live aquaria premium live rock

just got my 45 lbs of fiji premium live rock for my 33 gallon. Rock looks pretty nice; it's evident that before shipping the rock was very lively and had lots of organisms on it. Got it in my tank so once it clears up ill post some pictures. Im pleased with the rock. it was 99$ plus 60$ shipping for 45 lbs so pretty darn good deal for a retail store. It also left debris tho on my sand bed (i did wash them before i put them in) that my siphon doesnt want to pick up. You guys have any suggestions for getting the debris up other than a siphon? I used a turkey baster to suck it up but that is a pain. I have fine sand

 

You could use a fish net to try and collect the debri.

 

if you take a turkey baster and gently blow water ate it just to kick it up, your filters should be able to pick it up afterwards

 

I bought the same rock to seed with when I started my 75g. I was reasonbly pleased with it as well. Some of the pieces had some pretty nasty sized chunks on it so I pre-cycled the rocks & then scrubbed them before adding to the tank. Probably same I had 1-2 cups of sediment & die off on the rocks.

 

yeah ive been using the turker baster to blow the rocks and it keeps taking off dead stuff the net is working really well (thanks for that) because my sand goes right through the net
Im also trying to get my return nozzle not to blow away my sandbed haha

 

here's some pictures of the rock. They aren't very good it looks a little better in person. The small white rocks aren't from live aquaria they are some old rocks i had. As you can see the rocks are a pretty good size and the 45 lbs fills up my 33 gal very well.

 

Looks like pretty good rock.

That's a lot of rock for the tank - you might want to remove some in the future. It's good to have the sand open to help with detritus removal.

 

i know it is quite a lot but i haven't positioned it very well there is a lot of room behind the rock

 

Shake it!!!

I would always shake the new rock in a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater before I put it in the tank and scrub off all sponges that would just pollute the tank.

 

I'm thinking about ordering online rather than paying 8 to 12 bucks a LB at the LFS. This rock does look nice but doesn't have a quarter of the life growing on it . I do have coralline spreading on everything, so would it be better for me to just buy dry rock? In three months or so it will be alive anyway wont it?
I only have 120LBS or so in my 210G system. Planning on doubling that without spending as much as I did in the first 120lbs.
I'm also nervous buying online!!