Where can I pick up some rocks and bring them home?

[ppatrick]

Hello,

I'm starting my first salt water aquarium. I need to have some ocean rocks (AKA live rock) to help in the biological filtration process. Sadly, these rocks are very expensive; price range from $7 to $9 per pound! So my scuba classmate came up with a plan to pick up these rocks from the ocean after we certify (he's also starting a big salt water tank). Both of us need quite a few hundred pounds of rocks for our tanks. I believe that most dive places don't allow divers to pick anything from the bottom, right? Can anyone suggest a place where they allow divers to bring rocks home legally?


Thanks!
Patrick

 

[Nemrod]

You should not be breaking coral reef apart to satisfy your need for an aquarium. The damage takes years to repair. N

 

[Island Hoppa]

hey
removing objects from the ocean is not only an illegal operation in most cases. but more importantly removing a living lifeform from an open water environment would most likely kill it. trying to recreate the exact ph levels, lighting levels, and other conditions would be nearly imposible. removing the lifeform and putting it in a NEW environment would entirely distress it and would probably kill it. buy from a saltwater aquarium store where the organism was raised its entire life and it is used to aquarium lifestyle. just a pointer.

-matt

 

[H2Andy]

I need to have some ocean rocks (AKA live rock) to help in the biological filtration process.

live rock is just another name for "coral" or "limestone" cores that support
a bunch of lifeforms growing in and on it.

to get it, you will have to hack it from a living ecosystem.

as has been pointed out before, please don't. these systems are frail,
and even touching them can cause damage. it takes decades for
the damage to be healed, if at all.

to answer your question, you would need to be able to dive into a coral
reef or limestone reef to get the rock. alternatively, you could dive
closer to shore and pick up pieces of live rock that have been broken off
the reefs by storms. by the way, this is generally illegal in the US, as was
mentioned earlier.

a much better option is to buy aquacultured (farm-raised) live rock. that
way, you won't be harming the environment.

here's one such place:

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/liverock/index.html

 

[kidspot]

Are you actually looking to raise coral (ie "live rock") as that is quite difficult to do in a home aquarium. Also remember that any corals or anenomies you introduce make it more difficult to treat a lot of your fish illnesses that require copper treatments (which kills them).

If you mean "live rock" as in rock/pebbles containing live bacteria then you also have the option of using land rocks and just introducing your fish more slowly after growing your own bacteria in the tank. I don't know about the laws in your area, but if you find a spot where collection is ok, then you can also collect dead coral instead of rock as it tends to be much lighter (look for heads that are already detached and show no sign of living coral)

When you said this was to aid in the filtration process, it make me wonder if you meant "sand" or other ground cover - if so, stay away from the finer material (even course sand is a bit too fine) as they will tend to clog your undergravel filter instead of helping it. My favorite used to be crushed coral, which is plenteous at some beaches, and rare at others (looks like very rough small pebbles, about 4x larger than course sand) Also be sure it is coming from an area that does not have a stream nearby, or other runoff sources as you can introduce pesticides etc..

In the end you may just find it simpler to get it all from your local aquarium supply... in the long run $500 is a "drop" in the bucket (pun intended) in this hobby for something that won't need replacement... fish get very pricey and they tend to need replacement, especially at the beginning...

Just my .02 cents as it's been a good 15 years since I did much with salt water aquariums, but they are a lot of fun/work to maintain... well worth it though

Aloha, Tim

 

[hdtran]

I see you're in Chicago, more or less.

Like Andy, a big endorsement for Tampa Bay Saltwater's aquacultured product. If you buy their "package," it's not nearly as expensive as, say, Tongan LR. Plus, you get all the cleanup critters you want. You'll get the rocks, sand, & critters in two air cargo shipments from Tampa/St P airport (most probably via Southwest Airlines to Midway).

A couple of warnings (features?): Their rock is so 'alive' that you may have hitchhiking octopi, stomatopods, &/or blennies, not to mention crabs & stuff. Some folks don't like their rocks because there's no places to put your own corals. Response time is very variable (depends on how busy they are & how the weather is in the FL gulf coast; they don't harvest their rocks when it's hurricaning...). read/follow instructions carefully.

You might also check out GARF

I am a very happy customer of Tampa Bay Saltwater, and this topic should probably be moved to non-scuba.

