From: ron@minnow.sp.unisys.com (Ron Burns)
Subject: [M] Live Rock -- Where to get it?  Experiences?  Suggestions?
Followup-To: rec.aquaria
Keywords: live rock Andrew FAMA mail order
Reply-To: ron@minnow.UUCP (Ron Burns)
Organization: Unisys Corporation
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 15:55:49 GMT


There have been several postings over the months asking for info and 
suggestions about where to order live rock from.  
Maybe these people are responded to via Email.
Maybe they are ignored.  
I haven't seen any direct responses posted in any case.  
Since I am soon going to order a shipment of live rock, I, too, was going
to ask for guidance.  In an effort to be a little more helpful than just
asking for help, and in an effort to spark more response, and to contribute
to the wonderful exchange of info here on the net, I present the following.

PS    Where DO you recommend ordering live rock from? 
PPS   What effect has Hurricane Andrew had on live rock availability?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
	A listing of all FAMA advertisers Selling live rock in their ads.
		From FAMA Sept. 1992     
Sorry if I missed your favorite ad, not responsible for inaccuracies

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1)  Coral Solutions.  (602)881-7442    (602)881-7463 FAX
    Indonesian, Caribbean, Mexican.
    No pricing listed.

2)  Conch Republic Aquatics, Inc.  1-800-TO-CONCH  (305)289-1222 FAX
    Macro-Algae coral base rock
    35lb/Box
    <10 boxes  $1.50 / lb   (few of us order more than 350 lbs at a time)
    Ricordea and Gorgonian Rock
    No pricing listed

3)  Caribbean Creatures  1-800-728-3999   (305)852-3149 FAX
    Purple coralline encrusted live reef rock
    $89.95 / Box   no info on amount in box
    
4)  Natural Aquariums Unlimited  (216)773-1414   (216)773-1286 FAX
    live rock available   no other info

5)  Reef Rock International  (602)547-1167
    Mexican live rock  Encrusting coralline algae
    35-40lb/box
    #1 grade $124.00 / box
    #2 grade $ 86.00 / box
    #3 grade $ 62.00 / box
        No explanation of grade, or if any of them made it past 3rd grade

6)  Pisces Coral & Fish  (713)272-9938
    Sea of Cortez and Caribbean  Encrusting algaes and corallines
    sizes 2" to 24"
    $1.45 / lb   30 lb minimum   or
    $49.95/box   35-40lb/box

7)  Zoo Tech  1-800-231-9005
    "Weekly live rock specials"   No other info

8)  Reef Displays of the Florida Keys, Inc. (305)743-0070  (305)743-1971 FAX
    Fresh and cured live rock / Caribbean decorative live rock
    no pricing info

9)  Exotic Aquaria, Inc.   1-800-622-5877orders (305)654-1171 (305)652-8125 Fax
    Cured live rock
    30lb/box
    $125.00/box

10) Reef Scapers  (305)745-3686
    Florida live rock
    30lb/box
    Plant rock - $40.00 / box
    Reef rock -  $70.00 / box

11) Canine Cutlery and World of Aquatics (215)967-1456  (215)967-4228 Fax
    Live rock
    no other info

12) Brantana Aquatics (407)898-9422  (407)898-9423 Fax
    Live Rock
    Christmas worm $6.00/lb
    Halimeda & Coralline Algae $4.00/lb

13) Exotic, Fresh & Reef Enterprises 1-800-882-7489  (410)381-0457 Fax
    Live Rock Florida keys rock fresh or cured
    30lb/box
    $70.00/box

14) The Reef, Etcetera  (713)981-4648
    Live aquarium reef rock
    2" to 24"
    35-40lb/box
    $45.95

15) C & B Distributors  (305)664-4588   (305)664-5536 Fax
    Live Rock
    Plant Rock
    no other info

16) Cortez Handcaught Marines, Inc.  (310)215-0303  (310)215-1732 Fax
    "tank raised, live rock" ???
    No other info

17) Dolfin International Import/Export (305)731-1750  (301)731-1892 Fax
    Live Rock by the pound cleaned and cured
    no other info

18) Caribbean Connection  (305)681-8120   (305)654-1322 Fax
    Live Rock  /  Plant Rock
    By the pound, from the diver
	no pricing ( "Competitive Priced" )


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, That's most of 'em, anyway.

