Walt Smith Fuji Live Rock is Coming

[Infidel]

It's not actually wild liverock just to clear the air. It's man-made and left out in the ocean. For a year or two. Very nice quality tho

You sure it's man made? It looks just like old school Fiji (the rock itself). Maybe it was Fiji base rock or dry that was then placed back in the ocean?

I'm glad I still have old school Fiji, even if I have to reseed it. I love that stuff.

Edit: I just e-mailed them, I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[150 Gallon Reef]

You sure it's man made? It looks just like old school Fiji (the rock itself). Maybe it was Fiji base rock or dry that was then placed back in the ocean?

I'm glad I still have old school Fiji, even if I have to reseed it. I love that stuff.

Edit: I just e-mailed them, I'll let you know what I find out.

Yes, they show you a video about how it's made

 

[siggy]

You sure it's man made? It looks just like old school Fiji (the rock itself). Maybe it was Fiji base rock or dry that was then placed back in the ocean?

Like I mentioned in the OP, I purchased from LR&R over three years ago in my quest to find ocean rock. I ordered 50lbs
of rock and 20lbs of pencil rock. The pencil was stag skeletons that were 90% coraline covered and the rock was your typical porous LR. I still have it. None was manufactured and I believe it all came from the Caribbean.

In fairness the surface life on what I bought was probably the prettiest I've seen on any live rock, ever. Sadly it all died quickly after arrival. And the rock did establish a functional biofilter within a couple of weeks. So what I bought was definitely better than dry rock from that perspective.

After I placed the order LR&R Called to discus my order, I believe they do this with everyone buying rock, He actually told me to stick the rock right in the tank after giving it a good scrub and rinse, otherwise you can expect a loss of coraline and other life. Excellent CS, informative and personal

 

[flsalty]

You sure it's man made? It looks just like old school Fiji (the rock itself). Maybe it was Fiji base rock or dry that was then placed back in the ocean?

I'm glad I still have old school Fiji, even if I have to reseed it. I love that stuff.

Edit: I just e-mailed them, I'll let you know what I find out.

Walt Smith started manufacturing rock in 97/98. Real Fiji rock was banned around 2002.

 

[Jeeperz]

Question for anyone that's used live rock&reef. Their site shows their regular Walt Smith aged 3 years or the "primo" aged 23 years. Is the primo any better and is it really aged that long?

 

[siggy]

Question for anyone that's used live rock&reef. Their site shows their regular Walt Smith aged 3 years or the "primo" aged 23 years. Is the primo any better and is it really aged that long?

To be honest the walt smith stuff shown is ok compared to the primo stuff I received as far as growth of macro algae,
sponges and the likes. Again one is Pacific Life and the other is Caribbean Jerk ...If you get a Mantis Shrimp

 

[Jeeperz]

I don't know much about either, which is better, Florida stuff or the Pacific, I assume Fiji or the like? Both places grow coral and support fish so is there really a difference? Any comparisons between them and TBS that uses the same rock but shipped wet vs wrapped in a wet paper towel? I would like 5-10 lbs to seed my established tank but nobody close to split costs so I'd be paying roughly $200+ no matter who I go with.

 

[siggy]

This is a tough one, You have 3-4 options Marko and the man made stuff thats 1. New 2. figi cure 3. Carib-cure or...
4. What I just did in my new system is to Collect old Live rock and cure it my self. Each has its ups and downs.
BTW I Did have a couple of clean pieces from the old system to seed the new tank. There are tons of threads on this topic and videos.
KP and Tampa are the gold standard nowadays, don't know why LR&R is seldom mentioned.

 

[Jeeperz]

I was wanting to add the diversity of real ocean rock. My tanks were all started with caribsea and some Marco dry several years ago. The LR&R premium is interesting and cheaper than TBS but is shipped in a way that you get a lot of die off(not submerged)

 

[Infidel]

Edit: I just e-mailed them, I'll let you know what I find out.

I just spoke with Bill (LR&R) for about 20 minutes and he advised that the Fiji rock is definitely man made (Walt Smith) and has been in the ocean for around 5 years now. The Fiji rock is mainly great for bacteria and nice strains of coralline algae. Bill mentioned that the Fiji rock is usually pest free.

Fiji saltwater live rock

Fiji saltwater live rockThis is Walt Smiths cultured Fiji rock and this Fiji live rock is flown in and is direct to you from Fiji

www.liverocknreef.com

Bill said that their "Primo" rock is real live rock from the Bahamas and has been growing off the coast of Florida for over 23 years. The "Primo" rock has coral, sponges, coralline, macroalgae and a lot of other life. Bill also mentioned that the only pests that he ever sees with this rock is a chance of aiptasia and the smaller mantis shrimp from the gulf area. Bill mentioned that the mantis shrimp are not common to get.

Florida Cherry Primo Picked Decorator

This is the most INCREDIBLE LIVE ROCK we sell.

www.liverocknreef.com

I will definitely be seeding my old Fiji rock with one of the two options.

