Real Australian Live Rock Back!!!!

[BriansBrain]

Got my order of Australian live rock on Friday and I couldn't be happier with it! Eric was awesome to work with and the rock is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks again @Eric Cohen

I just wanted a few peices to replace some rock in my cube so this is great. First time I started a tank with all dry rock and I won't be doing that again. Lol

Hi there. If you don’t mind, how many lbs is that? That’s about the amount I want to get to add to my established tank. Thanks

 

[Astronomical]

Hi there. If you don’t mind, how many lbs is that? That’s about the amount I want to get to add to my established tank. Thanks

Just 5 lbs, it's light rock so it goes a long way.

As a bonus that ball of favia or favites coral in the picture turned out to still be alive. It has been coloring up a nice dark purple.

 

[ol1v3]

NEW SHIPMENT ALERT!!!! 300 lbs just tanked and ready to be shipped or reserved. This is mostly Decorative style. Get it while it’s hot!!!
This is not a wysiwyg but I can try to pick similar pieces to your choices. You can give me photo examples but it’s honestly too hard to search thru for exact pieces. I always

Do I still need to cure the rock if I am able to purchase the rock in person? I live only 30 minutes away from your business place and the rock wouldn't be away from a tank for longer than an hour.

 

[slingfox]

Here are the Australian live rocks in my system after 3 months. The scape got covered in coraline after 6-8 weeks which is record time for me. Last night I spent 4 hours redoing the structure on the far right. Since most of the scape is stacked rather than glued, the scape can be adjusted easily.

My parameters have been stable and I have pretty much no nuisance algae or uglies.

 

[ol1v3]

Here are the Australian live rocks in my system after 3 months. The scape got covered in coraline after 6-8 weeks which is record time for me. Last night I spent 4 hours redoing the structure on the far right. Since most of the scape is stacked rather than glued, the scape can be adjusted easily.

My parameters have been stable and I have pretty much no nuisance algae or uglies.

Your tank looks so good !! How many pounds of rock is that?

 

[slingfox]

Your tank looks so good !! How many pounds of rock is that?

I ordered 30 pounds. About 27-28 pounds made it into the display. Some small pieces ended up breaking off during shipping and I put that rubble into the sump. I weighed the rubble and noted it down in a prior post—I just can’t remember the exact figure. I glued some small pieces together to make larger pieces since I needed to fill out some areas in the display. I used flat Marko rock as a base which the Australian Reef rock sits on top of. This provides one extra inch of elevation all around. This is a 5 ft tank.

 

[ol1v3]

I ordered 30 pounds. About 27-28 pounds made it into the display. Some small pieces ended up breaking off during shipping and I put that rubble into the sump. I weighed the rubble and noted it down in a prior post—I just can’t remember the exact figure. I glued some small pieces together to make larger pieces since I needed to fill out some areas in the display. I used flat Marko rock as a base which the Australian Reef rock sits on top of. This provides one extra inch of elevation all around. This is a 5 ft tank.

That's only 30 pounds??? The weight to volume ratio is crazy !!! Going by that logic, I might only need 10-15 pounds of it for my 30g tank that I'm going to be setting up.

Edit: One more thing, did you buy the decorative live rock or the premium?

 

[slingfox]

That's only 30 pounds??? The weight to volume ratio is crazy !!! Going by that logic, I might only need 10-15 pounds of it for my 30g tank that I'm going to be setting up.

I have three large structures in my tank. The average weight of those is 9-10 pounds. If you bought 15 pounds you would have more to work with and potentially build a taller scape. I don’t mind the 10 pound structures since it provides a lot of room for coral growth.

If I had infinite money then it would have been nice to build taller structures but that would also be more challenging to do. The structure on the right took me 2.5 hours to redo yesterday since it takes time to tweak, stack, glue some portions, break apart , readjust, etc. If I had to build it 20% taller that might be twice as hard and/or I would need to rely on using more glue and epoxy. This would not be an issue with fresh live rock but I was scaping yesterday with rocks that had SPS growing on it

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

Do I still need to cure the rock if I am able to purchase the rock in person? I live only 30 minutes away from your business place and the rock wouldn't be away from a tank for longer than an hour.

Hey there! No need to cure the rock again. Yes you can meet me down by lax to pick the rock with me. I have an order I need to pack Monday so will be there around noon. Anytime after that time is fine! I’m also there every day thru Thursday. Let me know and if you could give me an idea of how much rock I would appreciate it.

 

[ol1v3]

Hey there! No need to cure the rock again. Yes you can meet me down by lax to pick the rock with me. I have an order I need to pack Monday so will be there around noon. Anytime after that time is fine! I’m also there every day thru Thursday. Slept me know and if you could give me an idea of how much rock I would appreciate it.

Thanks for the reply !

I am visiting family and friends up in Canada at the moment and I won't be back in California until atleast January. Also, is the decorative rock or the premium better for cycling a tank? I was thinking about cycling the tank with 10 pounds of decorative rock and then adding in 5 pounds of premium rock once it's cycled. (If it matters I will be setting up a 30g tank)

 

[slingfox]

More top down views of the scape structures. It would have been ideal to have 40 pounds rather than 30 pounds but I needed to save some budget to buy coral .

