Buying other peoples live rock a good idea? Or should I stick to the LFS?

[chabooky386]

Thinking of buying some rocks from people on Craigslist. But, I am skeptical due to the fact that if they haven't properly maintained their tank then the rocks would be tainted.

[TinyGiant]

if the tank looks somewhat nice you should be fine. every piece of rock in my 55 is from craigslist. I found someone selling a 5gallon bucket of LR for $20 lol i wasnt going to pass it up.

 

if you were worried you can always grab a wire brush and brush all the rock off and rinse in new SW before putting it in the tank.

 

just keep an eye our for troublesome things like aptasia, gha.. etc

[chabooky386]

what would be the best way to clean a rock without taking all the purpling off?

 

if the tank looks somewhat nice you should be fine. every piece of rock in my 55 is from craigslist. I found someone selling a 5gallon bucket of LR for $20 lol i wasnt going to pass it up.

 

if you were worried you can always grab a wire brush and brush all the rock off and rinse in new SW before putting it in the tank.

 

just keep an eye our for troublesome things like aptasia, gha.. etc

[TinyGiant]

wire brush

 

 

the purple is usually hard to get off. but a good little trick to get the coraline thriving is to take a rock (after its cleaned) and then take a wire brush and scrub off all of the coraline into the tank. Coraline is an algae and if you get it waterborne it will spread all over the tank, anywhere it settles it will grow. I always do this to my tanks. Pick rocks for shape.. not for color. Color is easy to change, shape is not

[siwelk]

In most cases I'd probably trust/prefer hobbyist LR over LFS pest-ridden junk.

[TinyGiant]

In most cases I'd probably trust/prefer hobbyist LR over LFS pest-ridden junk.

 

+1

 

 

There are a couple LFS around here with rock tanks riddled with aptasia and flatworms. You'll get much more stable rock from someone who is running it in a tank already

[dling]

You can put the rock in a busket of new sw and run a skimmer for a while also just to make sure its ok.

[wolfador]

If they ever used a copper based medication the live rock could leech it into your tank.