LR, not so alive...why?

[Fcamdog]

Living in Hawaii I can't have a reef tank. It's not too bad though because I can just go snorkling for hours at a time and see a beautiful reef 10 minutes from my house. What I have noticed is that pieces of LR, or reef rubble, that sits in the shallows and on the reef flats are COVERED with macro-algae and tons of other life. Why do we hobbyists get such dead rock when we order LR back on the mainland? If fish and inverts are shipped bagged in oxygen, why isn't LR offered the same way for sale? I know it would be expensive, but people would only buy a few pieces to liven up their tanks, like seeding your tank. I was so excited when I got my first shipment of LR for my first reef tank and now I think back on it and am kind of dissappointed with what I got. This was just a thought and I wonder how many other people would like the option to buy a couple of pieces of truly live rock if it was offered?

[MarkS]

Simple. Shipping costs.

You have it shipped from the collection site to the wholeseller to the retailer and then possibly to the customer if it is a MO order.

The rock is not shipped it water for this reason. Water is VERY heavy and so are the rocks. It cuts down on shipping costs not to add water, but the trade off is the amount of die off.

Some people might not mind paying $25+ for a pound of live rock, myself included, if it is covered in life, but very few of those people can afford it.

Mark

[Fcamdog]

I did mention the expense in my post, it would be, but the trade off if well worth it. One five pound rock, covered with life should be worth $25 to me. How many other people would it be worth to? When I move back to the mainland I would like the option.

[MarkS]

Originally posted by Fcamdog
I did mention the expense in my post, it would be, but the trade off if well worth it. One five pound rock, covered with life should be worth $25 to me.

Not one $25 FIVE pound rock. One $25 ONE pound rock. ;;

It would be worth it to me too, but I can hardly afford it at current prices.

Originally posted by Fcamdog
How many other people would it be worth to?

Good question, but I guarantee not many. I would not start a business selling very live live rock for $25+ per pound.

Originally posted by Fcamdog
When I move back to the mainland I would like the option.

Talk to a wholeseller. MaryMH on this board would be a good person to talk to. What you are asking is not impossible, but unusual and difficult.

Mark

[organicreefer]

well actually, that five pound rock @25$ per pound would be 125 plus tax you could buy all the "life" seperately for less i would imagine;)

[MarkS]

Organicreefer makes a very good point.

Almost, if not all, of the life that you want would be available separately and much cheaper. It would be better to seed the rock with external life than pay so much for a rock that already has it on/in it.

Not to mention that most of the life that you saw in the ocean would probably reck havoc in the confines of a tiny glass box. ;)

Mark

[David]

Fcamdog- I am back in states one year after living on St Thomas for 12. Yes, what they call "live rock" here is laughable. What's even more outrageous is that you have to BUY it. Unbelievable! For islanders, collecting is more than half the fun, but the harsh realities of simple economics make it impossible to ship that fresh rock and keep it alive. The die off alone would ruin it. IMO $25 / pound isn't even realistic. Then you have to consider the "downside" of that rock in closed systems. There is simply too much life for most tanks to handle, I had horrible algae problems and spent hours each day trying to get mantis shrimp and other predators out of my tanks. I think you need about 100 gallons per pound of "real live rock" to make it work.
On the other hand, no amount of "seeding with external life" is going to make this dead crap we have here look like real LR. Real LR looks like a flower boquet, you shouldn't be able to see any "rock" at all, just fan worms, feather dusters, christmas trees and macros. Oh well, it's all relative. The "dead crap" we have here is what there is so we all accept it as "live" and do the best we can.

[wastedincome420]

Hey Fcamdog...Did you say you can't
have a reef tank in hawiai? How come?????

[kevinpo]

They are afraid that non native species would be released into the wild and cause havoc for the native populations.

Kevin

[MarkS]

Originally posted by wastedincome420
Hey Fcamdog...Did you say you can't
have a reef tank in hawiai? How come?????

It's illegal to keep corals or live rock, whether native to Hawaii or not, on Hawaii unless you can prove it is for scientific reasons. In fact, I think it is illegal even to keep marine fish if they are native to Hawaii; although I could be wrong on that point.

Sad, isn't it?

Mark

I was going to type "Thank God I live in America" and then it hit me! Really is a very sad law!

[kevinpo]

Yes, even native animals are illegal to keep. Very sad! I wanted to live in Maui but I could not give up my reef (OK maybe if I could work at the Waikiki Aquarium

[wastedincome420]

Well thats helps explain alot to me.......The person I bought my
new 105g set-up and who gave me my 58g with LR and fish
just moved there. When he gave me the 58g he wasn't planning
on selling the 105g then all of a sudden called me said it's for sale
So with out much thought I bought it. Hope I got a good deal


Wastedincome420@aol.com

[Fcamdog]

Almost all of the fish you can keep. I have a tank set-up with "dead" rock, white old dead LR collected from the beach. My dead rock is alive by now but not very colorful yet. A good trade off was that my live sand was free, just collected it at the 5 gallon bucket maximum per day. Macro-algae is just a swim away, along with quite a few non-coral inverts that are okay to keep. At one point I had like 5 feather dusters, then it got boring and I put 4 back in the ocean.
Point being, I would like to see a real piece of live rock for sale when I get back to the mainland and I believe a five pound piece could be shipped over, with profit for the person, for only around $35. That would be worth it to me and if you saw what I do here it would be to you as well.

[Wind]

Hey. Fcamdog. Where on the same boat. Well, since your moving back to the mainland, then you got nothing to worry about.. all it is is time.. I have 2 dusters.