Okay so I have been thinking about selling rock. All the bargain rock, and even some of the "premium" rock I have seen looks like garbage. Some of it is barely alive, some of it is pretty alive, but the rock itself is in an ugly shape. Then I came across a guy who has FANTASTIC looking base rock. Sure it is not live, but it looks AWESOME. Lots of holes and crevices, stacks really well, interesting shapes the whole 9 yards. I am thinking about selling it, but I couldn't afford to do it for less than $3 a pound shipped. ($2 a pound before shipping). I know some of the ugly looking live rock goes for this. I also know some of the ugly looking base rock goes for less. (Also know that there is some really nice rock out there somewhere that is live and looks as good - I have never seen it, but I am sure you must have at some point). So would anybody be willing to pay this price for rock? (Not asking if you would want to buy it, but if you think it would be reasonable). My thinking is I would rather wait a few weeks for awesome looking rock to get covered in coralline, than to have ugly looking rock covered with coralline, but stay ugly for the rest of my tank's life. But what do you guys think? Is the shape of the rock even important to you? Or are you more interested in the life on it? Or the price? Honest answers are appreciated, even if they are against my thinking on this.

Here are some pics of a rock that is pretty standard for the quality our supplier has:










Here is a picture of the pores in the rock, from an area I hammered off:



Here is a pic with 2 put together. Weighs 5 pounds:

I'd buy it, half if not 3/4 of my rock is base that i cycled then put in my tank. I payed i think 2.75lb + tax at a lfs. Awesome rock to very neat shapes and decently porus. I also agree with you on waiting awhile to get nice coraline covered rock than have rock that looks like well a rock covered in coralline. I could have got what live rock I got for much less but it wouldn't have had such nice shapes and crazy coralline coverage. I say if the shapes are neat it's well worth it.

okay cool. Thanks for taking the time to give me your opinion. Who else? Come on...everybody on this site has an opinion on something. I have also seen the live version, it covers very well with coralline at 2 months old.

I think that if you were able to post decent pics of it, people would be interested.

oh no! decent pictures... I am horrible with a camera. My nano reef contest entry this month was the best picture I ever took and it isn't the best either. I think I could get one, I should go take one of the sample rocks I have, and take a picture of those and post.

I would buy it! Live rock is just so much now adays base rock is really the way to go. If your system is decent it wont take long to get covered in coralline and when it does it will be the greatest shapes!

well I got the hometown support in.

I think you might get killed on the shipping. I would do like Sea Life & offer something like $1.75 plus shipping if you make enough on it. Play with some addys at the PO & UPS sites if you haven't done that yet.

So its dry base rock? or regular "Live" base rock?

Taking pictures of base rock lying around on the floor and taking a photo of your fish tank for a photo contest are two different ball games. I'm sure you could get a decent enough shot of it just to give everyone an idea of these awesomely shaped rocks.

I personally would probably never buy just plain base rock over the internet. I can get it at my local LFS for pretty cheap. Promising coralline growth or some good hitchhikers would give you a better edge, even if you have to up the price.

shapes and porosity are the most important thing in rock imo
without the right shapes then it just looks like crap
without a high porosity, then they wont be doing their job
now if hes making this rock then id pass, not a huge fan of rock thats made because its just not the same

I too would like to see pictures.

$3 /lb shipped seems about right for dead rock. At least compared to Eco rocks and Marco rocks. Where does this rock come from?

The rock is mined from ancient coral reefs that are now 30+ miles inland, further inland than carrib sea.

The rock is just base rock. Nothing but rock, no hitchikers, or dead live rock. It is fully cleaned and ready to go, but there is nothing alive on it. Not sure if that answers your question brian92.

After playing around with shipping costs, that is about where I am at, around $1 a pound to ship. With $2 a pound base rate, it would sell for $3 shipped.

How dense is the rock?

It is good for Caribbean rock, but not as light as some tonga branch rocks I have owned. I am going to do the weight and volume test when it gets back to me. You could fill a 10 gallon with 15 pounds for sure if that helps. I can only fit 6 pounds in a flat rate box, although there is certainly a lot of open space.

got pictures now...about time right?

Looks good to me. I'd buy it. When will you have some available for the contest tanks that need rock?

I have seen similar rock and would use this.

My advice is, just sink some tubs in your back yard and build a green house over them. Run PVC pipes under ground so they will naturally cool the water and you can work out a happy medium with the green house and the water pumped through the ground. Toss in a bunch of this rock and some live Florida rock and grow your own. Multiple bins are so you can have rock at different stages. You could toss in some of your cleaners as almost a guaranteed hitchhiker population. You know you want too. I'm sure that license is probably crazy to get in Florida.

Wow, this is the first time ive ever been "wowed" by rock. Really nice shape. What kind of sizes are you able to get? Are these all small nano pieces or would you have larger pieces as well?

I don't think $3/lb shipped is a bad price at all. I think one of the problems with buying live rock on line is you don't get to see detailed pics like you just posted.

I am picking up 1000 pounds today. So I can ship it out tomorrow if you want.. I am going to go with Parcel Post, I am not sure how long that takes to mail. I am going to check with the post office. They say 2-9 days, (9 days being Alaska and rural areas - 2 days in the southeast except the rural areas), so I am not sure on that part yet.

I told him just "normal size pieces, but he has all sorts of sizes. Some are quite huge. He was showing me a piece that filled the back of his truck for example. I will order a round of irregular pieces after I figure out how shipping them would work. (Sometimes prices can get outrageous for irregular shaped boxes).

I think if I was going to grow it, I would get an aquaculture license, and a submerged lands lease. Hard to keep it pest free then, you might be on to something with the green house. The supplier does this, and has live rock. Maybe at some later date I can work out something to that extent. Not sure though.

I read an article about a guy who had done this to grow coral. Small backyard thing but did the geothermal cooling and a green house. His only problem, raccoons getting in the green house. LOL. I love Florida.

If these guys can grow stuff on the top of the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, they could help you get started. http://tal.ifas.ufl.edu/ It's not great for navigating but they have some great stuff when you dig around and they really are looking to aquaculture everything here.

Seeing that rock makes me want to move the 37 gallon out of the garage. The wife thinks it is just there to mix saltwater. That rock would be so cool with barnacle blennies.

where do people get barnacle blennies? I see what I think are barnacle blennies when I dive, but I never seen them in a store. There is definitely enough caves in the rock for them. Farming is something I definitely plan to do in the future. Rock, macro, and snails. I have been pretty successful at breeding some snails, I hope to learn more in time. Macro in a greenhouse is easy, and rock is pretty easy too. I like the idea of geothermal cooling in the summer, and heating in the winter. I have to admit it is pretty ingenious. Nothing like free energy.

Oh so you guys are going to hate this....I would have to charge a $7 fee for shipping packages under 25 pounds.

It works out that I can do it for $1 a pound shipped after that, but before that it is a bit higher because of the initial cost of the mailing. Probably doesn't make you nano-reefers happy I know. I am going to see how much I can cram into a large flat rate box, maybe that would work...off to the drawing board!

Flat rate boxes are not that thick. The rocks might get broken in shipping. I'd rather pay a bit more for shipping.

Oh really? I haven't seen them in awhile. I kind of forget what they look like actually.