Well, i guess I should have said- from this list of pacific rock.
I actually do not have any experience with florida aqua culture; however, I do hope on getting some Tampa Bay Saltwater rock when I set up my show tank some day.
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I just noticed that you said you needed 130 lbs of live rock. Let me make a couple of suggestions baised on my experiences of online shopping and rock buying. Though I may still be relitivly new to the saltwater hobby, I have learned quite a bit.
Live rock as you have discovered can be quite expensive; especially for larger tanks. Locally I have found rock in in the Columbia, SC area hovers around 5-6 / lb if you buy at least 20 lbs; less than that it often jumps 1-3 / lb. I assume this is a national trend, but i may just be unlucky. Depending on the store, the rock may look really nice, or it may just have bacteria, truncates, some feather dusters, and no color. The store may have "show" rock with coraline algea for outragous prices. And though some store will let you buy whatever is in there tanks, a couple of stores will not let you buy rock from their livestock tanks.
Online, most stores sell their rock at 5-7 / lb after shipping; however, you do not get to select the rock or see the quality. This is were you are luckly if you live near the actual store or warehouse since you can get the cheap prices of online stores with out actual shipping :x . Unlike me.
Ebay is actually quite good for the purchasing of rock, there are usually two types of auctions. By the pound or there is a set amount. Either one can net you a great deal. Often the "by the pound" auctions have really low prices for their rock $2.15/lb to $2.99/lb and depending how close you are you can get about $1/lb shipping through UPS ground. If you shop around, you will also find some good deals with 45 lb boxes for $80ish before shipping. Just remember that boxes usually means that the rock has been sitting in the box for a long time. There is always some chance involved. I personally do not waste the money of 2 day or faster shipping since I do not know the quality of the rock which is were real online stores come into play.
Almost every online store that sells fish, sells rock. Of course some stores may be better than others and some stores speciallize in rock. Online store also tend to sell their rock for higher prices, or if they have low per pound price, you have to by it in 100 or more pound increments to get the deal. You just have to figure it out your self.
Tampa Bay Saltwater for example has really expensive but really nice rock.
Now since you are just starting up the tank for the first time and need a large quantity of rock, I would make a couple of suggestions:
Buy Dry- If you purchase half or more of your base rock as dry, you save a lot of money often $1/lb or more, it also lets you splurge on your other rock. Since you will need to cycle your tank, it will also mean there is less rock that needs to be "cycled" even if it needs to grow its own bacteria and algae.
Buy Lots- Get all the rock you plan to have at once so that the rock and the shipping is cheaper.
Buy Nice- You will always regret it if you get rock you do not like. So get rock that you think you will like. This also means if you plan to buy dry rock, you should spend the extra money for really really nice and live seed rock.
Buy Uncured- You are just beginning the tank and uncured is cheaper, since you will have no livestock or an up and running tank it will not hurt you to cure the rock your self; and you never know extra goodies will be on it.
Good luck![/url]
