# What makes lace rock so expensive?



## Gr8Wall (Mar 8, 2013)

On a pound for pound basis i find lace rock to be extremely expensive comparing it to say buying good looking river rock from a local landscape supply store. Just curious why lace rock is so pricey? Is it harder to excavate than other rock? Im guessing because you can mostly only get it at fish stores inflates the price a great deal but since filling up my 125gallon with it and looking at the receipts in dollars spent i was just thinking to myself how much money i could have saved if i went down to my local river and gather tons of great looking grey river rock or had just went to my landscape supply store and actually paid for it and chose my pieces which would have been roughly a few cents a pound. In all i could have probably bought the same amount of river rock from a landscape supply store and paid not even a tenth of the price of the $3 per pound lace rock. The lace rock looks wonderful but it is darn sure expensive and as i look to setup future larger tanks it really has me thinking to reconsider whether or not i want to shell out all the money on the lace rock.


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## shelbynjakesdad (Mar 13, 2013)

Check with your local stone suppliers, there is one near me that sells lace rock for $0.45 per pound. It's fairly light, so you get more for your money compared to most rock. I personally don't use it as I'm afraid its too sharp, my mbuna dart in and out of the rocks at such a high rate of speed, I'm afraid of them getting scratched. If you want lace rock though, it's worth checking around - the LFS is just inflating the price.


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## notchback65 (Apr 3, 2013)

shelbynjakesdad said:


> Check with your local stone suppliers, there is one near me that sells lace rock for $0.45 per pound. It's fairly light, so you get more for your money compared to most rock. I personally don't use it as I'm afraid its too sharp, my mbuna dart in and out of the rocks at such a high rate of speed, I'm afraid of them getting scratched. If you want lace rock though, it's worth checking around - the LFS is just inflating the price.


True....one of my local stone suppliers said that a lot of the LFS come and get the rock from him,he sells it for around .75 to a $1.00 a pound and the LFS sells it for $5-$6 per pound..as shelbynjakesdad said go to your local stone supplier and chose from them...always cheaper than the LFS :thumb:


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## ozman (Sep 7, 2012)

i guess for those starting out the lfs are infalable and think everthing is good.

the lfs need to make a living too granted, but i think a 500-600% profit is.......greed


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## Clive1 (Apr 26, 2013)

Is lace rock the same as Texas holey rock?


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Lace rock is not the same as Texas Holey rock. Lace rock is volcanic stone and Texas Holey is a form of sedimentary limestone.

The price of rock is all relative to the freight involved and who you are getting it from.

Lace rock is found in the Western U.S. Where found locally, it is as cheap as landscaping stone and is often used as that. It's even ground up and put into roads and concrete! Ship that across the country though and it gets expensive.

River rock can be found all over the U.S. Since it's found locally the freight costs are much lower.

Aquarium shops deal in small volumes of rock that they often have to buy from distributors who in turn have to buy it from suppliers. Add in all the levels of markup and you are going to have a higher price (but a wider selection of stone is available). Landscapers deal in tons of stone at a time often from local suppliers directly. Costs are a lot less but the selection available is usually more limited.

Andy


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