"Formerly" live rock?

MOsborne05

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
#1
Oct 3, 2005
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Gibsonburg, OH
#1
I found a guy in Michigan that has about 200 lbs of "formerly" live rock that he is trying to sell for $3 a pound. This rock has been sitting in water in his former sump for the past two months. I don't believe there has been any circulation at all. He has some really nice pieces, so I'm debating whether I should pick up 30 pounds or so for my 45 gallon tank.

I was originally going to get 30 pounds of base rock, and about 10 pounds of live rock or however much I would need to aquascape. Would it be better to buy this rock, or would it be better to stick to my original plan and just get base rock? I'm just worried that there might be a lot of die-off and the rock will have to sit and cure, which would be stinky!

Also, my tank will not be ready for rock until March 22nd, because that is when I pick it up from being drilled. If I decide to pick up some of this rock, could I keep it in some water in my old tank, or would I have to run a powerhead & heater on it? I guess I could set-up the 38 gallon for the time being with saltwater, heater & powerhead if need be.
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#2
Jun 12, 2004
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Montreal, Quebec
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well it can be filled with po4 and all but with it might be worth than base rock. Usually common base rock is bleached and poorly cleaned + not very porous. "Dead" live rock is better IMO..but 3$ a pound..if you buy 30 pounds maybe you can deal it @ like 70 bucks. BTW there will most certainly have a cure if shipped from Michigan...and the smell isn't that bad in suck tiny proportion. You can cure it in a plastic bucket with a air pump or better, a good powerhead ( that should be cleaned everyday or so to avoid clogging )
Live rock needs to be kept at good temp...but i cured mine @ room temperature, wich was pretty hot.
 

MOsborne05

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
#5
Oct 3, 2005
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Thanks for the links. I'm actually really close to the Michigan border so its only about an hour drive for me to pick the rock up. I've been finding a lot of good deals on Michigan Reefers - Michigan Reefers "Lets Talk Reefs", in fact I just bought an Aqua C Urchin skimmer & pump from a fellow reefer on there.

The lfs around here have some base rock and it is $1.79 a pound and it sucks. The pieces are really long and thick, and don't have many holes in them at all. These are some really nice pieces, so maybe I can work out a deal for them.
 

MOsborne05

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
#7
Oct 3, 2005
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#7
Turns out he is three hours away, so I don't think that its worth it at $3 a pound. Oh well, it probably wasn't a good idea anyways!

Guess I'll keep looking. The problem is the lfs around here have crappy pieces :(
 

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