magicstix Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 So I've been setting up a 29G cube in the office at work, and decided to go with live rock over dry. Looking around, I came across the F&S Select Nano Live Rock box on Liveaquaria. Enamored by the allure of pretty pictures showing beautiful branching shapes covered in coraline and macro algaes with promises of more life than I can shake a turkey baster full of mysis shrimp at, as well as all of the testimonials promising purple tang unicorn hitchikers, I decided to buy two boxes. Add to this it was on sale for roughly $5.50 a pound shipped, so I figured I was getting quite the deal. Given all the glowing recommendations and fangasming for Divers' Den, the question of quality never crossed my mind. ...Maybe it should have... They claim the rock is pre-cured (though perhaps it was a typo for pre-killed), so the rock didn't smell bad. It had an earthy, top-soil kind of smell, so point to them, I guess? However, I immediately noticed a problem. The rock was clearly not "select" unless "select" meant "selected for disposal." There was essentially no coraline on the rock at all. My layman coworker put it quite well as he watched me aquascaping with the stuff when he said: "Does it come in different colors or did you just order white?" I felt quite the sick burn at that point... I had hoped perhaps I'd gotten a bad box, and opened the other one, but found it wasn't much better. The only coraline I found was a patch of some pink stuff that covered maybe 5% of one of the rocks. As far as the life on this "live" rock goes, the only life I've seen after a week in the tank are the flies that climbed out of the rock and flew away when I first rinsed it in saltwater. That's right, in this case "bugs" meant ACTUAL BUGS, WITH WINGS AND EVERYTHING. Moving on to the shape of the rocks, things just get better... Between both boxes, I had maybe 3 shelf shaped pieces. All of the other rock was pretty much just a fist sized ball. Ever wonder how hard it is to aquascape with softballs? Hard; real damn hard. All the rocks just wanted to roll off of each other, leading to many terrified choice expletives as I was certain *this time* would be the rockfall that destroys the tank and leaves my cubicle a flooded wasteland. At least it was entertaining for the intern in the next cube each time she facetiously asked if everything was OK... All in all I really feel like I got burned on this one. The rock was shipped overnight, though it seems a waste to do so on this quality of rock, and it wasn't particularly wet when it arrived. The newspaper it was wrapped in was dated February 2013, and I'd almost be inclined to believe that's when it was put in the box based on how it looked. I guess I could just be the unlucky 1% with a bad batch, and maybe I'm being too harsh, but if I'm promised excellent coraline coverage in a myriad of shapes, I don't expect to be sent a bunch of white baseballs without so much as a single copepod. I find it really ironic they're making a bunch of hullabaloo about "boat rock" when this is the alternative they offer. I definitely don't think I'll be trusting them as my LR supplier when I start my big tank soon. Link to comment
Paandemonium Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 Did you call customer service? Link to comment
Tamberav Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 So I've been setting up a 29G cube in the office at work, and decided to go with live rock over dry. Looking around, I came across the F&S Select Nano Live Rock box on Liveaquaria. Enamored by the allure of pretty pictures showing beautiful branching shapes covered in coraline and macro algaes with promises of more life than I can shake a turkey baster full of mysis shrimp at, as well as all of the testimonials promising purple tang unicorn hitchikers, I decided to buy two boxes. Add to this it was on sale for roughly $5.50 a pound shipped, so I figured I was getting quite the deal. Given all the glowing recommendations and fangasming for Divers' Den, the question of quality never crossed my mind. ...Maybe it should have... They claim the rock is pre-cured (though perhaps it was a typo for pre-killed), so the rock didn't smell bad. It had an earthy, top-soil kind of smell, so point to them, I guess? However, I immediately noticed a problem. The rock was clearly not "select" unless "select" meant "selected for disposal." There was essentially no coraline on the rock at all. My layman coworker put it quite well as he watched me aquascaping with the stuff when he said: "Does it come in different colors or did you just order white?" I felt quite the sick burn at that point... I had hoped perhaps I'd gotten a bad box, and opened the other one, but found it wasn't much better. The only coraline I found was a patch of some pink stuff that covered maybe 5% of one of the rocks. As far as the life on this "live" rock goes, the only life I've seen after a week in the