Hello all, new here a few questions

k2parkstar

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I will have the greatest SPS T5 tank in East Tennessee, just give me a while to grow my awesome frags!
 
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CoryC

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Where's the best place to buy online cycled live rock? I wasn't happy with the 30 lbs I purchased recently.
 

SLUF681

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I don't know that there is any such thing as cycled live rock online. It's ALL shipped with wet newspaper wrapped around it. I may know a guy that has some rock though. I'll text you his #.
 

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Where's the best place to buy online cycled live rock? I wasn't happy with the 30 lbs I purchased recently.

Any live rock you by online will have die off in transit, so you will have to cycle any live rock that has been shipped. I bought some dry rock from this company Ocean Life Direct, LLC
 
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CoryC

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Right, I just meant cured or mostly cured. That way the water changes aren't like when completely curing rock
 

SLUF681

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Right, I just meant cured or mostly cured. That way the water changes aren't like when completely curing rock

That's the thing... When you buy rock online, HOPEFULLY it was shipped by air to the place you're buying it from. Then, they're gonna ship it to you. At BEST your rock has been out of the water for 2 days, most likely longer. There will be a ton of die-off, therefore a cycle. You're better off buying dry rock (like Marco rocks) and letting them become live. When curing your rock, lower the temp to about 72* and run an aerator. My experience with dry rock is that it doesn't cause a real cycle as long as you dose it with something like Microbacter7. I've made about 200 lbs of DIY rock and never saw a cycle. Rob loves my DIY rocks, but he won't admit it!
 
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CoryC

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So would a better bet be local live rock? Seems like I had very little of a cycle last time using it. They have larger pieces which I like.
 

Rob.D

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If you plan on using dry rock, go for it, you will need to "seed" the dry rock with some live rock. Just get some live rock to seed your tank from a trusted retailer or hobbyist.
 

SLUF681

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If you buy live rock locally and it is in water when you buy it and you take it home and put it in, you're fine.
 

SLUF681

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I'm not AT work tonight! Ha Ha Ha! I'm off tonight. Now tomorrow night and Thursday night will be a different story. Lol
 

EvilMel

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Where's the best place to buy online cycled live rock? I wasn't happy with the 30 lbs I purchased recently.

I bought mine from Premium Aquatics. I got the Bali rock. It has to be cured a teeny bit when you get it but so what. It's a new tank anyway, right? Who cares if it has to sit for a little while.

I don't agree with buying dry rock. I think tanks are best built with good live rock. Local live rock is even better, especially if you like the size/shape of their pieces. I just usually cannot afford to fully stock a tank with local live rock. Plus I like to get live rock from more than one place so there's more bacterial diversity in my tank.
 

EvilMel

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I'm going to add one more thing. I don't mean any offense to anyone BUT most of the local dry rock I have seen doesn't have as nice of shape to it as the live rock I've seen. When I got that rock from Premium Aquatics (and previously when I bought good live rock from Aquatic Specialists), it's full of holes and caves and sometimes has coral polyps, sponges, or nice macro algaes on it. PLUS almost everyone that I've seen use that dry rock later has a problem with algae. I don't know if there's some extra phosphates in it or what...but for whatever reason that dry rock tends to promote algae growth, in my experience.

I just don't think it's as quality of a buy. PLUS it takes a long while to look like reef rocks because they're so sterling white.
 
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