where to buy liverock online?

T

TwanDizzle

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Jul 31, 2006
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hey guys, i'm finally up and running, with livesand on the bottom of the tank, and i'm ready for bookoo's of liverock! ok, maybe not that much, but 80 lbs worth... i think anyway.... 55gallon, want to do the "berlin" filtration system... so anyway, my question is, where is the best place to order liverock online? the only 2 i can think of off the top of my head is liveaquaria and saltwaterfish.com... i'm sort of leaning towards liveaquaria, because of their "arrive alive" guarantee... i'm not sure on the prices and/or quality tho... 35 lbs of "foundation rock" for 60 bucks and 45 lbs of fiji premium liverock for 120, i just don't know... i mean, its affordable to me, but can i find better quality stuff for cheaper? better quality as in nice big chunks, variety in shapes and sizes between each separate piece.. i guess i'm looking for uncured rock, since i'll be using it to cycle the aquarium, correct? i mean, i could get cured, but won't uncured be cheaper? and i'll end up getting more critters out of it? oh, i could have had 70 lbs liverock for only 50 bucks, but the seller sold it to someone else before i could get the money... now i've got considerably more money to work with, so i can get something more dependable..

but anyway, yeah, i just need to know the best website to order from...
 
try Ebay too and your local craigslist. I've gotten tons of liverock (used figuritivly) from them. either way you will have to cycle the tank if you add it or cure the rock if it's established
 
well, i was at the LFS just a minute ago, bought a saltwater master test kit from API, and while i was there, i asked the guy if they sold liverock... all they had for sale was 3 pieces, maybe a total of 3.5 lbs... he told me it was 7.99 a pound... i just turned around and paid for the test kit.. that just seems like WAAAAYY too much for liverock... i mean, on average, liverock online cost between 2 and 3 bucks... not only did it seem to be too much money, but to me, it just looked like a piece of colorful cement... people brag about the stuff they find growing on or in their liverock, and this was just like "ehh"...

but i did think of something earlier today... at the moment, all i've got is saltwater, livesand, a heater, hydrometer, and the test kit... do i need to add lighting and a pump/powerhead before i add the liverock? i've got basic lights that came with the aquarium when i bought it, just 2 18 inch flourescent bulbs.. the reason i ask this, is at the moment, i can either buy the lights, or the liverock, or the pumps and/or powerheads... but not all at the same time... its gonna be a couple of weeks before i can buy the rest of it... i just need to know the next most important thing to add? and i kind of need to know real quick because i don't want my livesand to die because i don't have any circulation or lights on it...
 
Live rock, in my opinion is one of the reasons why we have tanks like we do...The diversity of live is amazing, people do think that live rock is just there to make a tank look pretty, but its there for loads of reason..Like providing filtration for the tank, provides a large surface area for bacteria, places for the little ones to hide is just a couple.. $7.99 aint really that bad a price for "Cured Live Rock"...

Before you add live rock, you do need some powerheads in the tank to get the circulation going, else you are going to end up with dead spots. The way i would do it is buy the powerheads...Then the live rock...then the lights..

That way, the tank can start up the cycle and as soon as you ahve brought your lights, get them on..The basic lights will do for the time being. Is this going to be a Reef or just fish and live rock?

Niko
 
most likely FOWLR to begin with, i don't think it will ever be a full fledged reef aquarium, but maybe a few corals here and there... we'll just have to see down the road...but i want it to be basically "reef-ready" in case i change my mind, which i tend to do rather easily...

ok, powerheads, most likely i'll end up going online for these, but at the LFS, i saw 2 different ones... they were aquaclear, one for 30 gallons, and the other for 20... i think the bigger said "formerly aquaclear 301" or something like that... but i'm assuming these are too small? even if i get 2 of the 30's? (they had 2 of each)... oh yeah, and how should i set up my powerheads? one on each side of the tank, both at the top, both on one side? one at top, other at the bottom, or what?? maybe i'm thinking of something other than powerheads... in some aquariums, i've seen the thing at the top of the tank, that moved back and forth, and sprayed water, causing waves or whatnot, and then they had a tube going down to the bottom of the tank, and water was spraying out of it as well...

anyway, what kind of powerheads would you recommend? as i await the answer i'll be shopping..
 
As you are not going for a reef tank, the lighting is not overly important to start off with. But i would recomend getting some actinics when you do start to buy them..You can get some good 50/50 T5 power compact lights which should be ok for your FOWLR system..

Well, on the make of powerheads, as i am in the UK, i dont know what is the usually seller in the US. I personally use Maxi-Jets. They are reliable, and they have a good reputation...Quick bit of math on circulation, works out at about 2000 litres per hour circulation ( tank litres x 10 )..If you buy two powerheads that will do this combined, you will not be far off at all..If it were me, it would be 2 maxi-jet 1200's...You can control the ammount of flow on this make of powerhead..

Powerhead placement is really down to trial and error really, there is no hard and fast rule..In my FOWLR tank ( which is about the same as yours ) i have 2 maxijet 1200, one at each end in the middle. One pointing down the back of the tank, the other pointing more towards the front. This gives a good current around the rock work etc. I also, for good measure, have an empty canister filter ( no media in it ) on the tank and i use the water return from that to blow through the rocks, so i dont end up with dead spots..

A good way to check for dead spots, is with everything in there, except live stock is to get a dropper and add a couple drops of milk and watch the milk get circulated round. This will give you a good idea and a base point to work from. How-ever, note, only use a couple of drops....

As the tank starts to cycle with the live rock etc etc in there, if you notice a build of bad detrius and brown algae, it does usually point towards a dead spot in the circulation..You are gonna get brown algae on the sand due to diatom blooms cus its a new tank..

What you are refering to that you have seen in your lfs where the water in effect has waves, is called a wave maker. This alternates power through different powerheads at different intervals, to create a wave effect...

Hope this sheds a little light for you mate..

Niko
 
ok, i think i can get maxijets from shmeebay... there's a website, melloreef.com, that just has info about someone's 55gallon aquarium, and they use a maxijet 600 and a 1200... how much of a difference would this be compared to your double 1200's? i was thinking about putting one on each side of the tank, like you did, but instead of being in the middle, have one towards the back and the other towards the front... and just have them directed straight out... but then again, i guess that's exactly like yours...hehe
 
tampabayaquaculture.com

Tons of aquacultured live rock there.
 
correction, tampabaysaltwater.com
 
alright, i ordered 2 maxijet 1200's from marinedepot... 18 bucks didn't seem like a bad deal to me... considering i did a google search, and they averaged between 20 and 35... aquacultured liverock would be more expensive, wouldn't it??
 
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