Tonga branch premium live rock is still available

[Will Wohlers]

Now that I have everyone's attention lol

I know there's still a good few of us stick heads that are willing to pay out the butt for real Tonga branch. Any of you guys ever consider purchasing coral colonies from live aquaria that come in attached to premium Tonga branch live rock? I have considered it many times and occasionally there's some really nice pieces available and if you catch liveaquaria on a sale these pieces can be had for relatively cheap for what they are. I would of course scrape all the soft corals off and either attempt to sell or trade them to locals or Lfs to recoup some of the expense. I have seen numerous pieces that have multiple branches that are anywhere from 5-10" or more. Seems like a decent way to get a few pieces to finish a scape, maybe not economically worth it to scape a new tank.

Here's a piece off the first page but there's lots more.

Thoughts?

 

[delv2323]

So...roughly $80 a pound then? Between 3 and 10 thousand for live rock on a small system...

 

[Will Wohlers]

You can catch their sales and easily get 25% off and customer rewards points get it even lower. Like I said not economically feasible on a large scale but for a few finishing pieces definitely. That's not taking into consideration the money made back by selling the mushrooms or zoe's.

Your figure is a little off though. A nice 5" multibranch piece is easily a pound.

 

[George81]

Back in the early 2000s i bought some Tonga branch rock....is it that expensive now? I paid somewhere around 8.99 lb. now I feel bad for throwing those pieces in my sump and not really utilizing them. I kept one in my current display. But it’s just buried under other rock

 

[EMeyer]

I've found zoa rocks at wholesalers that I bought for exactly this reason Sometimes there are great branches available, and since they treated it well enough to keep the zoas alive I expect the microbial community is too. Certainly some great coralline this way if nothing else.

 

[EMeyer]

Back in the early 2000s i bought some Tonga branch rock....is it that expensive now? I paid somewhere around 8.99 lb. now I feel bad for throwing those pieces in my sump and not really utilizing them. I kept one in my current display. But it’s just buried under other rock

Real reef rocks of any kind (that is, actual coral skeletons rather than man-made or mined limestone) are very hard to come by these days... they arent even stocked by most of the bigger reef suppliers any more. Its kinda nuts.

 

[Will Wohlers]

I've found zoa rocks at wholesalers that I bought for exactly this reason Sometimes there are great branches available, and since they treated it well enough to keep the zoas alive I expect the microbial community is too. Certainly some great coralline this way if nothing else.

Real reef rocks of any kind (that is, actual coral skeletons rather than man-made or mined limestone) are very hard to come by these days... they arent even stocked by most of the bigger reef suppliers any more. Its kinda nuts.

That's another thing I was thinking. Because it has coral on it I would bet it was treated and shipped better then wet paper wrapped live rock, helping to sustain the diversity on it.

And yea real live rock is a thing of the past unfortunately unless you go through a company like TBS that cultures rock in the Atlantic, it's almost non existant now.

And yes real Tonga branch now is insanely expensive. Nice pieces that are just dry rock now sells for 12-15+ a pound, that is if you find it anyway.

 

[Reefman71]

I got this from premium aquatics, it looks exactly like Tonga. I have a few pieces of real Tonga and can’t tell the difference. I just checked and they don’t carry it anymore? It was like $15 per pound and came in pieces. Like 3 or 4 long rocks

 

[Will Wohlers]

Yea that's some nice rock. Probably as nice as any man made Tonga branch I've seen. You're correct the only thing that is readily available anymore is real reef Tonga and it's total crap compared to the real thing. There's a couple of other smaller companies making it now too and hopefully it is a better quality. There's nothing like a full sps reef scaped very minimally in just Tonga branch. Absolutely my favorite way to scape now.

 

[kaifish]

You can look around for tank break downs and pick up a few good pieces

 

[Will Wohlers]

You can look around for tank break downs and pick up a few good pieces

Sell me a few pieces

 

[bobnicaragua]

I've picked up large pieces of tonga and Haitian live rock in Dallas area stores this year between 5 and 9 dollars a pound. Everyone is focused on dry rock these days...

 

[Reefman71]

Yea that's some nice rock. Probably as nice as any man made Tonga branch I've seen. You're correct the only thing that is readily available anymore is real reef Tonga and it's total crap compared to the real thing. There's a couple of other smaller companies making it now too and hopefully it is a better quality. There's nothing like a full sps reef scaped very minimally in just Tonga branch. Absolutely my favorite way to scape now.

I wish I could remember the name of the company, it wasn’t real Reef? Great looking stuff though

 

[James Martz]

Tropic Eden Supreme Tonga Branch Rock?

 

[ScottR]

I live close enough to Tonga... well, kind of. Rarely see any kind of shipments out of there anymore. Just like Fiji. I know Covid has landed a lot of flights but this was before that even. Used to see corals and Tonga branch often. So I can see why the price is up there. Plus this hobby being so large worldwide now and Tonga being a rather small island doesn’t help. I think anyone would jump at a chance to get ahold of anything from there.

 

[Reefman71]

Tropic Eden Supreme Tonga Branch Rock?

Yes! That’s it! I wonder if anyone sells it anymore?

 

[TerraFerma]

You don’t need 50 lbs of Tonga zooanthid branch pieces to reap the benefits of real Tonga branch. I got a zoa branch a few years ago. Zoas all ended up detaching and going away. But I got some sponges and other stuff to seed my man made branch, a few clam/mussel type things, and probably some other beneficial stuff.

I use Real Reef branch which to me looks pretty close to Tonga. The Carib Sea branch looks awful.

 

[X-37B]

Caribsea is not bad after it gets covered in coral and coralline.
I only have one piece.

 

[kaifish]

I love the look of a Tonga scape. I have a minimalistic Tonga scape I also have have a 50 gallon rubbermaid can with another 70 pounds of Tonga cycling for a future upgrade. And yes gotta cycano thing going away haha

 

[Perthegallon]

Is that still available I can’t find it