I would say that the Australian Live Rock is the single best purchase I have made for the tank. Very few uglies to deal with, coraline grew in at record pace, and tank is super stable now at 0.05 ppm phosphate and 0.5 ppm nitrate (too low, but better to start low then increase feeding or dose).

 

[ol1v3]

More top down views of the scape structures. It would have been ideal to have 40 pounds rather than 30 pounds but I needed to save some budget to buy coral .

I would say that the Australian Live Rock is the single best purchase I have made for the tank. Very few uglies to deal with, coraline grew in at record pace, and tank is super stable now at 0.05 ppm phosphate and 0.5 ppm nitrate (too low, but better to start low then increase feeding or dose).

Question, did you buy the premium or decorative live rock?

 

[slingfox]

Question, did you buy the premium or decorative live rock?

I bought the decorative rock.

 

[hatfielj]

Do I still need to cure the rock if I am able to purchase the rock in person? I live only 30 minutes away from your business place and the rock wouldn't be away from a tank for longer than an hour.

Keep in mind that even if this rock is super fresh straight from Australia, there will still be some die off of the stuff on the rock. The rock is flown on an airplane in a box without water. So, even though most of it will still be very alive, you will get some die off, especially the coralline algae. All the beneficial bacteria and such will eventually come back and flourish, but you can't expect rock like this to have zero die off after such a trip.
If you add it to an established tank, it will cause at least a slight cycle with maybe some diatom blooms, etc. The degree to which this occurs will depend on how long the rock was out of the water after leaving the reef where it's harvested.
I've bought Aussie rock several times now and it generally looks amazing when you first open the box, but within a couple of weeks it's pure white in the tank. It can take months for the original colors to come back, but they do eventually come back. It's beautiful rock though.

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

Keep in mind that even if this rock is super fresh straight from Australia, there will still be some die off of the stuff on the rock. The rock is flown on an airplane in a box without water. So, even though most of it will still be very alive, you will get some die off, especially the coralline algae. All the beneficial bacteria and such will eventually come back and flourish, but you can't expect rock like this to have zero die off after such a trip.
If you add it to an established tank, it will cause at least a slight cycle with maybe some diatom blooms, etc. The degree to which this occurs will depend on how long the rock was out of the water after leaving the reef where it's harvested.
I've bought Aussie rock several times now and it generally looks amazing when you first open the box, but within a couple of weeks it's pure white in the tank. It can take months for the original colors to come back, but they do eventually come back. It's beautiful rock though.

Thank you again for your purchase. I really appreciate the support and you posting your amazing structure and Aquarium. I would like to say regarding the day off that when I receive the rock after being flown in overnight from Australia, I put it directly into a very large holding system with 2000 or 3000 pounds of cured Rock keeping the water quality vary good quality which will keep the curing process and die off to a minimum. When you cure yourself it’s hard for anyone to keep the water quality in good condition which causes much of the life on the rock to die. It’s true that there will be some die off, but it’s better to let me cure it in my system where the water quality stays good during the process. I have also had customers send me progress reports of how fast the Coraline algae grows especially on MARKO rock that is pure white within days of putting the Australian Live Rock next to the Marco rock customers can see purple spots starting to grow on the white Marco rock. I have one customer in particular that has sent me many updates over 2 to 3 months and it’s pretty amazing to see how fast the Coraline can spread. Am glad you are enjoying your aquarium truly looks amazing.

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

Thanks for the reply !

I am visiting family and friends up in Canada at the moment and I won't be back in California until atleast January. Also, is the decorative rock or the premium better for cycling a tank? I was thinking about cycling the tank with 10 pounds of decorative rock and then adding in 5 pounds of premium rock once it's cycled. (If it matters I will be setting up a 30g tank)

Neither style is better than the other for cycling, but the decorative is more porous and lighter in style in regards to volume. So the decorative will give you more volume per pound. It just depends on your needs. If you want to build the structure using Australian rock then the premium is a better choice, but to top off or cover white bass rock that you could buy inexpensive pricing than the decorative works really well for that. It is also really good for building arches if you are savvy with glue.

 

[ol1v3]

Neither style is better than the other for cycling, but the decorative is more porous and lighter in style in regards to volume. So the decorative will give you more volume per pound. It just depends on your needs. If you want to build the structure using Australian rock then the premium is a better choice, but to top off or cover white bass rock that you could buy inexpensive pricing than the decorative works really well for that. It is also really good for building arches if you are savvy with glue.

This is the answer I was looking for.
In that case, I'll get me some decorative rock once I am back in L.A. Yes its expensive but I want my very first reef tank to be as beautiful and as stable as possible and I feel like your rock will do the trick.

 

[Eric Cohen Verified Sponsor]

This is the answer I was looking for.
In that case, I'll get me some decorative rock once I am back in L.A. Yes its expensive but I want my very first reef tank to be as beautiful and as stable as possible and I feel like your rock will do the trick.

I am pretty close to selling out of this last batch. After shipping on Monday I’ll know more. Keep you posted!

 

[fishface NJ]

@Eric Cohen Is the decorative rock shipped to a home address or only to the airport? If shipped to a home address, is it next day or two day delivery? Thank you

 

[KrisReef]

I am pretty close to selling out of this last batch. After shipping on Monday I’ll know more. Keep you posted!

Yes please, keep us updated especially when the new shipment comes in from Australia. I need an excuse to get off the couch and make the pilgrimage from here to Rockico and celebrate the Reef Hajj in LA.