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Good places to buy hardscape rock?

5678

Member
Joined
27 May 2015
Messages
332
Location
South Oxfordshire
I want to buy a good selection of rocks to work on my new 45C layout.

Ideally, I'd go to TGM as I know I'd get what I want, but it's a 6 hour round trip that I just can't justify!

Local shops and MA branches just dont have enough of a selection really, so wondered if anyone knew of other sources? I'm after stuff similar to TGM Blue stone or ADA Manten stone.

Do garden centres tend to stock much in the way of landscaping rock I could break down?
 
TGM blue stone is a schist so you may get some in a garden centre or quarry or they do mail order.

Manten is very rare (and expensive!) in the UK and the only place Ive found is TGM or theres a guy in stafford sells it on ebay as Mantens stone.

If you want anything like big boxes of seiryu or dragon stone then andys aquatics used to sell mail order.

Also our sponsor Aquatics essentials sells a great range of stones via mail order
 
Thanks Stu.

I'll probably have a drive around tomorrow and see if I can find anything. If not, I'll chance it and just order 20kg asking for a mix of sizes and see what I get!
 
we really do have a poor selection in the uk. even the lists i've pawed through at my LFS from the main distributers mostly show the interesting stuff beyond seiryu clones and dragon as out of stock. i'm doing some local foraging about this area over the next few days. one of the perks of living in the highlands.
 
Hi all

When I read this kind of threads I always suggest people to pick their own. If you are ready to drive several hours I'm sure there's plenty of wonderful places to pick up very nice rocks from the wild... Especially if are going to buy finally squists or rocks that are very common around you. Avoid limestone, the rest is fine.
I came back from holidays last week with +40 kg of rocks to be used in a 60 liters layout. I will only use 10 kg but of course the more rocks you have the better chances for a good hardscape (unless you're very skilled and experienced). The rest are simply rejected. And believe, me, it is very difficult to assess your needs in the shop and what is more important... Try to calculate the cost of 40 kg of rocks, it makes a minimum of 200 euros for the common stones.
See Amano layout videos. For selecting the hardscape to be used in the layout, his assistants bring materials for filling 10 tanks. This is only economically feasible if you are Amano, the rest of us have to work it out another way!

Jordi
 
Hi all

When I read this kind of threads I always suggest people to pick their own. If you are ready to drive several hours I'm sure there's plenty of wonderful places to pick up very nice rocks from the wild... Especially if are going to buy finally squists or rocks that are very common around you. Avoid limestone, the rest is fine.
I came back from holidays last week with +40 kg of rocks to be used in a 60 liters layout. I will only use 10 kg but of course the more rocks you have the better chances for a good hardscape (unless you're very skilled and experienced). The rest are simply rejected. And believe, me, it is very difficult to assess your needs in the shop and what is more important... Try to calculate the cost of 40 kg of rocks, it makes a minimum of 200 euros for the common stones.
See Amano layout videos. For selecting the hardscape to be used in the layout, his assistants bring materials for filling 10 tanks. This is only economically feasible if you are Amano, the rest of us have to work it out another way!

Jordi


indeed. ive just been lazy in the oast and part of my thinking of moving to the highlands was actually to have the hardscape and inspiration for scapes all around me.

plus i've got three years of university geology modules behind me a long time ago. :)

I'll post photos of my finds here.
 
I got all my rock from a local c1600 sand stone quarry literally across my road. I think the best approach to cheap hardscape is be open to finding and taking anything. You can pretty much pick off the ground :D If you're going for rocks I would try and find a waterway, hill, building site etc and just collect a bag full of rocks from the same location, sort it out once you go home. Same with wood but I find getting decent hardwood much more challenging.
 
Had a look in a few garden centres today but other than some random "landscaping rock" and some slate (which I'm not keen on) there wasn't much to choose from.

From looking at pictures today I may go for some Kei stone. Not as expensive as Manten, but more interesting that others.

Is there anywhere down south that stocks ADA rock?
 
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