Looking at live rock

[Readywriter]

So my tank plans are coming together and Im starting to put serious thought into what I want to do for the rockwork. My plan right now is to go a little light on the LR to make room for diy rocks that I plan on making and letting cure for a good long while. Anyway, Im looking at these sites offering LR now and im not really seeing anything that I feel like Im going to be excited to order. Am I looking at the wrong sites or are they really offering what would have been considered junk base rock 20 years ago as super premium deco rock? I mean shoot I just saw one site that was calling diatom encrusted rock corraline.

Kinda making want to just cast 200 lbs of concrete and order 50lbs of live sand and call it a day.

 

[WheatToast]

So my tank plans are coming together and Im starting to put serious thought into what I want to do for the rockwork. My plan right now is to go a little light on the LR to make room for diy rocks that I plan on making and letting cure for a good long while. Anyway, Im looking at these sites offering LR now and im not really seeing anything that I feel like Im going to be excited to order. Am I looking at the wrong sites or are they really offering what would have been considered junk base rock 20 years ago as super premium deco rock? I mean shoot I just saw one site that was calling diatom encrusted rock corraline.

Kinda making want to just cast 200 lbs of concrete and order 50lbs of live sand and call it a day.

If you are looking for sheer biodiversity, then Tampa Bay Saltwater and KP Aquatics have your back; they ship their live rock submerged from Florida which retains an incredible amount of marine life. Gulf Live Rock and Tampa Bay Saltwater are also the only places that offers live sand straight from the ocean if you are curious (as opposed to "live" sand that has simply been seeded with bacteria).
Though not quite as biodiverse, the recently popularized Australian live rock takes on more diverse shapes since it is naturally occurring; while the vendors in Florida dump mined rock into the ocean to create their live rock, Australian live rock is created by the ocean (coral dies, it gets encrusted in life, pieces get broken off by storms) like the live rock that was popular decades ago from the Indo-Pacific.