| If you are looking for aquarium rock here are a | | | | undesirable. If you are able to find good quality live |
| few important tips to remember. When shopping | | | | rock from your local fish store, I recommend |
| for live rock, the general rule of thumb is you | | | | purchasing it there unless the prices are |
| need about one pound of live rock per gallon of | | | | outrageous. |
| water. So a 55 gallon aquarium would require 55 | | | | In that case, you should start looking towards |
| pounds of live rock. This is going to vary based | | | | online vendors. One popular source is aquarium |
| on the density of the live rock. For example, | | | | rock from Florida. I would recommend avoiding |
| Tonga and Fiji live rock is denser than rock from | | | | this rock because it is often full of pests. They |
| Pukani. | | | | also show pretty pictures of sponges, crabs and |
| Most experts will recommend a mixture of sizes | | | | other marine life, but most of these animals die |
| and shapes from different regions. That way you | | | | during the curing process. Instead, I would |
| have a few sturdier pieces to place on the | | | | recommend looking at rock from the Indo-Pacific |
| bottom as a base. As you begin to aquascape | | | | region because it will have fewer pests and better |
| your structure you'll want to be sure that it is | | | | shapes. The biggest disadvantage of buying your |
| sturdy. Buying rocks with plenty of caves and | | | | rock online is you don't get to see the rock you |
| caverns will make it easy to stack. You'll find that | | | | are buying. Sometimes you will get excellent |
| the rock just locks into place and looks more | | | | pieces and sometimes you won't. One tip is to call |
| natural. | | | | the vendor before placing your order to let them |
| Where should you get your aquarium rock? That's | | | | know what you are visualizing for your structure. |
| a good question. You have two main options. The | | | | Another good question to ask is, "When did your |
| first is to handpick the rock from your local fish | | | | last shipment arrive?" This will give you an idea if |
| store. Some stores have excellent rock, whereas | | | | the vendor has already been cherry picked. |
| some have bare and boulder-like pieces which are | | | | |