Live Rock ?'s

Well... The origins of the rock can have less to do with it than who sold you the rock. Some companies take the rock out of water, let it sit for a long time (up to two weeks) and then sell it to you. This can kill 90% or more of the life on the rocks, simly because they dry out. This sort of dried rock is better than none, but it will take a much longer time to be thriving.

In my experience, I think Kaelini live rock is some of the best, but I'm biased because mine came with live corals on it without be paying anything extra.

I used Premium Aquatics: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Liverock and was very happy with my results. They gave me excellent rock at a good price ($4.50 per lb, plus about $50 shipping).

I haven't heard of Walt Smith Fiji rock, but Fiji is the norm for aquarium rock, with Kailini/Tonga, Marshall Islands, and Carribean aquacultured rock being considered a small step up in what I've heard. Make sure you know what happens to your rock before you get it. The less time it spends sitting in a box, the better the variety of life you'll get.

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/price.html#
Tampa Bay saltwater can give you aquacultured rock pulled virtually straight from the ocean and mailed to you. It comes with a huge variety of life, but you should be prepared for that variety to include some pest crabs and mantis shrimp.

live rock

check out Tampabaysaltwater.I got 100 lbs and it was the best thing i could have ever done for my tank.comes in an easy "package"that has everything you need as far as scavengers and such.It comes with tons of extras.lok for red and orange ball sponges pink and blue ones.I also go a few urchins and tons of red mithrax crabs which do their duty.the rock is encrusted with stony corals clams feather dusters and tube worms.tons of corralline on it to,but dont just take my word for it, check out the site.they got a video that is really informative about them.plus Richard really helps and talks to you about your needs.plenty of people on here have gotten it .IME best bang for the buck.plus shipping to an airport is cheap.was something like 42.00 for 115 lbs.not to mention they package their rock in water so everything is alive...I didnt even get a spikee..its a great thing.

good luck,
chris

From what I have heard, Tampa bay is the way to go but their rock is also full of unwanted critters like mantis. Then again, maybe you want a mantis.

I bought Figi lr from my lfs. for $5.00 a lb. and am happy with it. I also traded him an aptasia covered rock for a comparable size Kaeline rock. I really like the shape of that also but did not see any hitchhikers on it.

I just remembered I bought a piece of figi from the same lfs about a month ago. It had app. 25 chitons on it. That was cool.

Sounds like a plan, silverz. Just try to make sure that there is some obvious life on the rocks you grab. (Corraline algae, tube worms, etc.) That makes it more likely that you'll get a nice variety of 'pods, which are great.

I recently purchaced live rock from a LFS for $5/lb. Sadly it came with no "critters" that I've seen but it has some sort of coral or macro algae (I can't tell which, just that it's green and tree-like). I have three LFS within easy driving distance that sell LR and I'll probaly wind up getting a little live rock from all of them (despite the horrible price at one of them of $8/lb) just to mix up what critters I get.

Wait until night and then shine a red light into the tank. If you see tiny white shapes moving around, you have critters.

I'd reccomend garf grunge it will fill your rock and substrate with tones of micro fauna and coraline algae. I purchased some after I started my tank and now I have micro stars, bristle worms, spagetti worms and other critters filling neary every availiable space in my tank http://www.garf.org/
hth
Chris

I highly recommend www.tampabaysaltwater.com as others have posted. I live in Tampa and have been to their facilities many times. You're going to get things you don't want no matter where you buy your live rock from, but www.tampabaysaltwater.com has the best quality control I've seen. They usually seperate the mantis shrimp from the rock if at all possible so don't worry about it. One important thing to note is that they grow their own liverock instead of raping the ocean like most other companies do. Good luck and enjoy!