100% Honest Question. Where do you Source Your Live Rock From and Did it Have Significant Numbers of Hitchhikers?

[livinlifeinBKK]

I am really curious about hitchhikers being such a concern with the use of live rock since I've never dealt with any hitchhikers apart from bristle worms, some crabs, and maybe a few other very minor hitchhikers that aren't very memorable at the moment...I've always used live rock that's come straight out of the ocean which seems like it would carry a pretty high risk or highest risk tbh concerning hitchhikers. However like I said that hasn't been my experience although I see others posting about all their hitchhikers on live rock. Where is your live rock coming from? In other words is it possible it's been sitting together with a ton of other rock and maybe only one out of a hundred pieces had hitchhikers but they spread throughout the vat and infected other pieces? That seems more likely tbh and I next time instead of avoiding live rock, why not just ask some preliminary questions given the numerous benefits to use of live rock. I really am just curious. It seems like logistics in getting the rock to your tank plays a significant role in your hitchikers both in number and in what they are.

 

[xyzner]

Last month I placed an order at KP Aquatics for the deco aquacultured rock and at Unique Corals for the Aussie rock. No bad hitchhikers so far. Caught a larger brittle star I took out, just to be safe…

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Last month I placed an order at KP Aquatics for the deco aquacultured rock and at Unique Corals for the Aussie rock. No bad hitchhikers so far. Caught a larger brittle star I took out, just to be safe…

It seems the closer to the actual source, the fewer hitchhikers...maybe the live rock isn't the issue at all with hitchikers, maybe it's the supply chain

 

[CincyReefer07]

Australian Live Rock from Jason at Pristine Marine Aquariums. The cleanest live rock you’ll ever get. I bought a small shipment of Aussie from Unique but Jason’s stuff is much more unique awesome looking pieces in my opinion. I have 20 pounds from unique and 50 pounds from Jason at pristine. Neither brought in any pests AT ALL. This 60 breeder holding tank is filled with 70lbs of Australian live rock since 3rd week of May. Waiting transfer to my 310g build. NOT A SINGLE PEST, just beautiful unique pieces filled with coraline algae, has some kelp/seaweed attached to it when first arrives, I scrub them clean in a container of saltwater, then placed in my 60 breeder until my 310 is ready to be filled and begin cycling.

Love this rock, best I’ve seen in a long time in the hobby. Best of all, worry free live rock, you don’t get that very often

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Australian Live Rock from Jason at Pristine Marine Aquariums. The cleanest live rock you’ll ever get. This 60 breeder holding tank is filled with 70lbs of Australian live rock since 3rd week of May. Waiting transfer to my 310g build. NOT A SINGLE PEST, just beautiful unique pieces filled with coraline algae, has some kelp/seaweed attached to it when first arrives, I scrub them clean in a container of saltwater, then placed in my 60 breeder until my 310 is ready to be filled and begin cycling.

Love this rock, best I’ve seen in a long time in the hobby. Best of all, worry free live rock, you don’t get that very often

It does look amazing! Personally, I'm bias to the Gulf of Thailand live rock though because that's my local source haha never an unwanted pest and straight from the source (probably only collected hours to days before up for sale tbh) but what you have there looks just as high quality!

 

[CincyReefer07]

It does look amazing! Personally, I'm bias to the Gulf of Thailand live rock though because that's my local source haha never an unwanted pest and straight from the source (probably only collected hours to days before up for sale tbh) but what you have there looks just as high quality!

I don’t know if I’ve seen gulf of Thailand live rock… or maybe I have and they called it something else. Is that or has that been imported to the states in the past?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I don’t know if I’ve seen gulf of Thailand live rock… or maybe I have and they called it something else. Is that or has that been imported to the states in the past?

No, I doubt it...it's just what we get here

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

@CincyReefer07 I can show you some pieces posted for sale if you like just as examples...how it looks really depends on the area it was collected in I believe.

 

[xyzner]

Australian Live Rock from Jason at Pristine Marine Aquariums. The cleanest live rock you’ll ever get. I bought a small shipment of Aussie from Unique but Jason’s stuff is much more unique awesome looking pieces in my opinion. I have 20 pounds from unique and 50 pounds from Jason at pristine. Neither brought in any pests AT ALL. This 60 breeder holding tank is filled with 70lbs of Australian live rock since 3rd week of May. Waiting transfer to my 310g build. NOT A SINGLE PEST, just beautiful unique pieces filled with coraline algae, has some kelp/seaweed attached to it when first arrives, I scrub them clean in a container of saltwater, then placed in my 60 breeder until my 310 is ready to be filled and begin cycling.

Love this rock, best I’ve seen in a long time in the hobby. Best of all, worry free live rock, you don’t get that very often

The rock looks awesome! I’m actually in Cincy too… can remember the days of just driving to any LFS around here and getting the Tonga, Fiji, and Marshall Island stuff.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The rock looks awesome! I’m actually in Cincy too… can remember the days of just driving to any LFS around here and getting the Tonga, Fiji, and Marshall Island stuff.

