Live Rock Ranch

[bcoop78]

Hello,

 

I am new here and have started acquiring all of the necessities to start a new reef. I am not new to the hobby, but have been away for some time. Any ways, I am contemplating a different approach to starting my reef than my past experiences. In the past, each reef I started was by using live rock from a local source- so that a large majority of the bacteria, desirable and UNdesirable made it into my tank alive. This time I am considering ordering from a Florida company called "Live Rock Ranch", that actually puts rock into the ocean and waits for it to become "live" before "harvesting" it and selling it to the general public at around $3-$4 per pound. Has anyone in this group tried something of this nature? What were the results? Would I be better off buying dry rock and tossing a shrimp from the deli in to start the cycle? Your advice and expertise is appreciated in advance....

[jaddc]

I used tampa bay saltwater, which is the same idea. Loved the company and the results. Cycling was a breeze. However, there are a ton of hitchhikers and that is a matter of preference. Most good and cool, some obnoxious. I much rather look at a tank with a ton of cool stuff. Bottom line is that if want a reef tank, I'd probably go dry rock because it is easier to aqua scape and there are no hitchhikers. If you want a fowlr or hybrid, then the farmed stuff is a nice addition.

 

If I did again I would go maybe 50/50. Put down a base of dry rock and then the farmed live rock on top. It would be cheaper that way.

[zygote2k]

I've been using aquacultured rock like what TBS sells for nearly 15 years. I used to be the local distributor for farmed keys rock way back in the day.

It's great stuff because you get a ton of life that you won't find in any other type of rock. Sure, there are somew hitchhikers, but those can be removed.

[CaptainRon]

I used TBS back before they started the farm concept. Lots and lots of life on the rock. I don't know what kind of rock they're using now in their farm but the old stuff was fine. Between that live rock and the stuff I got from Roozens back then I had plenty of crabs, aptasia and mantis shrimp in my tank, but that just made it fun to catch everything I used to bring the mantis I'd catch down to Marine Scene and watch them get eaten by some big fishes.

[Steve175]

I have had 2 mantis for every 10lbs of Florida rock. Never any from south pacific rock (recently passed the 1/2 ton mark)

[bcoop78]

So what I gather is that it may be a better idea to find someone reputable on the forum who has say.... 120lbs of live rock for my 60 gal cube, and is willing to part with it for a reasonable price, than it is to order from FL???

[zygote2k]

For every mantis you get on TBS rock, you'll get 3 predatory crabs. All of these hitch-hikers can be sold or traded to fellow reefers.

Think of them as a rebate when you buy fresh rock.

[MBVette]

I bought a couple hundred pounds from TBS for my tank and sure there were some gorilla crabs, but there were tons of nice urchins, porcelain crabs and such. Get the farmed rock you wont be sorry.

[mogurnda]

I bought a couple hundred pounds from TBS for my tank and sure there were some gorilla crabs, but there were tons of nice urchins, porcelain crabs and such. Get the farmed rock you wont be sorry.

+1

If you just want rock, buy the stuff from the Pacific. If you want to see tons of interesting inverts, plus macros and corals, get the farmed rock. You will end up pulling out some hairy crabs, and may get lucky and have some mantis shrimp, but it's a much more interesting experience. Really good way to set up a biotope.

[zygote2k]

The last batch of florida rock came with 2 tiger gobies deep within the rock. Free fish!

[bcoop78]

Wow.. Sounds pretty cool.. I'm sure I'll spend a whole week locating/identifying/catching all of the undesirable guys from the tank... One more question: the whole lbs/gal deal.... Does that apply to system volume, or DT volume? I just can't imagine stuffing 120lbs of rock in a 24" cube... Which would be the recommended 2lbs/gal for just the DT, not including any of the water from a 40 gal sump....