[beginnersluck]

I was wondering if anyone had a place on the internet to recomend buying some fully cured live rock. So far I have had nothing but a nightmare trying to set up my saltwater tank.

Thanks,
Jeff

[scubadude]

Hi Jeff
Why not try some of our sponsors here on Reefland. Premium Aquatics is a good place to start IME. Is there a certain type of LR you where looking for? You do realize you will have some amount of die off from transit from any place you order online for shipping right?

Originally Posted by beginnersluck

I was wondering if anyone had a place on the internet to recomend buying some fully cured live rock. So far I have had nothing but a nightmare trying to set up my saltwater tank.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Spick]

Originally Posted by beginnersluck

I was wondering if anyone had a place on the internet to recomend buying some fully cured live rock. So far I have had nothing but a nightmare trying to set up my saltwater tank.

Thanks,
Jeff

Go to www.aquaria.ca and see what you think. There is definitely quality livestock there.

[Samper]

If you can just let it cure in your tank...will smell a bit though.
I've read good stuff about Tampa Bay Saltwater rock. They ship it in water which would help with minimizing die off. The rock is pretty heavy from what I've read since it's not very pourous sp? What rock I've seen from there though is teeming with life.

[naser]

anyting i think youd get shipped would need to be recured. i think even rock thats at a fish store would need alittle help much less shipped rock.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Spick

Go to www.aquaria.ca and see what you think. There is definitely quality livestock there.

That might work for someone who lives in Canada but not for someone in the U.S.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by beginnersluck

I was wondering if anyone had a place on the internet to recomend buying some fully cured live rock. So far I have had nothing but a nightmare trying to set up my saltwater tank.

Thanks,
Jeff

I purchased fully cured live rock from a vendor in South Carolina who is no longer in business. It had been cured in his curing vat for more than six weeks before I purchased it. It was shipped air freight and arrived at my local airport within about 16 hours. The total shipping charge was less than $100 for three boxes totalling 191 pounds! The rock arrived in EXCELLENT condition with no foul smell whatsoever. My initial cycle was completed in only a few days. I failed to measure any ammonia because I didn't test during the first 48 hours and by that time any ammonia had disappeared. I chose to go that route because I was cycling a tank in my bedroom and didn't want to deal with anything "smelly."

HOWEVER, now that you already have your live rock in your tank, I think you should keep it and continue to cure it. It will be fully cured eventually. I would not add any more live rock until after you have cured what you already have and that may take a couple of months. At that point you may wish to add a small amount of very nice fully cured live rock to add some diversity.

After reading the ad copy on the vendor's site that described the rock you purchased, I suspect that it may have been stored in the box for some period of time. Why else would they talk about reboxing and "rehydrating" the rock prior to shipment? There is nothing wrong with "Premium Fiji" live rock. That's just plain old Walt Smith live rock. Walt Smith supplies most of the live rock to the hobby. There are more expensive grades of live rock but regular premium Fiji live rock will work just fine. It is very likely that your live rock will recover and look gorgeous in three or four months. The fact that you got such a very high ammonia spike just indicates that the rock was out of water longer than usual. Some vendors have sold live rock that they kept stored in the boxes for a week or two. I have no way of knowing if that's what happened in your situation but the fact that your ammonia reading was 8.0 ppm makes me suspect that you didn't get it in a timely manner.

IMO, all of that is water under the bridge at this point. Your rock will be fine once it cures. Removing all of this rock and starting over with fully cured live rock seems like a lot of work to me.

[Spick]

Originally Posted by Ninong

That might work for someone who lives in Canada but not for someone in the U.S.

80% of his business is the US...

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Spick

80% of his business is the US...

The topic starter asked where he could buy some "fully cured live rock" and you recommended a Canadian vendor. Why would someone who lives in Missouri order fully cured live rock from Canada and pay much, much more for it?

The Canadian vendor you recommended charges $7.99/lb for fully cured live rock. Converting that from loonies to dollars equals US$6.64/lb PLUS shipping from CANADA!

Here is one of Reefland's sponsors that charges $3.99/lb for fully cured Fiji Premium live rock (40 lbs or more): http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=Liverock

And in the case of that vendor, I'm sure the shipping charges from Indiana to Missouri would be cheaper than the shipping charges from Canada to Missouri.

All of that rock is coming from the same place. Why would somone in the U.S. want to pay much, much more to get it from Canada???

[Spick]

I was simply recommending a good vendor thats all... Pricing is a whole different lot. But what you say makes sense.