High-Quality Live rock on the Web... Where can I trust?

[Reef Fever]

OK, I am getting away from trying to "make" rock- I am not patient enough to wait for it to become populated.

I am not very excited by the live rock available locally, but I am really concerned about getting live rock ordered in off the web- who can I trust?

Please give me some input on sources that you have been satisfied with. Also, won't shipping be expensive? That stuff is heavy.

I am especially interested in finding the most variety in critters- fanworms, etc, and good coralline growth. Can you specify what types of shapes you are looking for? Shelf, Cave, etc?

Thanks!

 

[CosmoKramer1]

Hi
i ordered from gulfview,real nice rock good prices.http://www.gulf-view.com/index.html.heres the url

 

[ChrisRD]

I've ordered from Premium Aquatics several times over the years for Fiji rock. Jason is really helpful and friendly and the rock has always been exceptional.

 

[Anonymous]

Harbor aquatics (www.harboraquatics.com) has fantastic rock at great prices, and the people that run the place are awesome. They're based out of valporaiso, IN (near chicago)

Premium Aquatics (www.premiumaquatics.com) also has good rock, though not usually quite the quality of Harbor. They're based out of Indy. Very friendly, but not the 'homey' atmosphere of Harbor.


-John

 

[jamesw]

Shipping liverock is actually quick and cheap. The best way to get it is "counter to counter" airfreight. Basically, they put it on a Southwest Airlines plane (or whoever) and you go pick it up at your local airport. I have had rock shipped to me in the afternoon and picked it up the next day at lunch!

The cost to ship 100 lbs was about $35 for me. Not bad!

Cheers
James Wiseman

 

[wade1]

I recieved a load of rock from Harbor Aquatics in February... really nice rock. Lots of life and the pre-cured rock really was pre-cured and still had a ton of life. I also recieved mine airport to airport and had it only 12 hours after shipping. Give them a call and they can find the airport/airline that would work best....

I've heard some of the gulf live rock is nice for life too, albeit very dense.

 

[ChrisRD]

Sharkky:

I'm helping a friend setup her first reef and I recommended either Harbor or Premium for the rock. I've ordered from Jason (Premium) in the past and had great results, but I've heard so many good things about Harbor that I was hoping she'd give them a try. She contacted them both via e-mail with several questions. Jason got back to her right away and responded to several other e-mails within hours - i've always experienced that with them too - great customer service. Harbor hadn't gotten back to her after several days so she decided to go with Premium. I was sorta bummed because I've always wanted to see some of Harbor's stuff first hand - I've always heard it's great. I'm still curious about giving them a try someday to see how their stuff compares. Have you ordered from both and had the opportunity to compare? Thanks...

-C

 

[scooterr]

I second Sharkkys vote.

What address did she try? JT usually emails back in a few hours.

Are there any alternatives to airport to airport (i live about 2 hrs from one) that make it cheaper?

 

[Anonymous]

Sharkky:

I'm helping a friend setup her first reef and I recommended either Harbor or Premium for the rock. I've ordered from Jason (Premium) in the past and had great results, but I've heard so many good things about Harbor that I was hoping she'd give them a try. She contacted them both via e-mail with several questions. Jason got back to her right away and responded to several other e-mails within hours - i've always experienced that with them too - great customer service. Harbor hadn't gotten back to her after several days so she decided to go with Premium. I was sorta bummed because I've always wanted to see some of Harbor's stuff first hand - I've always heard it's great. I'm still curious about giving them a try someday to see how their stuff compares. Have you ordered from both and had the opportunity to compare? Thanks...

-C

Yes, I've been to both places several times. Joy and JT at Harbor are awesome people, and I feel like Joy's a second mom to me sometimes. All that is neither here nor there, though, when it comes to quality of live rock, right?

Harbor *always* consistently has super high quality rock with lots of life on it. I've gotten pieces from them before with 5 or 6 different types or corals (usually encrusting species), sponges, polyps, caulerpa, etc. all growing on the same 5 or 6 lb rock.

Now I live in Indianapolis, about a half hour from Premium, so I go up there once a month or so. Their rock is also very good, but in my experience doesn't have quite the amount of life on it that Harbor's does, or at least not consistently. I've gotten a couple of fantastic pieces from Premium, but I had to root through 1000 gallons of water and live rock to come up with them. At Harbor nearly every piece I pulled out of the pool was awesome.

So anyway, I guess it looks like I'm favoring Harbor there, but not really--Premium *does* have great quality rock...I don't want to give you the opinion that they don't. I'm just saying that at Harbor, it's virtually a guarantee you'll get top of the line rock, whereas at Premium you'll usually just get pretty good rock. 8)


-John

 

[Anonymous]

Useless informational sidebar note:

The picture of me in my avatar
<----------
was taken a couple years ago at Harbor when I gave them my nurse shark after she outgrew the tank I was keeping her in. (I'd rescued her from a pet store that was going out of business and was going to sell her to a guy with a 45 gal tank. She lived with me in a 125 for about 5 months until she was about 20" long)




-John

 

[fishfarmer]

I've MO rock twice once from Flying fish express and once from Gulfview, www.gulf-view.com. Both had comparable prices(including shipping) for the small quantities I needed. Both offered "hand picked" pieces, you tell them what you want in size and shape. Both were pleasant experiences, but the Gulfview will get my business again, lots of life, various size pieces, not all bricks like some people say about Florida rock. It was denser than the Fiji, 30 lbs of Gulfview looked like about 20 lbs of Fiji.

