Live rock

[Gill11]

Hi , 

Sorry to ask this question which has been likely asked before but what are everyone’s opinions about high quality live rock from either tampabay saltwater or kp aquatics or a reputable company like that vs going the dry rock route and making a custom hand made and glued together aquascape (that you can really design as you wish ) 

 

thanks

Gill

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Check out my two tanks one thread, build journal. I got live rock from TBS in March, for the 365 day competition. I think it’s fantastic. However, I did get what a lot of people would consider “pests”. 

I also have a glued together dry rock tank, that’s the rock flower tank, that I just started a journal on. I’ve done both, and I’d lean towards ocean rock for any future builds... But critters don’t scare me. 

 

I’m a huge believer in biodiversity when it comes to aquariums. Nothing beats the ocean, in my opinion. 

[Gill11]

3 minutes ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

Check out my two tanks one thread, build journal. I got live rock from TBS in March, for the 365 day competition. I think it’s fantastic. However, I did get what a lot of people would consider “pests”. 
 

I’m a huge believer in biodiversity when it comes to aquariums. Nothing beats the ocean, in my opinion. 

I will read through your threads , because if I go down the live rock route , would be nice to know all the possible pests I can get , how to identify them and how to get rid of them 

 

 

thanks for the reply

 

Gill

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

You’re welcome. Ask any questions you might have - I’d be happy to share my experiences. 

[Gill11]

Thanks 🙏 🙏🙏

[Prezpreston]

KP aquatics live rock has been fantastic. Maybe some hitchhikers but much easier to deal with than lack of biodiversity caused issues such as Dino’s (which I’m currently battling right now because my tank reset with dry rock in it)

[Gill11]

1 hour ago, Prezpreston said:

KP aquatics live rock has been fantastic. Maybe some hitchhikers but much easier to deal with than lack of biodiversity caused issues such as Dino’s (which I’m currently battling right now because my tank reset with dry rock in it)

Did you have personal experience with KP aquatics live rock ? 

[Tired]

You want live rock. You need that biodiversity to get your tank stable- dry rock takes years to even begin to reach the state that live rock is in from the moment you get it, and you have to do a lot of adding of supplemental creatures to ever hope to get something like what wet rock comes with. Nothing gets a tank stable faster and prevents algae blooms better than some high-quality live rock. Hell, some people start tanks with live rock and never have algae blooms at all- you won't have that happen with the dry stuff! 

[Gill11]

Just now, Tired said:

You want live rock. You need that biodiversity to get your tank stable- dry rock takes years to even begin to reach the state that live rock is in from the moment you get it, and you have to do a lot of adding of supplemental creatures to ever hope to get something like what wet rock comes with. Nothing gets a tank stable faster and prevents algae blooms better than some high-quality live rock. Hell, some people start tanks with live rock and never have algae blooms at all- you won't have that happen with the dry stuff! 

Thanks , I think I’ve pretty much made up my mind that I’ll go with live rock and go for as high a quality as I can because I’m a nano tank it’s not like I need a whole lot . 
now trying to read up on forums as to which supplier to get it from , I’m leaning towards getting it flown in from one of the companies that have acquacultured rock in Florida 

gulfliverock vs tampabay saltwater vs KP aquatics , any thoughts ??

[sublunary]

I used live rock in my first tank, from various LFSs, so I didn't need to worry about shipping.  Live is absolutely the way to go for a first tank, so you can get the excitement of seeing and identifying surprise critters.   And yeah, there are some stability benefits.

 

Please go into it with a thirst for discovery, and not with a desire to kill everything that might cause harm.  Read as much as you can in the ID forum so you know what to expect.  If you see something you can't ID, assume it's neutral until you learn otherwise.  So many people panic and kill things for no reason. 

 

I've heard good things about all three of those companies.  The only one I have experience with was KPA, and they were great.   I know the search function on the site kind of sucks, but you can probably use it to find old reviews for all three companies that will help you compare.

[Prezpreston]

1 hour ago, Gill11 said:

Did you have personal experience with KP aquatics live rock ? 

Yes sirree I just bought about 12.5 lbs of their premium live rock around 3 weeks ago. Good amount of coralline coverage (they say 75% and some rocks def had that), good amount of sponges, some cool hitchhikers (including a pencil urchin I can’t keep because I have corals) and tons of other critters and goodies. I would get it shipped with water, because I’m dealing with die off 3 weeks later after getting it shipped overnight In wet newspaper. 

[Gill11]

2 hours ago, Prezpreston said:

Yes sirree I just bought about 12.5 lbs of their premium live rock around 3 weeks ago. Good amount of coralline coverage (they say 75% and some rocks def had that), good amount of sponges, some cool hitchhikers (including a pencil urchin I can’t keep because I have corals) and tons of other critters and goodies. I would get it shipped with water, because I’m dealing with die off 3 weeks later after getting it shipped overnight In wet newspaper. 

Thanks yes that was the plan that if I get from TBSW or KPA that I would get it shipped in water and pick up right away from the airport and right into my tank 

[Gill11]

3 hours ago, sublunary said:

I used live rock in my first tank, from various LFSs, so I didn't need to worry about shipping.  Live is absolutely the way to go for a first tank, so you can get the excitement of seeing and identifying surprise critters.   And yeah, there are some stability benefits.

 

Please go into it with a thirst for discovery, and not with a desire to kill everything that might cause harm.  Read as much as you can in the ID forum so you know what to expect.  If you see something you can't ID, assume it's neutral until you learn otherwise.  So many people panic and kill things for no reason. 

 

I've heard good things about all three of those companies.  The only one I have experience with was KPA, and they were great.   I know the search function on the site kind of sucks, but you can probably use it to find old reviews for all three companies that will help you compare.

Since you got it from KPA , did your rock have coralline and did they send a variety of shapes so you could aquascape well ??? Because at least from picks it seems that they have more coralline than TBSW live rock 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Unless something has changed in the last couple of months, KPA wasn’t shipping in water when I was looking for live rock. Which is why I ultimately decided to go with TBS. 

[Tamberav]

I got KPA rock for my pico and some extra for my 80g... about 25 lbs worth in total... I didn't get anything I could call a bad pests. Lots of dead emerald type crabs, and a pistol. I would have loved some odd crabs and mantis tbh but it is just luck of the draw. I did get lots of worms, dusters, tunicates, sponges and mystery blobs!

 

I love that rock. I would go with their rock 100%!! People talk about pests on live rock but there is dry rock pests too... it's called dino 😛

 

Pests are typically not difficult to deal with in a nano, there just isn't many places for them to hide. 

 

 

[Gill11]

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

I got KPA rock for my pico and some extra for my 80g... about 25 lbs worth in total... I didn't get anything I could call a bad pests. Lots of dead emerald type crabs, and a pistol. I would have loved some odd crabs and mantis tbh but it is just luck of the draw. I did get lots of worms, dusters, tunicates, sponges and mystery blobs!

 

I love that rock. I would go with their rock 100%!! People talk about pests on live rock but there is dry rock pests too... it's called dino 😛

 

Pests are typically not difficult to deal with in a nano, there just isn't many places for them to hide. 

 

 

Thanks , I’m definitely going with live rock and now that I have quite a few of you with personal experience with KP aquatics , I’m probably going to go with them