Ad'y - Follow this link
http/www.gulf-view.com/liverock.html
This is to the live rock I told you about - The coralline is $3/pound. Even with shipping you can’t beat it – if you have a LFS go there and view what they have and for what price. Then hit this web site – Trust me when I tell you what you see on that page is EXACTLY what you will get (if not even better). Deco and Coral cluster is $5/pound – keep in mind, I have never (nor has anyone I have spoken to) found anything close to this rock suppliers goods in any LFS. I don’t know what you know about live rock – but let me explain it in my limited view:
Most live rock you will find in a LFS will be from Fiji, as you can imagine shipping from Fiji isn’t cheap nor easy. They pull the most beautiful specimens you will ever see from the ocean and toss it on shore (that’s where the die off begins – we will discuss die off and curing in a minute). On the shore it is then power washed to get all the plants and “hitch hikers” (crabs etc – the stuff you want really <mostly>) from there it is crated up and put on a plane within 36 hours (supposedly). Then flown to wherever – on the plane it resides on open shelving and it automatically sprayed to keep wet. Then eventually it gets to a LFS where it is tossed in a tank. This now must be cured – since there is dramatic die off on it. Die off is the algae itself dieing as well as hitch hikers that were in the holes of the rock that are now dead and decaying and will spike nitrites and ammonia in your tank. So the LFS holds it for about 2 weeks until the levels in the tank stabilize, then they call it cured and sell it to you for about $5-6/pound.
Now, in comparison – The guy I told you about will dive in the ocean box up what he pulls out and immediately ship it to you. You have it in your tank in under 24 hours. Yes there is some die off – but nothing your tank can’t handle. The hitchhikers you get will range from odd snails, crabs, serpent stars etc. But most impressive are the feather dusters and the like that you just can’t buy in a LFS. There are critters in my tank that I can’t identify that came on my rock. But I also ended up with a crab I didn’t want and spent an hour or two with my wife chasing the little bugger.
So, that’s pretty much what I have found about live rock – I swear by gulf-view, Dale is one of the most honest and trustworthy person I have met over the internet. My wife and I are discussing building a new home, part of the plans are to build a 600 or so gallon tank into a wall with a room behind for all the workings. Dale will get a call from me to ship up 700 pounds one day, that will be 500 coralline, 100 deco and premium deco and 100 coral cluster. We have learned so much on this first tank, and still have an immense amount of information to gain.