Those sound like some sweet times to be on the hobby! I just count myself lucky enough to be somewhere that real live rock is still cheap and plentiful.

 

[CincyReefer07]

The rock looks awesome! I’m actually in Cincy too… can remember the days of just driving to any LFS around here and getting the Tonga, Fiji, and Marshall Island stuff.

Nice man! I’m in the Colerain area. I know you can still get some fiji live rock from Monfort aquarium, but that stuff would need some serious pest eradication before going into a display tank. I’ve noticed aiptasia on their live rock. I mainly go to Discover Aquatics for pretty much everything. I’m there probably every other Friday lol

Definitely fortunate in the Cincy area with the number of LFS’ in our area. But as far as live rock goes, Jason at Pristine Marine Aquariums with his Australian live rock is by far the best in the hobby in my opinion that you can get nowadays, and no pests.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Nice man! I’m in the Colerain area. I know you can still get some fiji live rock from Monfort aquarium, but that stuff would need some serious pest eradication before going into a display tank. I’ve noticed aiptasia on their live rock. I mainly go to Discover Aquatics for pretty much everything. I’m there probably every other Friday lol

Definitely fortunate in the Cincy area with the number of LFS’ in our area. But as far as live rock goes, Jason at Pristine Marine Aquariums with his Australian live rock is by far the best in the hobby in my opinion that you can get nowadays, and no pests.

Used live rock from an aquarium just isn't the same regardless...the biodiversity has changed due to environmental factors, competition between bacterial strains, etc....it's REALLY best right from the ocean!

 

[snorklr]

maybe some of the stuff we see in gulf aquacultured rock just isnt native to your area in the first place.....back in the day most of the real live rock was slowly shipped in wet newspaper and any hitchhikers were long dead as well as just about anything else ...it had to be "cured"...left in a tank for weeks for all the dieoff to cycle before you could introduce it to your tank

 

[CincyReefer07]

Used live rock from an aquarium just isn't the same regardless...the biodiversity has changed due to environmental factors, competition between bacterial strains, etc....it's REALLY best right from the ocean!

This isn’t from an aquarium. That’s the name of the LFS. I think you misunderstand the post a little. He gets his stuff straight from australia. No middle man. Picked from waters off coast of Australia, flown straight to him in water, and put into vats in his store. The name of the store is pristine marine aquarium. It’s never out of water from the time it’s picked to the time it gets to me

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

This isn’t from an aquarium. That’s the name of the LFS. I think you misunderstand the post a little. He gets his stuff straight from australia. No middle man. Picked from waters off coast of Australia, flown straight to him in water, and put into vats in his store. The name of the store is pristine marine aquarium. It’s never out of water from the time it’s picked to the time it gets to me

Ohhhh I see...why so much aiptasia then?

 

[CincyReefer07]

maybe some of the stuff we see in gulf aquacultured rock just isnt native to your area in the first place.....back in the day most of the real live rock was slowly shipped in wet newspaper and any hitchhikers were long dead as well as just about anything else ...it had to be "cured"...left in a tank for weeks for all the dieoff to cycle before you could introduce it to your tank

This is much more the scenario with the australia rock i get from Pristine. They are pulled out from Australian waters, shipped in water to my guy in New York, then he ships it damp to me. Then I cure it for 4-6 weeks in a separate tank

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

maybe some of the stuff we see in gulf aquacultured rock just isnt native to your area in the first place.....back in the day most of the real live rock was slowly shipped in wet newspaper and any hitchhikers were long dead as well as just about anything else ...it had to be "cured"...left in a tank for weeks for all the dieoff to cycle before you could introduce it to your tank

Yeah, I've never had to deal with the whole die-off releasing ammonia...that actually kills off a lot of additional biodiversity due to the toxicity of the ammonia

 

[CincyReefer07]

Ohhhh I see...why so much aiptasia then?

Not the Australian rock I posted about. The fiji rock from a local LFS(monfort aquarium) that still has some fiji rock. Because they have it in their tanks to sell. And they have aiptasia in their tanks at their store which is why I do not buy rock from them.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

What does that high quality live rock go for these days over there?

 

[steveschuerger]

I’ve used 3 different sources. Salty Bottom, Gulf Live Rock and KP Aquatics. Each has their pluses . Gulf and Salty Bottom did a few aiptasia but we’re still pretty clean of bad hitchhikers. KP cleanest of the bunch. No bad guys at all. All in all I’ve gotten a few pistol shrimp, bunches of brittle stars and a few mithrax crabs, pencil urchin, bristle worms(I don’t mind em), a a few cup corals and small fan worms. Still need a bit more live rock for my 60 gallon upgrade . Thinking of Tampa Bay Live Rock , heard lots of good things about them.