WI sources for live rock?

[Downfall]

Does anyone know where in WI I could find live rock? I heard Best Fish in Milwaukee might have some options, I'm going to contact them. Any others? I'm from the fox valley and willing to drive about anywhere in WI

Either the genuine stuff or fully cured Real Reef rock would be fine. Looking for pest free.

 

[DH78]

Aquatic Imports in Appleton may have some cured rock to sell. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but they did have some last year.

 

[Downfall]

Aquatic Imports in Appleton may have some cured rock to sell. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but they did have some last year.

He does but all of that rock is covered in mushrooms and possibly aptasia, which I'm not sure I want to deal with but I might run into that problem anywhere I go.

 

[DH78]

The aiptasia in his fish tanks is why I stopped going there. If he won’t clear it out of his tanks, he doesn’t deserve my business. Good luck in Milwaukee.

 

[Weasel1960]

Call Big Kahuna here in Madison. I stopped there last fall and they were still setting up their new location. They had a huge stock tank, most for their store display but wouldn’t hurt to ask. The Pet World Warehouse in Madison also has some crammed into a couple of tanks but you can barely see anything specific to know if pesty or not.

 

[Zach B]

@TaylorP78 Any ideas?

 

[Midrats]

You are better off ordering. Anything I ever see looks like they picked it up in the parking lot and threw it in some water. The stuff at Pet World is $8.99/lb and also looks like road reconstruction rubble. I miss Walt Smith's rock of the Nineties

 

[Downfall]

You are better off ordering. Anything I ever see looks like they picked it up in the parking lot and threw it in some water. The stuff at Pet World is $8.99/lb and also looks like road reconstruction rubble. I miss Walt Smith's rock of the Nineties

I miss Walt smith of the mid 2000's.

My last tank I setup you could still get love rock, circa 2015... I've read horrible things about trying to start with dry rock, and the 12 months that follows. It might be my only good option.

 

[Midrats]

I tried dry once, never again. Get some KP rock when they have it back in stock.

 

[TaylorP78]

@TaylorP78 Any ideas?

We have liverock at my store in Milwaukee it’s called best fish. It’s live rock from the ocean that’s been in water for upwards of 10-15 years and is real rock and coral skeletons not the fake rock (which is much less porous than real rock) if you get it out of the stingray vat, all of those pieces are free of aptasia. It does have bristleworms though and just various types of clams and filter feeders but those those are pretty harmless. I used 7 pounds of this stuff to set up a bare bottom 10 gallon and I added 2 fish the same day with no issues and I added more fish soon after because it was basically an instant cycle for my that tank.

but If you want “pest free” liverock, aquatics unlimited in Milwaukee has some fake rock that is fed ammonia to keep the bacteria alive. But if it’s pest free, I don’t know what bacteria the rocks really have compared to the ocean stuff because the best thing the could do is just dose microbacter7 to the rocks with the ammonia. I tried using this liverock on my first tank and it was pretty much like starting with dry rock (I even lost fish during the cycle). I’m just about a year into my tank and it’s just getting out of the all the uglies now.

that’s about all I know for liverock around here.

 

[Downfall]

We have liverock at my store in Milwaukee it’s called best fish. It’s live rock from the ocean that’s been in water for upwards of 10-15 years and is real rock and coral skeletons not the fake rock (which is much less porous than real rock) if you get it out of the stingray vat, all of those pieces are free of aptasia. It does have bristleworms though and just various types of clams and filter feeders but those those are pretty harmless. I used 7 pounds of this stuff to set up a bare bottom 10 gallon and I added 2 fish the same day with no issues and I added more fish soon after because it was basically an instant cycle for my that tank.

but If you want “pest free” liverock, aquatics unlimited in Milwaukee has some fake rock that is fed ammonia to keep the bacteria alive. But if it’s pest free, I don’t know what bacteria the rocks really have compared to the ocean stuff because the best thing the could do is just dose microbacter7 to the rocks with the ammonia. I tried using this liverock on my first tank and it was pretty much like starting with dry rock (I even lost fish during the cycle). I’m just about a year into my tank and it’s just getting out of the all the uglies now.

that’s about all I know for liverock around here.

Thank you Taylor. I'll be making a trip to Best Fish in the next week or two.

 

[littlebeard]

Not to entirely hijack this thread but do any LFS carry fiji or pukani rock? wet/dry I don't really care... Would like to add a rock feature and I love that look.

 

[TaylorP78]

Not to entirely hijack this thread but do any LFS carry fiji or pukani rock? wet/dry I don't really care... Would like to add a rock feature and I love that look.

Honestly I haven’t seen much for those types of rock, pukani rock is now banned from being collected so the only stuff available is stuff from peoples tanks. We do have a pretty large piece of pukani liverock at our shop though, and a small piece of dry pukani(but you would probably want to cure the dry stuff). I also believe aquatics unlimited has some dry Fiji rock, they usually have some in stock but I haven’t been there in a while so you may want to call before you make the trip.