spine and Rock Boring Urchins and a bunch of tiny Orange Starfish that stayed on the glass, till they eventually died off.

 

[Tired]

Pretty sure that's no longer legal. Which is a shame- it'd be a great way to get some really good stuff.