Rock Question - New to SW

[brad03]

Hello, I am new to salt water and have been doing alot of reading the past couple days trying to gather as much information as possible. I am looking to setup a salt water tank (55 Gal) but had a question. Basically, I know you need (or if not need, it is VERY helpful) to have live rock in your tank, the thing is I have also read that you can basically create live rock from rock that is not considered live. So, if I were to want to do some live rock with "dead" rock, what would be a good ratio to do so without it taking too long?

Also, are the sites that sell live rock trustworthy? I am a bit cautious with this since at my local fish stores they sell their live rock for around $5-$6 a pound, but online I have found premium Fiji live rock for around $2-$3 a pound.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[BIG_ONE]

Craiglist usually helps a whole lot if your looking for "ready to go" live rock. And if your going to use a base rock and make it live. It's going to take some time, couple months i'd say.

 

[johnson5585]

I got some live rock from Live aquaria and loved it. Had to cure it, but I was setting up a new tank and cured it in the tank and this also started my tank cycle. I got 45 lbs for like 150 bucks shipped (about 3.30 a pound). It has colored up nicely. The only bad part about ordering it online is you get what they ship. I lucked out and got a lot of nice pieces. But when you purchase from your LFS it is normally already cured and you get to pick what shape and size you get.

 

[bromie88]

a good mix is 60% live 40% base rock. but it can take the best part of 2 years to become fully live. and at the start, when you need it most, you will only have 60% of your filtration.

your best bet is checking out websites like craigslist ect (as mentioned before me) for rock in your area from people tearing down their tanks. you can go and pick out the pieces you want, rather than someone else choosing for you, or palming all the crappy bits off on you. a point also mentioned above me.

i got my rock for £5 per kg fully cured from a similar UK based advertisment website ('www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk' if anyones interested), when all the LFS's near me wanted £7.50-£10 be Kg.

if you find some LR from a tank taredown, you could also ask for a few handfulls of sand from the tank with the LR, as it will be live. it will help your tank cycle. and give you a benificial Bactera boost.

plus you generally have to pay shipping on any rock orders online... and rock is heavy

 

[julsy]

places that are only charging 2-3 a lb are the usually direct ocean sellers from my experience, once its shipped the average cost per pound goes up to about that in a LFS. i kind of like these guys at http://www.liverockusa.com they carry a good mix, friendly folks also. Craigslist is great as well, sometimes you can make money off the people on there, buy the rock, keep what you want and resell the rest.