tank are the flies that climbed out of the rock and flew away when I first rinsed it in saltwater. That's right, in this case "bugs" meant ACTUAL BUGS, WITH WINGS AND EVERYTHING. Moving on to the shape of the rocks, things just get better... Between both boxes, I had maybe 3 shelf shaped pieces. All of the other rock was pretty much just a fist sized ball. Ever wonder how hard it is to aquascape with softballs? Hard; real damn hard. All the rocks just wanted to roll off of each other, leading to many terrified choice expletives as I was certain *this time* would be the rockfall that destroys the tank and leaves my cubicle a flooded wasteland. At least it was entertaining for the intern in the next cube each time she facetiously asked if everything was OK... All in all I really feel like I got burned on this one. The rock was shipped overnight, though it seems a waste to do so on this quality of rock, and it wasn't particularly wet when it arrived. The newspaper it was wrapped in was dated February 2013, and I'd almost be inclined to believe that's when it was put in the box based on how it looked. I guess I could just be the unlucky 1% with a bad batch, and maybe I'm being too harsh, but if I'm promised excellent coraline coverage in a myriad of shapes, I don't expect to be sent a bunch of white baseballs without so much as a single copepod. I find it really ironic they're making a bunch of hullabaloo about "boat rock" when this is the alternative they offer. I definitely don't think I'll be trusting them as my LR supplier when I start my big tank soon. They have really good customer service. I would call. Maybe they will refund you so you can order some place else. Link to comment
PwnMe Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I understand the frustation... but the nano rock package clearly states its for the 8-16 gallon range. In my old 8 gallon I would be quite happy with softball sized pieces. As for the coralline algae... the pictures would lead you to think there is some. So yea. Still be mad. I got 22 pounds of purple rock from the LFS for that price. There's zero white on it. Link to comment
Bill Nye Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Live rock is for suckers. Get dry rock and put the rest of the money in the bank. Link to comment
MeepNand Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Live rock is for suckers. Get dry rock and put the rest of the money in the bank. I saved my money for real live rock, just on the chance that I might get interesting stuff like gorilla crabs, mantis shrimps, macroalgaes, and eunicid worms. I have items 1, 3, and 4 on that list already. If you take care of your live rock right, then you can get something akin to an "instant reef" look that I find lacking in all but the most mature dry rock tanks. JMO. Link to comment
magicstix Posted September 5, 2013 Author Share Posted September 5, 2013 Well an update: F&S did give me a refund, but I would've preferred to have good rock in the first place, so yay customer service, boo crappy rock. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Well an update: F&S did give me a refund, but I would've preferred to have good rock in the first place, so yay customer service, boo crappy rock. Did you get to keep the rock? If so I would take a chisel and hammer to it to make more interesting shapes and use it. The rock will become live and get covered in coralline in a matter of time anyways. Maybe I am a cheap ass Link to comment
magicstix Posted September 5, 2013 Author Share Posted September 5, 2013 Did you get to keep the rock? If so I would take a chisel and hammer to it to make more interesting shapes and use it. The rock will become live and get covered in coralline in a matter of time anyways. Maybe I am a cheap ass Yes I kept the rock, it's in the tank right now, though the fish have to wear sunglasses because of how white it is. ;> Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Yes I kept the rock, it's in the tank right now, though the fish have to wear sunglasses because of how white it is. ;> lol well I promise it won't stay white Link to comment
Bill Nye Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I saved my money for real live rock, just on the chance that I might get interesting stuff like gorilla crabs, mantis shrimps, macroalgaes, and eunicid worms. I have items 1, 3, and 4 on that list already. If you take care of your live rock right, then you can get something akin to an "instant reef" look that I find lacking in all but the most mature dry rock tanks. JMO. I can see this point of view but I dont want any of that stuff! IMO all rock turns into live rock over time you just have to patient. Plus I have had 0 algae problems or pests in this tank since I used dry rock. The only place algae will occasionally pop up is on frag plugs from local reefers tanks. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Sounds similar to my 40 pounds of LR from F&S. I had no shelf-shapes, but no softballs, either. All but one or two were kind of shaped like pill/capsules. I used epoxy to glue feet on them and to each other and ended up with a passable scape. I had zero hitchhikers on the rock and it took over three months before I had pods and a year before I had worms. So, those probably came in on frags or in chaeto, anyways. As for coralline? Over 15 months in, I still have less than 10% coverage, most of which seems to have come in on snail shells. Glad you got a refund, like a fool, I never even asked. Link to comment
