COMPREHENSIVE LIVE ROCK COMPARISON

To my knowlege, my listing of live rock and live rock substitutes is the most comprehensive on the internet (or at least on Google).  My hope is that it will be a guide for those looking to purchase or make rock. 

All comments are anecdotal.  That is, the comments were gleaned from many comments I found during my research.   None of the live rock listed reflects my own opinion.   I am, however, hoping for your input and opinions to fill out anything I may have missed.
 

Bali Rock:  light-weight, expensive, some Heliopora w/fragile pieces, Purple Popcorn w/bumps, extra-large pieces, shapely

Brazillian Rock:  good base rock, inexpensive

Caribean/Haitian:    very dense, little pore space, plate-like structure, red colored coraline, ancient coral heads that have re-encrusted with coraline, many open areas

Cook Island:   collection now banned

Fake Texas Holey Rock:   made from sand with polymer binder, very large pieces (30" x 16" apprx), good for structure work, no buffering capacity, no leaching earth/mineral elements
 
Fiji Rock:    more expensive, porous, better for filtration, lighter, varying shapes, various sizes, pink/purple/green coraline

Florida Gulf Rock:   purveyor of cultured live rock. inexpensive, non-porous, dense, mantis shrimp hitchikers

Home-made Foam Reef:   insulating foam & 2 part marine epoxy finish coat with sand/crushed coral, lightweight, naturalizes as well as live rock, no buffering capacity, no leaching earth/mineral elements

Indian Rock:  good base rock, inexpensive

Irian Jaya Rock:  purple/multi-colored coraline, same density as Fiji rock, open holes & crevices

Java/Indonesian Rock:  many different shapes, multi-colored coraline, porous, some branching, some plates

Key Largo Rock:   base rock, porous, light-weight, great surface area, quarried rock, reef friendly

Lalo Rock:   non-porous, dense, unique shapes, re-colonized heads of ancient coral, branching & plates

Make-your-own Arogocrete:    environmentally friendly, good porousity, must cure rock for months before use, heavy, non-porous, promotes nuisance algae, no buffering capacity, leaches no earth/mineral elements

Marco Rock:   purveyor of base rock

Melanesian Rock:   red/pink/purple coraline, very porous, lightweight

Moon Rock:   calcium-based, base rock, large divits

Solomon Rock:  some tall/spiky, open holes & crevices, multi-colored coraline

Tampa Bay Aquacultured:  purveyor of cultured live rock, dense, mantis shrimp hitchhikers, inexpensive

Tonga Branch:   good for hiding places, varying shapes, lightest of all, gaps between branches, good for circulation, unusual shapes, collection now banned

Tonga Rock:   dense, elongated, collection now banned, re-colonized heads of ancient coral, large pieces

Vanuatu Rock:    light-weight, open holes & crevices, rugged appearance, fragile, orange peel look, smaller

Walt Smith/Kaelini Rock:   purveyor of partially cured Fiji live rock

thanks, bob.  i'll add that to the list!  thanks for the feedback.

FREE - if you collect it / clean it yourself

i put the list together for a couple of reasons.  1st because deciding on which kind of live rock you want is so confusing.   you'll find all sorts of information alluded to in people's posts on what rock is out there, but not what it's characteristics are.   cook island and marco rock are good examples of that.  

2nd, i just started a blog and decided i'd finally follow down the leads for someone else's benefit.  i haven't posted it yet.   i decided to put it on expert forums to get feedback before i do that. 

wow!  the rock is beautiful marc.  you're performing a public service for reefers at that price.  why do you do it?  and just where do you get it?  i'm gonna sound ignorant here...but, do you dig it up from ancient sea beds in utah or get it from the great salt lake?  the GSL doesn't have old coral reefs, does it?

this inspires me to want to do a post on utah rock.  care to guest blog?  i'd be happy to link to you (for whatever a brand new blog could do for ya...lol!).   here's my blog url:  http://aquariumdoctor.blogspot.com/. 

you guys at WMAS do the coolest stuff!

Luckedout wrote:  Mark keeps his sites secret.

marydem wrote: do you dig it up from ancient sea beds in utah or get it from the great salt lake?  the GSL doesn't have old coral reefs, does it? ...you're performing a public service for reefers at that price... you guys at WMAS do the coolest stuff!

I would not be surprised to find out that this MB is the most active and has the largest number of participants per capita of any reefer forum on the web. We try to stay on the cutting edge of technology yet also using the best of all the tried and true methods developed by those who came before us.

It takes only a few pieces of LR or live LBTR from another tank to change a large amount of LBTR into LR that looks just like LR collected from the ocean. I'm not only performing a public service for my fellow hobbyists, but even more for the environment.

Here is a pile in my garage, of some of the best Utah Rock.


Here is a pic on the way out to one of the collection sites.

Mark,  when you look for LBTR which bench provides the best rock?  I was out in Skull Valley and saw a spot I wanted to explore to see if there was any but it was way too dark to go scouting.

Yes, I'll have quite a bit of it at the Fest. I have been invited to participate in a Reefscaping Contest.http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43875

He's good. He's very good. Scott will be tough competition.