Live rock suggestions?

[jdiver]

Well, today I took the first step towards my first nano and purchased an AGA 7 gallon mini-bow. I would like to order the live rock and live sand soon, and would like some advice/suggestions. First, how much live sand will I need? I have read a lot of varying information, and am just wondering about how many pounds I would need for a good substrate. Second, I would appreciate suggestions as to what the best live rock for the tank would be. I see the Fiji live rock mentioned quite a bit, but also see many people say to buy the best live rock possible. My lfs does not have much in the way of live rock. They have several tanks with Fiji rock that doesn't look very good for $8/lb, and a large show type tank with better looking live rock, but it costs $15/lb. I am likely going to order from exoticfish.com. Here are my options for live rock to buy: http://www.exoticfish.com/liverock.html Like I said, I would very much welcome and appreciate any and all advice and suggestions. TIA!

[flaunt]

i won't give recommendations about where to get live rock online since i didn't get mine online, but as far as the sand goes, you don't necessarily need all live sand.  are you planning on having a deep sand bed?  if so you could get some aragamax (very fine, dead sand) and put it on the bottom and several pounds of "live sand" on the top of it to seed it.  most of the live "sand" that you'll find isn't really sandy at all, it's pretty chunky.  if you want fine grain live sand there are some places online that sell such sand seeded with lots of critters that you want in your sandbed.  last, i would probably get the sand first and set up the sandbed by itself rather than ordering the sand and rock at the same time, unless you have a temporary holding tank for the rock.  the reason is that when you put the sand in the water will become very cloudy for atleast several days due to the grain size being very fine.  if you put the live rock straight in while it's cloudy the sand will settle on the rock and coat it... it's just less messy and easier to add the rock after the sand is in place.

[Silvian]

I just recently bought some live rock from Dr. Mac at http://www.drmaccorals.com. I bought about 15# of figi, 15# of tonga bubble and 15# of Marshall for a 20g. I was able to have him pick the size of the rock that I was looking for. The figi rock had about 60% coverage of purple coraline. Tonga bubble had about 40% coverage of pink, purple, red , orange and green coraline. And the Marshall had also about 40% coverage of orange, green and purple coraline. There was not that much life on the rock, but it was what I expected for cured live rock.  I also ordered about 10# of live sand from them to seed my sand bed, and came with lots of critters.

 

Another online place that I bought rock from and would recommend is from http://www.gulf-view.com. This is aquacultured rock from the gulf of mexico, comes with a lot of life and hitchhikers (including mantis shrimps) on the rocks.  

 

As with any live rock that you purchase online from any store, each batch of rock will be different.

[Kapelakin]

Gulf View rock is awesome!  I got mine about 2.5 weeks ago, and it had all sorts of critters on it.  For a small tank, you could even go with the coral deco rock, which would have even more life.  My rock came with orange and purple coralline, a few large bivalves attached to the rocks, trumpet snails, and lots of bristlworms that have inhabited the sandbed, two clumps of halimeda, and a little brittle star about 2" stretched out.

 

The rock is dense, so for a 7 gal, I'd probably get about 12 pounds.  Dale will ask what size your tank is and give you the right size rocks for it.

 

HTH

[Korbin]

Maybe travel a few extra miles to another not-so-Local Fish Store.  Chances are they will have completely different rock for a  different price.  If you can find similar rock to the one near you thats not $15/lb (holy cow) it might be worth the extra gas money you spend.

[jdiver]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it! I will follow the advice in regards to putting the sand in first and letting it settle. Both the sites given, drmaccorals.com and gulf-view.com, look like they have good selections. I would prefer to get the live rock myself, but unfortunately stores in my area (an hour north of Philadelphia, PA) are few and far between. Even the "local" store I mentioned with the $15/lb rock is over 1/2 hour away. Ironically, at $15/lb it would be a lot cheaper to get it online, even with shipping that costs as much if not more than the rock itself. Go figure. The deco gulf rock looks really nice, but I also like the Kaelini rock from drmaccorals.com, and I like that they are willing to try to get the shapes and type of rock that I specify. Thanks again for the advice. Now I have some decisions to make.