Paandemonium Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 You can't blame the coralline growth on the rock alone...started with some dry rock and I have a good amount of coralline 7 months down... Could have spread from the live rock I had in there before but that is still a slow process. It's what you do with what you got IMO. Chisels are your bestfriend, use them! I've never been a proponent of ordering LR from online vendors because there's always some die off where as fresh LR from an LFS won't have as much if any of that. I will start all my future tanks with pukani/ totoka dry rock there's nothing better IMHO it looks great and you can barely see the seams Link to comment
magicstix Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 The LFS gets its live rock via mail or airfreight too... ;P However, the main problem is they advertised the rock as something it wasn't. If they tell you tons of hitchhikers and 70% coraline coverage, that's what you expect. Anyway, here's what the rock looked like 10 days in (ignore the specimen containers acclimating with corals in them ^_^. The only color the rocks had was the diatom bloom from the cycle... Link to comment
patback Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 That is by far the absolute ugliest rock I've ever seen. I'm sorry. Dice you got a refund, if I were you I'd get some nice dry rock and use most of the dry and only a few of those "live rocks" and even then, after a month id start pulling that crap out and replacing it. I am a huge fan of reefcleaners dry rock. I don't even see how that could possibly be reef rock. Smooth as a bowling ball. It really looks like they took cobble stone from a freshwater river, roughed them up, and threw them in saltwater. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I bought all dry rock from marcorocks.com and then got a "seed" rock from a local reefer that I know takes care of his tank. Now, I have tons of pods, sponges, and mini brittle stars. Best way to go IMO. Glad it worked out for you in the end. Link to comment
Paandemonium Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 The LFS gets its live rock via mail or airfreight too... ;P However, the main problem is they advertised the rock as something it wasn't. If they tell you tons of hitchhikers and 70% coraline coverage, that's what you expect. Anyway, here's what the rock looked like 10 days in (ignore the specimen containers acclimating with corals in them ^_^. The only color the rocks had was the diatom bloom from the cycle... Yeah but once it's been in the tank for a month you get hardly if any die off. Dude... I thought you were being a little dramatic but HOW ON EARTH can FS label that as select? That's bull on their part, good thing you got your money back it looks like they made balls out of concrete and slapped a label on it... The worst part is that you're probably not the first person they send crap like that out to. Good on your for getting your money back, I would have thrown it out. Link to comment
patback Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I still can't believe how perfectly round they are. Link to comment
Paandemonium Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I still can't believe how perfectly round they are. Snowballs x) Link to comment
Chadf Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 That's the worst "live rock" I've ever seen. I'm a fan of F&S, but that is ridiculous. Definitely man made and not even live by my standards. Link to comment
JonCubb Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Oh my God that's the worst rock I've ever seen by far. Go to Reefcleaners and order from them, you wont be disappointed. Link to comment
Rollermonkey Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 ^That's exactly what I'm doing this time. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Yknow for how crappy that rock is I actually like that scape a lot. I mean it's obviosly a pile of rocks but something about it is charming. Link to comment
magicstix Posted September 7, 2013 Author Share Posted September 7, 2013 Yknow for how crappy that rock is I actually like that scape a lot. I mean it's obviosly a pile of rocks but something about it is charming. I'm not that sure I like it. The cardinal just hangs out deep in that cave all day and never comes out except at food time. Link to comment
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