Live Rock | KP Aquatics | GUlf Live Rock | Etc

[BiGGiePauls33]

Has anyone ever used KP Aquatics or Gulf Live Rock before? Looking for reviews not, "I have rock for sale posts". Thanks

 

[GraniteReefer]

Used KP aquatics a few years ago, got uncured liverock. From my understanding that’s the “rawest” option where the rocks are collected from the ocean and shipped in some wet newspapers. Lots of die off, smells like death, you’ll want a separate tank to allow the process to ensue. I soft cycled the rock to try to keep as much life as possible. This required performing water changes daily to the holding tank so as to keep parameters in check. I got a POS limpet that ate corals, a mantis shrimp, and macro algae’s that border invasive. I also got a curly cue anemone that was cool for a little while. It was super fun to observe the tank looking for the newest unknown critter and researching it etc. If your not prepared to basically QT the rocks I wouldn’t recommend the process. And be prepared to house or rehome unwanted specimens. Or kill them(never can myself). The coralline is awesome, very few other must have HH though. I actually gave away the rock to someone to finally rid myself of the macroalgae

 

[Lilys]

I ordered from them last January. 10 lbs. loved it, cured and cycled it in a bucket for a month. Lots of water change. Mine smelled like the sea at low tide no fool smell. A few dead critters, no mantis for me. GraniteReefer described it really well. I don’t like the whatever rock painted they sell everywhere and kp aquatics is a great option
I want to order more for the biocube when I rehome the corals and rocks that does not fit my plan. Maybe ordering in winter helped with the critters... my daughter was disappointed we didn’t get a mantis to keep in a little tank....

 

[Tomaz_Silveira]

just ordered 15 pounds shipped in water 2 weeks ago. very happy with it

 

[Patrick.S]

I used gulf on my build along with some other rock I’d been curing. I’ve been super happy with it. By the time it arrived it had lost some of the bivalves on the Rick and the rest died in the next couple days. I did get amazing multicolored coraline and even a small encrusting coral. I did cure it in a tank with a small light and multiple water changes. I have added acros to this tank at a really early date and I attribute the rock to my ability to do so.

 

[serwobow]

I got the primo deco live rock from Gulf Live Rock about 10 years ago when I started my first reef tank. It was a very memorable adventure, starting with renting a zip car to pick up the 80 lbs of live rock in a leaking box from the Logan airport deliveries section. Thousands of creatures in were in the box , including several mantis shrimp (the largest ate the others and became my favorite reef creature ever until he killed some of my fish), some crazy crazy worms, a weird crab, limpets, snails, an urchin, nudibranchs, anemones, sponges clams, lots of corals even (not the restricted kind). It was incredibly interesting and awesome. For many months, every time I looked in the aquarium I would see something I had never seen before. There were also a dozen or more macro algae species, some of which became a pain later on. 10 years later, many of the clams and sponges are still on the rock (the sponges seeded my cryptic zone), but that is about it. The rest died, was eaten, or was removed by me. Anyways, I highly recommend it - although maybe not if you are also planning to glue a bunch of high end acros on the rocks...they probably won't be able to compete for space with all the algae.

 

[salthobby]

I got some live rock from Gulf Live Rock a few months ago, I had it cycling in a container when I noticed a bunch of Aiptaisa on it. I ended up not using them. I then got some from KP Aquatics and have not found any aiptaisa on these. They claim to be Aiptaisa free on their website.

 

[Patrick.S]

Fwiw I have found several curlique anemones on my rock which look a lot like aptasia. Had me worried until I did some more research.