Live Rock from Live Rock Ranch

Has anybody bought from LiveRockRanch.com? These guys seem legit, but at $3.70 a pound shipped when everyone is selling at $7.99 to $9.99 a pound, I have to ask is it to good to be true?

 

I have not although when I started my tank I did look there first. IMO I would buy dry rock that way you know you won't be getting any unwanted pests in your tank plus it's usually cheaper. I bought dry Rock from reefcleaners.org and it's 30lbs of nice rock for $60 shipped

 

7.99 to 9.99 a pound, thats outrageous.. standard price is 3.79-4.99 a lb from lfs round here. Can find much nicer stuff from people breaking down their tanks, usually 2-3 bucks a pound but thats for live rock. not dry rock.

 

MarcoRocks Aquarium Products is cheap... for dry

 

I recently bought 75 lbs from LRR. The main thing to keep in mind with it is it is not your typical "live rock" where it is has been in the ocean for thousands of years. Rather, it is "aquacultured rock" where the rock is from a quarry and placed in the ocean, left for a couple years, and then picked and sold. However, it is coming from Florida (I believe they pick and ship same or next day) and not the Pacific sitting on a warehouse shelf for a couple weeks. So in the end, they may even out! I actually think this is the way to go, since it is does not affect the reefs in anyway. :thumb_up:

With mine there were some "bristle worms" (the good kind!), at least one tube worm, a bunch of pods (the bigger white guys with big black eyes), smaller white worms, and at least one snail. I see more new things everyday still after 3 weeks Some of the rocks had a good amount of coralline, some looked almost dead. Both tanks I added it to have already cycled nicely after 2-3 weeks (it will be weeks still before I add any fish though). Here is my 55gal tank with a mix of "live rock" from LRR (mostly in the middle of the tank) and dead rock from reefrocks.net:



To the comment that you don't want live rock due to unwanted pests, I don't believe this at all! In fact you want the diversity of live they come with! This is just my opinion of course, so take it with a grain of salt.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any additional questions or anything.

 

I've got rock from marco rocks and reef rocks, and both are great and cheap. Reef rocks has a deal now where you get 40 pounds of sand for $15 if you order 25 pounds of rock. And yeah, I'd get mostly dry rock, that way you can aquascape outside of the tank, and just get a few pounds locally of live rock to seed it.

 

Good call on the sand from Reefrocks! When I got my dry rock, I also got 80 lbs of sand for $30. I personally love the sand, as it is mostly fine but still has a good mix of shells and rocks. I did not rinse out the sand at all, just set my rocks, put in the sand, and filled up the tank, and it was cloudy for less than 12 hours! I actually only used 40lbs of it and so have an extra 40 8)