 

[siggy]

Florida stuff or the Pacific,

Dont forget If you start with dead rock, you could always add some rocks like these

 

[Infidel]

Walt Smith started manufacturing rock in 97/98. Real Fiji rock was banned around 2002.

Ministry of Fisheries, Fiji
December 28, 2017 ·
The Ministry of Fisheries has banned all harvesting, purchasing, sales and export of live coral and aquarium rock (also known as live rock, coral rock or fossil coral) from the 28th of December, 2017.
All companies are to adhere to the following:
1. All harvesting, purchasing and sales of live rocks and live coral are now banned, and no export permits would be processed by the ministry.
2. The Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Scientific Committee (SC) will be submitting to the Management Authority (MA) on 7th January 2018 that Live Coral and Live Rock is given a zero quota for 2018.
3. The Ministry of Fisheries and both the CITES MA and SC would be supporting the development of other sustainable options, particularly the development of farmed or cultured coral.

 

[flsalty]

Ministry of Fisheries, Fiji
December 28, 2017 ·
The Ministry of Fisheries has banned all harvesting, purchasing, sales and export of live coral and aquarium rock (also known as live rock, coral rock or fossil coral) from the 28th of December, 2017.
All companies are to adhere to the following:
1. All harvesting, purchasing and sales of live rocks and live coral are now banned, and no export permits would be processed by the ministry.
2. The Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Scientific Committee (SC) will be submitting to the Management Authority (MA) on 7th January 2018 that Live Coral and Live Rock is given a zero quota for 2018.
3. The Ministry of Fisheries and both the CITES MA and SC would be supporting the development of other sustainable options, particularly the development of farmed or cultured coral.

Sorry, I'm not sure why I said "ban" when it was actually quotas and regulations put into place around 2002. I was also thinking about the shortage at the time as several villages quit mining live rock. Eventually it got down to one area.

 

[phillygeeks]

Take my experience for what it's worth but I have done bother the WS Fiji Ultra before the ban and since then the WS cultured rock. I do not believe the WS cultured rock is anywhere near worth the price. It appears quite dense internally from the pieces that have broken off and the glue almost seems to seal a lot of the natural porosity that this "concrete" appearing stuff is made of. Despite being in the ocean 2 years there was very little life outside of the microorganisms you obviously can't see and I did not notice anything that did live that is visible to the naked eye. Obviously this is my experience but I really wouldn't consider this stuff again in terms of cost, die off and the pink painted concrete just is really unattractive to me in person.

 

[drawman]

Following in case anyone does buy and posts pics! I was strongly leaning towards getting some of this and using it to help seed other dry rock.

 

[Jeeperz]

Take my experience for what it's worth but I have done bother the WS Fiji Ultra before the ban and since then the WS cultured rock. I do not believe the WS cultured rock is anywhere near worth the price. It appears quite dense internally from the pieces that have broken off and the glue almost seems to seal a lot of the natural porosity that this "concrete" appearing stuff is made of. Despite being in the ocean 2 years there was very little life outside of the microorganisms you obviously can't see and I did not notice anything that did live that is visible to the naked eye. Obviously this is my experience but I really wouldn't consider this stuff again in terms of cost, die off and the pink painted concrete just is really unattractive to me in person.

Thank you for your opinion. I kinda figured the few videos out there are cherry picked. Some I've seen on you tube really were not impressive. I'm more wanting a little bit to enhance my bacteria population to possibly help with stability in my small systems.

 

[phillygeeks]

Thank you for your opinion. I kinda figured the few videos out there are cherry picked. Some I've seen on you tube really were not impressive. I'm more wanting a little bit to enhance my bacteria population to possibly help with stability in my small systems.

That's essentially what I am doing also. I have some of it in with my old dry Fiji rock in a cat for the past 4 months and the rest of that stuff in another vat. I am just going to place the stuff that's going in my sump for a few months while I have Marco shelf and base in my DT. Then I will remove the stuff from the sump after it goes for several months

 

[Infidel]

Take my experience for what it's worth but I have done bother the WS Fiji Ultra before the ban and since then the WS cultured rock. I do not believe the WS cultured rock is anywhere near worth the price. It appears quite dense internally from the pieces that have broken off and the glue almost seems to seal a lot of the natural porosity that this "concrete" appearing stuff is made of. Despite being in the ocean 2 years there was very little life outside of the microorganisms you obviously can't see and I did not notice anything that did live that is visible to the naked eye. Obviously this is my experience but I really wouldn't consider this stuff again in terms of cost, die off and the pink painted concrete just is really unattractive to me in person.

None of the man-made rock really compares to the real deal, unless you are talking about diamonds.

 

[Jeeperz]

None of the man-made rock really compares to the real deal, unless you are talking about diamonds.

Wish I could afford diamonds in my tank, lol

 

[liverock]

Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock

Thought I would post some details and pictures here for those who are waiting for TBS rock or just waiting to get out of the house. I received the first half of the "package" from @liverock last Sunday.The tank is a RS Reefer 625. The package I ordered includes 130lbs of sand, 200lbs of rock and...

www.reef2reef.com