Figi rock

[Eileen]

I've made up my mind on my new tank. After thinking more and checking space etc. I think a 46gal. bowfront would be a better beginning tank for me. I've also decided to start with more live rock and a good skimmer. I've already bought a Zoomed wavemaker 214. (any thoughts?) But what I want to find out about is the live rock. I have a store that sells Figi rock for $4.99 a pound. Would you all give me feed back on Figi compared to other rocks. Again, this would be a FOWLR tank with hopes of reef in the future. Fish with some invertabrates. Thanx all!

[kreblak]

Fiji rock is excellent. I have a nice chunk of it, and it is brilliantly purple. I came coated in corraline algae. However, that was the extent of it's hitchhikers. I have found that live rock from the Caribbean and the Gulf come with many more hitchhikers. My live rock from www.gulf-view.com came with macroalgaes, two feather dusters, a sponge, and a couple of anemones. Not to mention all of the copepods that showed up after I added the rocks! :cool:

Anyway, I like hitchhikers, so I prefer rock that hasn't been shipped from halfway around the world. Fiji is awfully far away, and the rock undergoes a lot of die back during shipping. Of course, that is just what some people want. I have a friend that is so paranoid about getting a mantis shrimp in on his LR that he cures everything he gets for 4 weeks. That is a little over the top, bu to each their own.

So to answer your question, yes, Fiji rock is great rock, but if you are looking for a diverse selection of hitchhikers, you may wish to look to closer geographic regions.

[Eileen]

Thanx Kreblak! :) I don't think I'd be too worried about hichhikers except that I wouldn't have the light to keep them alive. I'm not planning on putting in "reef" lights. Do you have higher intensity lights?

[OrionGirl]

The vast majority of hitch hikers are not photosynthetic critters. Limpets, snails, urchins, crabs, worms, and pods are the best things that come in on good live rock, and do not need high lights. Not too infrequently, a small coral will be on something, or a healthy chunk of macro algae, but they are not the hitch hikers referenced most frequently.

[BrianH]

Actually the gulf-view rock comes loaded with macro algae. Mine came with about 4 different types that I've still never seen anywhere else. It also came with an open brain, sponges, clams and other unidentified bivalves.

Brian

[Eileen]

The oddball "critters" like the sponges/anemones were the hich hikers I was thinking of that wouldn't survive. Have many of you purchased rock online? I was thinking of getting a few just for diversity. Perhaps getting a better sampling of bacteria and "good" items. :)

[kreblak]

I purchased rock through gulf view on the advice of either GuyW or BrianH, I forget which. Anyway, the rock arrived promptly and in great shape, came loaded with hitchhikers, and the cost (including S&H) was significantly less than buying the rock from my LFS, who charges $7.99/lb.

To answer your question, my lighting is quite pathetic for a reef. I have 72 watts of flourescant lighting over a 46 gallon tank. That comes to 1.56 watts per gallon. So far, the sponge I got has done all right, the anemones have done quite well, the feather dusters are doing great, and the 'pods are feeding my dottyback until he is quite stuffed. :cool:

[BrianH]

Eileen,
Most of my hitchhikers(including the open brain coral) did survive the shipping to my house from gulf-view. You may see some initial die off, but then many of the hitchikers wiil come back over time.

Brian

[mogurnda]

Yeah, that's one of the big benefits of gulf rock. It takes days (or hours) to go from the ocean to you. I went with Tampa Bay Saltwater (http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com) and had so much fun figuring out what everything was. After 18 months, there is still a ton of stuff left. Sponges, corals, macroalgae, porcelain crabs (reef safe), pistol shrimp, tunicates, fanworms and so on.

I posted this thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195898) on reef central a while ago. It describes the rock in a lot more detail. I hope I don't get in trouble for linking to another board, but I'm too lazy to re-create it.

[OrionGirl]

Just to clarify--linking to a related thread in another board is completely acceptable. Referring someone to another board, when AC is not able to provide an answer and the other board will, is acceptable.

Referring people to a personal board that is not likely to provide better responses, just to push a personal agenda, is not okay. Consider wetmanNY--we (mods) have no problem with him encouraging people to visit his site--he does so because there is a great deal on good, solid information there. He's trying to help people, rather than bolster the ratings/hits on his site.

[frazin78]

It's too bad I live in Canada. Extra charges to be shipped here. I wish I could get the same LR you guys have access to without any extra charges.... :( My LFS only sell the bottom coraline stuff without any growth on it what so ever. You might be lucky if it has little polips on it but if there are enough to be called a little colony they will put the rock aside and charge you 5 times the price.

Jc