Struggling to find quality live rock

[Magnapinna]

I've been fighting a losing battle against both small cell and large cell amphidinium in my 10 gal FOWLR, and I'm ready to do a bit of a reset because it's clear these things aren't going away. My goal isn't to eliminate them completely, I don't think that's realistic, but I don't have the biodiversity to stave them off. Nothing can get a foothold over them now. My microscope samples pretty much exclusively consist of dinos, hundreds of them if not thousands. Total infestation. Not even other pest algae will grow.

Problem is, I can't find good live rock at a realistic quantity to refresh the tank with—I think these dinos are slow enough growers that I can get away with seeding the rock I already have, so I'd rather not have to buy 20 lbs worth of rock. Every LFS I've been to sells what they call "live rock" but it's really just pest-ridden concrete garbage that would make my problems worse.

Can anyone enlighten me on Tampa Bay Saltwater? Thinking of ordering from them but they seem to have a minimum order weight which I don't love, and the air freight sounds inconvenient too. Or if anyone knows any LFS in the southeast US that happen to consistently sell good live rock, especially in the Atlanta area, I'm willing to make a day trip out of it.

 

[Sam7]

Kp Aquatics often has live rock in smaller quanties...you might check them out

 

[slingfox]

You could look into getting ocean sand or rubble if you don’t want to go the ocean live rock route.

 

[Jamie9]

I've been fighting a losing battle against both small cell and large cell amphidinium in my 10 gal FOWLR, and I'm ready to do a bit of a reset because it's clear these things aren't going away. My goal isn't to eliminate them completely, I don't think that's realistic, but I don't have the biodiversity to stave them off. Nothing can get a foothold over them now. My microscope samples pretty much exclusively consist of dinos, hundreds of them if not thousands. Total infestation. Not even other pest algae will grow.

Problem is, I can't find good live rock at a realistic quantity to refresh the tank with—I think these dinos are slow enough growers that I can get away with seeding the rock I already have, so I'd rather not have to buy 20 lbs worth of rock. Every LFS I've been to sells what they call "live rock" but it's really just pest-ridden concrete garbage that would make my problems worse.

Can anyone enlighten me on Tampa Bay Saltwater? Thinking of ordering from them but they seem to have a minimum order weight which I don't love, and the air freight sounds inconvenient too. Or if anyone knows any LFS in the southeast US that happen to consistently sell good live rock, especially in the Atlanta area, I'm willing to make a day trip out of it.

I got their 5 pound box of premium nano rock...sounds like exactly what you are looking for:

https://tbsaltwater.com/products/box-of-rox-5-pounds-premium-live-rock
I can't say enough good things about what I got. I selected the option where they did a pass through to remove unwanted hitch hikers. Certainly that's no guarantee, but the only "bad" hitchhiker I've found so far was a single whelk snail. And there's been all kinds of good stuff...coral, sponge, brittle stars, feather dusters, barnacles, macro algae and more (and when the uglies hit they didn't touch the rock).

Oh, and these "treasure chests" ship to you via UPS.

 

[billyocean]

Could try GLR. Says out right now but you could email and check.

Price List https://share.google/BtVEMOEeRLctWl7Kr

 

[Magnapinna]

I got their 5 pound box of premium nano rock...sounds like exactly what you are looking for:

https://tbsaltwater.com/products/box-of-rox-5-pounds-premium-live-rock
I can't say enough good things about what I got. I selected the option where they did a pass through to remove unwanted hitch hikers. Certainly that's no guarantee, but the only "bad" hitchhiker I've found so far was a single whelk snail. And there's been all kinds of good stuff...coral, sponge, brittle stars, feather dusters, barnacles, macro algae and more (and when the uglies hit they didn't touch the rock).

Oh, and these "treasure chests" ship to you via UPS.

Oh wow, thank you so much! You're right, that does look perfect. I didn't even see that listing on their website.

Direct shipping is great too. I'm assuming they insulate their shipments well, right? Getting stuff shipped to me never seems to go smoothly, lol, so I'm a little extra nervous about having it shipped in the cooler weather

 

[Jamie9]

Oh wow, thank you so much! You're right, that does look perfect. I didn't even see that listing on their website.

Direct shipping is great too. I'm assuming they insulate their shipments well, right? Getting stuff shipped to me never seems to go smoothly, lol, so I'm a little extra nervous about having it shipped in the cooler weather

I didn’t get any photos of the packaging, but everything was good. It wasn’t super cold when I got mine, but I would presume they are used to shipping year round. Most online retailers pack in a cooler with some heat packs this time of year.

 

[Michael71]

Pacific east aquaculture also sells live rock.

 

[jabberwock]

Look at TBS's Treasure Chests. I like this one. https://tbsaltwater.com/products/jar-package

I have used their Premium rock before with FANTASTIC results. Highly recommend them and their products. You can even email them and start a dialog about what you want.

 

[427HISS]

Heck yeah !
Plans have changed, I'll be buying some for my new 210g and 93g rimless tanks !

 

[56longroof]

Tampa Bay or Kp Aquatics. I'd reccomend some live sand too.

 

[Zone1090]

I've been fighting a losing battle against both small cell and large cell amphidinium in my 10 gal FOWLR, and I'm ready to do a bit of a reset because it's clear these things aren't going away. My goal isn't to eliminate them completely, I don't think that's realistic, but I don't have the biodiversity to stave them off. Nothing can get a foothold over them now. My microscope samples pretty much exclusively consist of dinos, hundreds of them if not thousands. Total infestation. Not even other pest algae will grow.

Problem is, I can't find good live rock at a realistic quantity to refresh the tank with—I think these dinos are slow enough growers that I can get away with seeding the rock I already have, so I'd rather not have to buy 20 lbs worth of rock. Every LFS I've been to sells what they call "live rock" but it's really just pest-ridden concrete garbage that would make my problems worse.

Can anyone enlighten me on Tampa Bay Saltwater? Thinking of ordering from them but they seem to have a minimum order weight which I don't love, and the air freight sounds inconvenient too. Or if anyone knows any LFS in the southeast US that happen to consistently sell good live rock, especially in the Atlanta area, I'm willing to make a day trip out of it.

Pacificeastaquaculture.com has it. I cycled my tank in one week!

 

[BryanM]

I used Gulf Live Rock and am extremely happy.

 

[James Franco]

I ordered some from https://staubaquafarm.com/ and was pretty happy with it.

 

[steveschuerger]

I’ve used all three major ones (TBS, KP, GLR) and liked them all. Right now I started my 25 with KP base rock and Gulf Live primo rock