Live rock report

A few weeks ago, I ordered 30 pounds of uncured "Tonga Deep" from Foster &
Smith. This is supposed to be larger pieces for larger tanks. It arrived two
days later by Fed Ex, packed in a foam box inside a cardboard box. When the box
was opened, the pieces didn't look quite as lively as the photos on the web, but
they sent me one marvelous large piece and several medium-sized chunks. No
discernible crabs or mantis shrimp. Plenty of pods. I am pleased with the
quality, the price, the service, and the appearance. The only problem was that
they only sell this in 30 pound boxes.

Last week, I decided to order some more. I felt that 40 pounds would be enough
to complete my tank, so I ordered that from Premium Aquatics, asking them to
ship large pieces. That arrived yesterday. They "drop ship" from who knows where
and use UPS instead of Fed Ex. The rock was in a plastic bag in the bottom of a
cardboard box; the remainder of the space was filled with wadded up brown paper.
They sent me two large pieces (one that is very interesting) and several
medium-sized chunks, but they also sent me between 5 and 10 pounds of small
debris and broken branch rock. Not useful for aquascaping. As with F&S, there
were no discernible crabs or mantis shrimp. Too early to tell if there's a pod
population. The appearance of this rock is about the same as the F&S stuff. The
per-pound price (including shipping) is a bit higher than F&S.

In conclusion, I feel that the Premium Aquatics Tonga rock is not as good a deal
as the Foster & Smith Tonga rock. If you're in the market for some and can use
30 pounds at a time, I would recommend F&S. I basically got 30 pounds of good
rock in each shipment and spent about 35% more for it at PA.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

Thanks for the report George,

I bought 80 Lbs of "Fiji Walt Smith Cured Live Rock" off of ebay. The stuff
is only $2.25 a pound, so it left me me some $$$ to have it shipped 2nd day
air. I must say that I am completely delighted with the variety of rock
sizes. There were 3-4 football size pieces, the rest kind of fall in "Hero
Roll" territory. There was some good rubble in there too.
As for "Pods" ----I`m a newb---so I first thought I was seeing tiny air
bubbles---but now I`m pretty sure that hundreds of these tiny suckers came
with the Rock. There also seem to be some tiny snails on the Aquarium glass.

The only thing I didnt like was that the rock was packed in newspaper. Every
once in a while I have to siphon a small piece out that I didnt catch the
first time around.

Dozens of other buyers have also left positive feedback for this seller. So
check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FIJI-LIVE-ROCWAL...QQcmdZViewItem




"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:ItgRg.1396$8O1.1076@trnddc04...
A few weeks ago, I ordered 30 pounds of uncured "Tonga Deep" from Foster &
Smith. This is supposed to be larger pieces for larger tanks. It arrived
two days later by Fed Ex, packed in a foam box inside a cardboard box. When
the box was opened, the pieces didn't look quite as lively as the photos on
the web, but they sent me one marvelous large piece and several
medium-sized chunks. No discernible crabs or mantis shrimp. Plenty of pods.
I am pleased with the quality, the price, the service, and the appearance.
The only problem was that they only sell this in 30 pound boxes.

Last week, I decided to order some more. I felt that 40 pounds would be
enough to complete my tank, so I ordered that from Premium Aquatics,
asking them to ship large pieces. That arrived yesterday. They "drop ship"
from who knows where and use UPS instead of Fed Ex. The rock was in a
plastic bag in the bottom of a cardboard box; the remainder of the space
was filled with wadded up brown paper. They sent me two large pieces (one
that is very interesting) and several medium-sized chunks, but they also
sent me between 5 and 10 pounds of small debris and broken branch rock.
Not useful for aquascaping. As with F&S, there were no discernible crabs
or mantis shrimp. Too early to tell if there's a pod population. The
appearance of this rock is about the same as the F&S stuff. The per-pound
price (including shipping) is a bit higher than F&S.

In conclusion, I feel that the Premium Aquatics Tonga rock is not as good
a deal as the Foster & Smith Tonga rock. If you're in the market for some
and can use 30 pounds at a time, I would recommend F&S. I basically got 30
pounds of good rock in each shipment and spent about 35% more for it at
PA.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are
permanent.

StringerBell wrote:

I bought 80 Lbs of "Fiji Walt Smith Cured Live Rock" off of ebay. The stuff
is only $2.25 a pound, so it left me me some $$$ to have it shipped 2nd day
air.

This is a great deal - even the shipping is very reasonable. I wanted uncured
Tonga, so I paid more.

The only thing I didnt like was that the rock was packed in newspaper.

That's the usual method - it keeps the rock damp.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.