Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Hey guys, I am finally at the stage of getting the tank ready. I really appreciate all the help with questions I have asked and also from the people I hae bought stuff from. I now have another question but first I will tell you a little about my setup so maybe you will have a better idea of what I need. It is a 75 gallon with 2 175 10k metal halides and 2 4ft Super Actinic R VHO's, I am running a Little Giant 3 mdqx on my return from the sump, and an Iwaki 30rlt on a closed loop, Kent Nautilus skimmer, 70 lbs of live sand, 2 damsels, and only 10 lbs of Fiji rock right now. It has been running for almost 2 weeks. My temp stays around 77 with all the lights off overnight, 78 with only the VHO's on all the day, and 80 with the halides and VHO's on all day.

I have two questions and guys please explain why you would choose the rock you recommend and remember that I am not worried about the price. Also as soon as I have my tank up I plan on inviting you guys to come over and drink and have a good time so I can get to know you. I have not had time to come to any meetings. Sorry guys.

1) Has anyone ever heard of the rock they sale on http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pCatId=876 called Lalo live rock and if you know anything about what please tell me if you would recommend it or not. The pictures they show I think this is the rock I would buy if nobody has anything bad to say about it.

2) Of all the rocks listed, which do you guys think is the best or would recommend using. Lalo, Fiji Premium, Fiji Buna, Tonga Branch, Tonga Deepwater, Tonga Kaileni, Marshall Island, Caribbean, Melanesian, Haitian.

Sounds like you are off to an awesome start in your setup. Helluva lot better than my 1st setup anyways, which was a 10gal walmart tank and B&B rock.

I think Lalo is similar to the Kaelini rock.. which is just deep-water fiji type rock. That is mostly what I have... You get less life on it but better shapes than the usual baseball shaped fiji. I didn't want anything on my rock such as hitchikers or macro-algea, so that worked out great for me.
It's a little more dense than regular fiji, but I like it much better for the shapes.

When I order more rock it will be marshall island and the kaelini/lalo type.

I don't know about the lalo from the source you mentioned, I know they sell a lot of walt-smith aquacultured though.

I'll dredge up some links and see if I can find any sales going on.

Brandon

If you have the time to wait for the rock to cure and you want unique looking peices. You may want to think about making your own. That is what I did and it was a whole lot cheeper.

Making my own??? Please explain a little.

Brandon, you said you have the lalo rock and next time you would buy marshall, lalo, and kaileni. Would you have a preference of the three after having a first hand experience with these different rocks? You say the lalo and kaileni have less macro algae. Is that something you want or not when setting up a reef tank? Also is it true that rock that is less dense is better?

To make your own you have to add in portions of water, cement and crushed oyster shells. You can not put the rocks into a tank right when they are finish drying, because the cement will let out a high ph. Here is a link to a web site that tells you all about it. I also posted a couple of pics of the rocks in my tank. Almost everything pictured is the rock that I made. You are welcome to come by any time to check out the rock in my tank. I think I still have some rock in the back yard still curing from the last time I made it. I would be glad to help you with the making of the rock if you decide to go that route.

http://www.garf.org/news13p2.html

Me personally, I don't want any macro algae, etc growing on the rock. I do not want algae other than corraline in my display.. blech, just personaly preference I guess, but I've seen it overrun things in a lot of peoples tanks. Just give me good purple rock with no mantis, algae, etc

I'll get more Kaelini when I order again, I like the large pieces over the smallish fiji stuff. Just personal preferences.

This shows what some of the Kaelini looked like when I received it.

http://www.mbrk.com/viewtopic.php?p=645

That seems like a pretty good price for the Lalo at liveaquaria

dr. mac has tonga ultra for $2.99/lb
http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/fijirock/

pretty good prices here, looks to be mostly transhipped.
http://www.aquatictech.com/livestock.html



I'll post some more if I find any decent deals/sales going on

Hope I am not hijacking but we at Fat Fish do have a large amount of rock in stock, fiji (300+lbs), marshall (70lbs) and Kaileni (60lbs) all cured and ready to go.

Thanks
Chris
Fat Fish
626-0926

Chris can you tell me the prices on the rock you have?

rock is a big part of your filtration so I personaly would like to see it before I purchase...ck all the shops and hand pick the rock..get the rock with the most holes (I call it magic rock) might be more for pound but better filtration and the rock is lighter for its size so you will need fewer pounds. You can also pick rock for better aquascaping that way. You might have to get it from several shops to find what you want.

That is what my friends have told me is to get rock that is less dense and more porous for filtration and also get rock that you can aquascape so the fish have places to kinda hide.

Brian, sorry so long, normal prices are $5.99 and up, marshall being most expensive.

I do have some fiji rock, prob 75 pounds that I can play with the price a little to help you get started.

Stop on by and mention this thread

Thanks

Plus more porous rock generally has a better look. Don't skimp on the rock, and be picky for shapes. Diversity also helps, get some of everything.

Yeah I was thinkiing about mixing Marshall and Kaileni. Probabaly 40lbs of each to start.