----------------------------
All below this point was culled from .aquaria articles
----------------------------

I recently purchased 90 lbs cured live rock from Pisces Coral & Fish in
Huston, Texas. Their prices are

Cured Live Rock: $49.95 for 30  lbs
Cured Cortez Live Rock: ~= about $83 for 30 lbs

They ship by UPS or air freight but it works out the best if you can
purchase close to 100 lbs to use air freight.

The air freight charge by Northwest was about $75 for 90 lbs. And if you
break it up, it still comes out to about

(50 x 3 + 75) / 90 = $2.50/lb

For cured live rock, I think it is pretty good deal.

Pisces Coral&Fish's phone number 713-783-1610
The sales person I worked with was Mark Edwards.
__________________________________________________________________________

        Some notes and questions about the animals in my reef tank.

        The live rock is from Florida (Noyes Marine Life)

        1) There was some sort of Nudibranch or Sea Slug 
        apparently one on the live rock .... I now have at least
        20 of them of various size groupings. They seem to be algae eaters.

        2) There are about 2 dozen snails of different types, quite an
        array of beautiful shells. 

        3) There were several small patches of hard coral ~1 inch diameter
        when I received the rock.

        4) There are 3 sea slugs of the Aplysia genus 
__________________________________________________________________________

I've recently had the experience of adding a large quantity of live rock
to my marine tank.
...
06/01/92 - Ordered 160lbs of Live rock from Florida.  Weather
is bad in Florida, supplier (Pat) hopes to have it to me by Friday.
...
Very hard to tell what is alive and what is dead.  
A quick check shows at least 7 different varities of Macro algea. 
Only animal life appears to be some dead worms - kinda look like earthworms.

06/07/92 - Rock has what appears to be "white mold" growing on it.  I assume
this is decaying plant matter. 
Find that Moe's MAR S&I has description of many algaes.  List
I have identified so far:

Phaeophyta Dictyopterus - brown algae vaguely treelike, smallish (2"), thin
brown leaves that branch deeply and irregulary.

Phaeophyta Sargassum - brown algae that tends to come in thick clumps.  Has 
small brown pea-shaped attachments (help algae to float?) 

Unidentified algaes:

Something that looks like 1 to 4" branched thin pink pipe cleaners.
Something that looks like dark green fine steel wool pads (kinda).
Something that looks like .6cm to .9cm green disk connected end-to-end.
Some white miniture christmas trees.
Some thin (.2mm) white branched stuff.
Some thicker white (1mm) heavly branched stuff.
Something that looks like a bunch of 1" normal green pipe cleaners.
__________________________________________________________________________

i have 100 lbs of live rock which i ordered from reef scrapers (look in
FAMA).  70 lbs of plant rock and 30 lbs of decorative rock.  this rock
was uncured and it took about 2 days to get from the ocean to my tank.
it was pretty good plant rock.  it had too much macroalgae growth so
i tried to take as much off as i could before putting it into the tank.
i found a few mantis shrimps and bristle worms which went down my toilet.
i found many brittle starfish, a couple small crabs, a small hermit crab,
some small snails, several chitons, several tube worms and a few anemonies
(the naughty type, i fear).

the decorative rock was a collection of plant rock with a few rocks with
sponges, ricordia and some other soft corals.  i put these in small
established reef tank.  they have not been doing too well.  i think that
the shipping really stressed them out.

overall i was pretty happy with the quality as well as the price ($150 for
100lbs of rock, $55 for aircargo from florida to san fansisco airport).  i
would recommend them to others looking for live rock.  (i have also tried
pisces.  they have more purple coralline algaes but they also have more
boulders: heavy non porous rocks.  there was little macroalgaes but their
prices was very reasonable).  the term live rock is a misnomer.  i think
that it give the impression that there are lots of corals and other things
growing on it.  in reality it is mostly rock with sometimes a tube worm
and algae growing on it.

i noticed that there are places on the rock where there is a white scum, 
it kind of looks like mold.  it even covered some of the non-live rock 
which i added with the live rock.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, that's it. 
-- 
Ron Burns              
Unisys Corporation                                      ...!rosevax!minnow!ron
Phone:(612)635-6927                           minnow%ron@rosevax.rosemount.com