Fiji vs Key Largo

[JPags]

Marco

I just purchased my Key Largo rock and now noticed you have some Fiji Back in stock :( Can you tell me what the main differences are between them because I am now thinking of purchasing the Fiji and selling the Key Largo I just got.

I opened the box and liked the look of the key largo but before I start cycling it I wanted to make sure I do not want to change to the Fiji rock.

John

[marco67]

The biggest difference is density the Fiji is much lighter, 40# Fiji actually ships in a larger box than 50# Key Largo (24 x12x12 vs 24x16x12). The Fiji is very labor intensive to get it to the point where we consider it pre-cycled or Smart Start™ also it's a very limited rock as Fiji is now banned from import. That's why the price difference.
If you compared volume of rock/$ I think they'd be about the same.

Other than that I guess it's just a difference in what you like the look of better.


Thanks for the business ...BTW

[JPags]

ok, so then I guess I will keep the key largo and start cycling it.

Thanks for the info.

John

[marco67]

Just to be clear on the "labor intensive" part it's done already at our key largo warehouse.

So when you read about how bad peoples house stunk and how long it took to cycle their Fiji....Thats the "old" Fiji and doesn't apply here. :)

[The_Godfreys]

Marco: On this pre-cycled stuff. Do you just mean that there is very little organics left in it? Or are there actually still live life forms on it?
Reason I ask:
Getting ready to set up a tank, planning to use your Fiji.
Want to know if I need to wait till the tank is set up so I can continue the cycle and maintain whatever is still alive in it or if I can buy in advance and let it wait dry till the tank is ready.
Also, do you have the Fiji available on the cape for cherry picking?
Thanks,
Jim G.

[Joel A]

the rock he sells is dry, so i think everything is dead... only difference as far as i know is that the rock is precured a bit and they get a lot of the really nasty stuff out by pressure washing and soaking the rock...

but of course correct me if im wrong Marc =)

[marco67]

Yes both the Fiji and the Keys rock that is sold Pre-Cycled or Smart Start is dry and is 99.9% organics free. It's really quite a bit more involved than soaking and pressure washing. It's actually about a 3 week multi tank process. I'm working on writing a page for the new website on this, we hope to have that up soon.
At this time all rock is shipping out of Key Largo, I do have a limited amount of the Key Largo here (on Cape) but non of our signature Fiji.

[SteveDola]

do you still have to cycle it when you receive the precycled rock or can you add it to an established tank?

[marco67]

We have added it directly in testing without issue, however I can't recommend that. My recommendation is always to be safe, cycle and test.
The nice thing is that you'll see when testing things moving much faster than in the past when organics were an issue.