J&L Aquatics Liverock. Wanted Opinions on it
 

ill soon be ordering liverock and im debating whether to buy it locally (from OA or JL), or from the US. i got the rock for my first tank at OA and it is great. had a few nasty hitchhikers, but it had lots of coraline. it was also cured, so it was a fast cycle.

i know that the liverock at JL is uncured, but when i look at it it doesnt seem to have much life on it. what's it like usually?

im wondering if anyone could post up some pictures of the liverock they've bought from JL so that i can figure out what to do :)

Thanks! :)

I ordered my rock from J&L about 5 years ago. It was a combination of Fiji and Tonga. The only thing I found was that the Tonga was in huge pieces which made aquascaping a bit harder. The coraline on all of it was great. I finally made it out to their store this year and was very impressed with their setup. Very clean and orderly. Super nice store.

I have Fiji and Tonga from J&L too. I prefer the Tonga because it is bigger and most of it is plating shaped. Coralline was good. No hitchhikers.

Bought 50lbs of Fiji about...yikes, 7 years ago now and had it shipped over. Great stuff and no problems. I've added some over the years from other stores on the island and I'd say it was the least "crab free". Never bought any from OA tho.

I've bought LR at both OA and J&L. Both have great rock.
If your buying more than 50lbs. I'd order it fropm either store. That way when it comes in you can get it as soon as it gets to the store.

Cure it yourself that's 1/2 the fun. Smelly house ;)

J

do you know whats involved with buying cities controlled materials? most liverock is cities controlled and needs special permits to come across any borders...unless your purchasing commercial ammounts I would advise you to purchase locally....
Cheers!

Why Not King Eds?
I went in there a month ago and bought 70 lbs of cuban and fiji Love rock for really cheap.
They gave me 2 bucks off a pound so i was paying 5.99 for the fiji and 4.00 for the cuban.
The rock I got had a tonne of life on it from a colony of pistol shrimps (so cool to watch) to 4 or 5 different kinds of algae.
I have seen two crabs as well but I'll get them eventually.
The rock I bought had just arrived the day I got to the store but I am now testing 0 nitrate, 0 nitrate and almost 0 ammonia and I have only been cycling for a month.
I looked at JL and Big Als as well as OA before buying and i went for the store that would deal for cash and had the most selection which was kind eds.
my 2 cents.
cheers.

Dave I'll send you a picture of the Tonga I bought from JL. I think Tonga rock is also supposed to arrive this week, wednesday or thursday.

King Eds?
 

Where is King Eds and do they have a web site?

45Lbs of Tonga 2 months ago from J&L. No real stink, great coraline coverage and even a little Bivalve hitchiker :D

King Ed Pet Centre
ADDRESS: 7377 Kingsway, Vancouver
TYPE: Pet Stores
PHONE: 604-525-4955

They have no website, sort of a huge mom and pop operation.

Too bad King Eds arent a sponsor..I like shopping there too....

Could you send me a pic as well please? Thanks.

Have gotten nice live rock from King Eds, and Hidden Reef. Was at J+L on Sunday, they didnt have much..what was left was ok I guess..They have had nice stuff before though. Guess it depends on when you catch them. :biggrin:

So, Whatigot, does that mean your tank is cycled and ready for livestock?

BTW, Pet Zoo in Langely has nice Indonesian live rock that came in a week ago. Very nice. I paid $6.49/lb as a member of BCAquaria.

It certainly looks that way.
Gonna test every day this week and if all stays within parameters, I'm going to start stocking livestock (fish first, coral later).

I got my LR from King Ed's & also from a fellow Canreefer's large sump setup.

All LR was fully cured & my cycle happened really quickly.

Everything was nicely full of life & the only uncertain thing being a purple crab. It looks like a mithrax crab so I'm leaving him be... for now!

King Ed's had a good selection & I took my time to hand pick some pieces.

They've got Fiji, Jakarta, Cuban mostly cured but have some partly cured & non cured.

I bugged them for a discount & paid $5/lb for Fiji

.

how much do you usually need to buy in order for King Ed's to cut you a discount?

ill be looking for roughly 50lbs for my display or possibly a bit more (can always chuck it in the sump)

I only bought 20lbs from King Ed's.

.

talk to the nice old guy that works in the saltwater section, mention your buying 30 lbs and see what he says, he'll probably offer you a dollar of per lb, then tell him you'd buy more if he offered you an even better price, that's how it worked for me and I bought almost 70 lbs....

Robert/Bob is the name of the friendly older dude in the sw section I think.

I spoke to Ron & said I only wanted to pay $4/lb and we settled on $5/lb.

I think it probably helps with bargaining if they know your face.

.

I just got 130lbs from J&L in the last month. Total cycle time was 7 days. The rock was fantastic and looks great. I've had them ship most of my tank equipment as well and have had nothing but good experience after good experience with them.

I would imagine from my experience there the key is to make them think you're gonna walk out unless the give you what you're looking for.
I counted my cash right in fron of him and thats when he offered me a discount and then I asked him for a bigger discount if I bought more than the 30 lbs I first said I was getting, it's all about making them think they are upselling you when in fact you are downselling them....