 

[David P]

Most of the live rock imported for the aqurium trade comes from Fiji. It is packaged and labled as different types from different parts of the world. You can see the rocks being seperated as theyre being removed from the pongas, fiji here, tonga there... Tonga looks cool, but its a pain to aquascape and as far as biological filtering, it sucks. It is a solid mass that doesnt leave space for the (near)micro organisms. You want light holy rocks, the more surface area the better. I personally preffer what is considered Marshall Island for esthetics, but "Fiji" usually would be considered superior.
So chances are any rocks you find local home would be substandard, and do you REALLY know what kind of things are growing in there?
I would recomend spending the money ang get aquacultured rocks from somone like Walt Smith. Look at it this way, your spending a butt load of money for a tank, stand, sump, biggest skimmer you can fit under the stand, pumps, metal halide lights, heaters, fish, and oh yeah those oh so expensive corals (just wait untill you find out about Tracy Greys "Puple Monster") why skimp on rock? You can buy dead "live rock" stick it in a tank and seed it with one or two nice pieces of fresh rock.

hey
removing a living lifeform from an open water environment would most likely kill it. trying to recreate the exact ph levels, lighting levels, and other conditions would be nearly imposible. removing the lifeform and putting it in a NEW environment would entirely distress it and would probably kill it. buy from a saltwater aquarium store where the organism was raised its entire life and it is used to aquarium lifestyle. just a pointer.

-matt

very little of the marine life you buy for an aquarium is home grown, there are outfits like ORA, GARF, Walt Smith, and others (especially down here in So Cal) that propagate corals and captive breed fish. The majority of corals come in here to LAX and the wholesalers down on 104th st and then are shipped all over the country. There is a definate die off but the major losses are due to delays in the plains being offloaded or clear for take off. There are corals we still cannot keep in captivity, and some we used to be able to but not any more (????) however there are species of animals that live longer in captivity than in the wild and there are corals that grow much faster and reproduce much more readily in captivity than they would on their own. Take the E.quadricolor bubble tiped anemone, an importer I spoke with said that in a good year hey may see 4 wild specimens come across his door. A friend of mine has a small 60g tank these "rare" rose colored anemones reproducing (both by fission and sexual reproduction) so often that he has had more than 60 animals in his tank at one time. He couldnt get rid of them fast enough so he was selling them for $60 a pop when the going price could top $250.
I understand you are trying to protect the environment and applaud you for your virtues, but please do not spout off about subjects you obviously know little to nothing about.

Dave P
vice pres of the Marine Aquarium Society of Los Angeles County

 

[David P]

oh yeah, heres an article on a tank of an aquaintance of mine... tell me what you think http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/totm/index.php There is a major percentage of reef keepers who bigger zealots regarding protecting our oceans and that is why so many of us propagate corals and trade amongst each other to help prevent the overharvest of the oceans. The percentage of damage done to natural reefs due to the aquarium hobby is almost 0. Not so when it comes to shipping paths for cruise liners pulling into ports of new exotic resorts. We tank raise many spieces of seahorses, wich are ALMOST on the endangered spieces list. Do you know why they are so threatened? Because of curio trade and "folk medicine" You do not hear of a reef geek killing a huge Napolean Wrasse discarding the entire carcass and only save the lips for dinner...


xcuse me, my blood pressure seems to be rising a bit.

 

[Nemrod]

The original question from a beginner aquarist was about collecting live rock from the ocean. In many countries and the USA it is largely illegal and in any case detrimental. The legitimate pursuit of marine aquarist using cultured and commercially grown specimens is a different circumstance.
Theoretically speaking, if I was to see someone breaking off chunks of coral--I would report them via my VHF or to the boat captain etc. N

 

[ppatrick]

David P! I can tell you are the most knowledgeable guy on the saltwater aquarium topic. Thanks for clarify many things to other people. I am looking for ROCKS not CORALS (like Nemrod understood). Yes, I want live rock for bacteria to grow on. My tank will be fish only tank. Those corals or what people called “reef tank” are way too difficult to care for. I simply want to pick some rock pieces (again, rock not coral) at the bottom. David P, thanks for confirming that there is no such thing as “farm raised rock”. A rock is a rock. It cannot be grown. Anyway I understood the intention of H2Andy.

David P, you mentioned that the rocks I find local home will be substandard. What do you mean by that? Would it be less porous than the Fiji rock? Or something else??? Thanks for recommending Walt Smith. I went to their website but couldn’t find the price. I think I have to call them to get the price.

Kidspot, I would have to spend over $700 if I were to buy rocks from the LFS. Honestly, that’s more than what I’ve paid for all of my equipment (I’ve got most of them very cheap from eBay). Well, I thought that if I were going to spend $700, I’d better have fun diving and collecting rocks at the same time.

Hdtran, thanks for your advice. I’ll check it out.