Dr Mac's LR vs. Jeffs Exotic Fish

Dr macs LR vs. Jeffs exotic fish

After months of looknig into the hobby, ordering equipment, putting my fuge together, designing my closed loop, I FINNALY am ready to order my LR come this weekend. The three types of lr that I am considering are Marshall, Fiji, and Tonga-kaelini.

http://exoticfish.com/results.cfm?cat=0|1977|1690|0|0&

http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/fijirock/

If I get the LR from dr macs I ill be getting a 70 pound box of ALL tonga ... Anyone have experiences with rock ordering from dr macs, or tonga lr from anywhere else. I hear it is VERY porous, but other people say fiji is lighter weight. (this will cost me about 200$ give or take a little-- before shipping)

If I choose exoticfish.com I will get 40 lbs of fiji, 10lbs marshall, and 20 lbs or tonga deepwater. Again, anyone have any experience with this vendor? (This will cost me about 120$-- before shipping)

I am also trying to decide if I would like the look of mixed rock types. Sometimes mixed rock gives a very good look, but other times it doenst flow at all. What do all of you nano reefers think I should do?

btw, anyone have any pics of marshall or tonga LR?

I ordered my Figi from Dr Mac and I was very happu with the rock I got as well as the customer service. I ended up speaking to one of the women there as well as Dr. Mac. After I recived the rock I got a call from them asking if I was satisified. I would definitely order from them again.

I ordered my Figi from Dr Mac also, very satisfied with the product, they gave me a tracking number and when it was going to arrive, the rocks were packed great and they called that day to make sure I recieved the rock and if eveything was okay.

DR MAC IS THE MAC highly recommended!!!

I didn't take the cheap route w/ Dr. Mac. I got the 70lbs of all Tonga and I couldn't be happier. I love this rock and it has very nice coloring and shapes. I was able to find pieces that fit perfectly into my 20L. I have not once found any aptasia or other bad hitchhikers and it's been in the tank for almost 5 months. Here's a pic for you to get an idea... It also came with a lot of tiny coral colonies and a few sponges. They all died off in the curing process, but looking at a dead birds nest skeleton in the middle of my tank and watching coraline take it over is pretty cool. I have seen Jeff's LR personally and really like it. I just thing that w/ Dr. Mac you're going to get better pieces overall... Good luck!

I went with Dr mac. I bought 30 pounds of fiji rock and was very happy. I havent had any bad hitchhikers on the live rock and it has tons of corraline algae. The customer service was great too.

thanks everyone for your replies!

kogut-- is that 70lbs in your 20g long, or did you use the rest for something else. If thats 70lbs in there Im going to need a lot more than I though haha

for any of you who got the tonga-- Did you consider it pretty porous, or did it just vary?

I just received 20ls of tonga deep water from jeff's for my 20 long. One of the pieces is very colorful, lots of corraline algae. the other two seem more plain in color, but all three pieces have interesting shapes, very porous. So far, I like the shapes and colors more than the carribbean rock i've had in the past, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have ordered nano sized live rock from somewhere. Also, I haven't noticed any hitchhikers.

Oh yeah. I just smacked mine together and it broke apart quite easily to fit where I wanted it.

Originally posted by msn711

I just received 20ls of tonga deep water from jeff's for my 20 long.  One of the pieces is very colorful, lots of corraline algae.  the other two seem more plain in color, but all three pieces have interesting shapes, very porous.  So far, I like the shapes and colors more than the carribbean rock i've had in the past, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have ordered nano sized live rock from somewhere.  Also, I haven't noticed any hitchhikers.

Make nano sized pieces just break up your big pieces. all it takes is a small hammer and a flathead screwdriver

Oh, and although I didn't notice any hitchhikers at first, I just noticed a tiny feather duster and some type of bivalve looking thing.

I bought LR from Dr. Mac's in December, and every piece was great -- all hitchhikers were the good kind, and there was already nice purple and burgundy coralline growing on it. I bought the aquacultured LR, however, so I can't attest to the density of the regular fiji and tonga LR. I live in DC so I was able to go out to Dr. Mac's place and check it out personally. He has a really beautiful facility out there, lots of healthy corals and fish, and everyone in there is SO nice and helpful. And they have an awesome dog (a boxer) named Rudy! It's not cheap, but I think that the quality and the knowledge are worth it.

My box of rock and live sand is waiting at home, just got delivered today, my wife said. I'm setting it up tonight, I'll let you know. I splurged on the ON shipping, so LA to CT in 16 hours, hopefully won't get too much of a cycle.

i cant wait to hear about your rock aaronfmd! Did you get Tonga? How much did it cost to get it shipped to your door, if you dont mind me asking

First of all, i was very impressed with the shipping, it was packaged very well, sand double bagged, each type of rock also double bagged. No smell, all packed in styrofoam. I got 5 pounds each of the tonga, fiji and marshcall. I also got 15 lbs of the live sand. Total was $148 w/ $63 shipping (yikes!). I got priority o/n shipping. Here are some pics, the rock looks and smells pretty cured to my (very unschooled) eye and nose. The branched has quite a bit of red and green flecking to it. The pieces were good sized each one chunk except the branching of course. Lots of feather dusters on them, and I have seen 2 hitchickers, one brittle star, and something else really small and fast. I have only had the stuff in there for like 2 days, and I also have a couple of pieces in the back. I'm going to arrange the rock better than it is now. I'll be happy to answer any other questions about Jeff's.

I'll also add that I'm noticing more and more very tiny hitchikers on my rock from Jeff's.

aaronfmd: If my rock from Jeff's is any indication, you probably won't have a long cycle. Here it is day 7 for me, and my nitrites have already dropped to 0.25ppm and no ammonia.

Looks like nice rock! If you had the choice would you buy from Jeff's again?

Got My LR for my Nano from Jeff's and am very happy with it.

Feather Dusters. snail, and tons and tons of Pods.

I call it the POD tank.

Now if you really want a Ton of life and amazing Coraline I recommend LiveRocks.com

I have 80 Lbs of Florida Keys Rock in my 72 gallon and it is exceptional!

Here is a shot of 25 Lbs of assorted LR from Jeff's

ooops double post

yeah, I think I would. I don't have much to compare it to, since it is my first order, but overall, I was pretty happy with the rock. now if i could just figure out how to arrange the damn things.

i live 2hours from DR MACS HIS LR IS THE BEST

Man.. this is a hard decision, jsut when I was thinking I would do Dr macs, a lot of people are saying go with jeff's

I go to Jeffs now for rock.

If he has rock in stock, its some good stuff. Sometimes he dont have to much to choose from, (espesially at Orange). The Warehouse has 5 different bins to choose from!!

I would think, ordering Rock from Jeff online, youll get a combo of the good stuff. Ive talked to Jeff and his brother Terry, in person, twice now. They are both Very down to earth, good dudes.