I also hand picked rock at Paragon Aquatics www.paragonsales.com. He ships in raw and does a excellent job curing it. Excellent looking Fiji rock (but I did have lots to chose from). I had a hard time not buying more rock from him since there were many corals and macroalgaes on the rock. I'd buy from Paragon again as well.

 

[iReef1]

I ordered my cured live rock from premium and I thought it looked great. Very nice shapes with caves, corraline algae, macroalgae, loaded with various crawling critters like brine shrimp, coepods, amphipods, worms. It was my first time ordering from them and it was a very good experience. They were very nice and helpful. They asked what size rocks I wanted and I told them mostly the size of a football with a couple of larger ones and that is what they sent. No problem with the order.

I had tried Harbor because all you read about them is good however, I was very dissappointed with my experience. I called them twice to see if they had any cured live rock available and all they said was "no". They didn't try to give me a time frame for when they would have any available or anything. I talked to different people on the two occassions that I called and they didn't come across as being helpful or friendly. I couldn't believe this was the place everyone is so crazy about.
iReef

 

[ChrisRD]

scooterr:

I believe she e-mailed to [email protected] on May 23 - no reply as of last night. If they are normally good about responding via e-mail, maybe something went wrong. She didn't get any mail return notices and the mail was delivered, but perhaps something happened on Harbor's end. I thought it was odd that there would be no response at all after a week so that seems likely...


Sharkky:

Thanks for the info. Sounds like Harbor's rock is exceptional - if you can get your hands on it... <kidding>

-C

 

[Anonymous]

I had tried Harbor because all you read about them is good however, I was very dissappointed with my experience. I called them twice to see if they had any cured live rock available and all they said was "no". They didn't try to give me a time frame for when they would have any available or anything. I talked to different people on the two occassions that I called and they didn't come across as being helpful or friendly. I couldn't believe this was the place everyone is so crazy about.
iReef

Just out of curiosity, how long ago was it that you called Harbor? If it was very recently, I know they've been doing a *ton* of renovation. If it was a couple years ago, it might've been around the time Gary (the owner) passed away. Either way, not really an excuse, but maybe at least an explanation...


-John

 

[Chucker]

FWIW, jt has also been taking SCUBA lessons of late. I'm sure you'll get a response soon.

 

[ChrisRD]

Sharkky:

After reading your last post I think it might be obvious why my friend didn't get a response. The e-mail was sent to Gary...

That must have been really tough on the folks at Harbor to lose him My condolences to the folks at Harbor Aquatics...

-C

 

[ChrisRD]

By the way,

Just looked at Harbor's page. Looks like the link to Gary's e-mail was on the order page, but JT's link is on the opening page. I'm guessing it's probably better to call or contact JT than to use the old link on the ordering page. Just FYI...

-C

 

[Anonymous]

Sharkky:

After reading your last post I think it might be obvious why my friend didn't get a response. The e-mail was sent to Gary...

That must have been really tough on the folks at Harbor to lose him My condolences to the folks at Harbor Aquatics...

-C

Yeah, Gary was definitely one-in-a-million, that's for sure. I always tell this quick story about Gary...

I was moving back to Indiana from California and wanted to try to save some of my fish. I found that Harbor was in Indiana, so contacted them to see if they could put me in touch with a store or someone that would take my fish for a week or so. Gary had never spoken to me before, but just told me to ship the fish to them, they'd take care of them no problem. Because of moving problems and tank problems, I couldn't get the fish from them for about two months instead of a week or so, but when I offered to pay them for 'rent' for the fish, Gary wouldn't hear of it, and instead gave me several small coral frags and a discount on the live rock I was buying. One of those frags is still in my tank and has grown into one of the most beautiful encrusting montiporas I've ever seen.

I, along with everyone else that ever met Gary, miss him like crazy. I just figure God had an algae bloom he couldn't figure out how to get rid of and needed Gary to come help him out.


-John

 

[ChrisRD]

Well, it's no wonder to me after hearing that story that Harbor has quite a following. Sounds like Gary was a great guy. Thanks for the info John.

-C

 

[JT]

Hey Wolfie, sorry your friend was having difficulties emailing us. She can always call us toll-free at 877.464.6562 or she can email me directly to [email protected]

iReef - apologies to you as well if you feel you weren't treated properly when you called. We always have rock in stock it's just a matter of what is ready when because we do not sell uncured rock. It is impossible to pin-point down to an exact date when a batch is going to be ready. We usually try to narrow it down when people call. Maybe we were just extremely busy and flustered when you called. I am sorry if this was the case.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, even if it's not always good.