Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I am planning my rock. I like what the folks at Tampa Bay Saltwater are doing. But I have read some say its to alive from TBS. Also, their rock is much more dense, (should I care?) vs fuji or others. Like to hear some comments on this. I will be deciding in a few weeks. I want cured. TBS ships in water.
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Rock
- Thread starter blueTbird
- Start date
If you want cured rock and don't want to buy anything collected from the wild, Maybe within a few weeks someone will take down their tank and you can get some nice cured rock for cheap!!!
I would love to see any info that you folks have. TBS claims you get the rock the day after it is taken out of the ocean. That sounds real fresh. There web site claims real fast cycle because of the quick turn around from ocean to your door. I like that idea, I read some of the letters on their site, sounds like people are real happy with the rock. Any one think going with this would be a problem vs the standard stuff everyone else sells (fuji, Marshall islands, etc). The stuff looks good on their site. First time doing this and I want to go the right direction. Carmine, if you have info/research I would love to hear.
I wouldn't call it research so much. More along the lines of gathering opinions and experiences and then drawing my own conclusions.
I like the idea of all the "good" life and being shipped in water with little die off.
I don't like the "bad" critters that comes on a majority of the rock. The thought of having to tear half a reef apart to get a mantis or crab out is not appealing.
The fact that it is so dense means you get alot less volume for your buck.
One major purpose of live rock is to help convert nitrate to nitrogen which then vents off at the water surface. This process takes place in the no oxygen areas of the rock (deep inside the pores). My fear is that the more dense TBS and similar rocks don't have as many of these pores thus less nitrate processing going on(although i have found no data to back this up. Just common sense telling me, more dense= less porous). In a reef tank nitrate is our enemy. Fish only tank it is not as big a deal.
If I was setting up a new tank today. Money, space, equipment, time was not an issue. I would do roughly a 75% Figi or equivalent and 25% TBS or equivalent. The Figi would go right into the display tank and the TBS would be sitting in a separate tank and when i was sure it was safe I would then add it to the display.
The only reason I would even consider the TBS is because of the different life that I find often more interesting then the Corals or fish. However if the plan is to pack every last inch of that tank with wall to wall corals so none of the rock is ever visible again then i would go figi only and utilize the nitrogen processing qualities of it.
This is only my personal opinion. Some reefers may say i'm crazy and many others would say I'm nuts. It is up to you to decide what category I'm in
I like the idea of all the "good" life and being shipped in water with little die off.
I don't like the "bad" critters that comes on a majority of the rock. The thought of having to tear half a reef apart to get a mantis or crab out is not appealing.
The fact that it is so dense means you get alot less volume for your buck.
One major purpose of live rock is to help convert nitrate to nitrogen which then vents off at the water surface. This process takes place in the no oxygen areas of the rock (deep inside the pores). My fear is that the more dense TBS and similar rocks don't have as many of these pores thus less nitrate processing going on(although i have found no data to back this up. Just common sense telling me, more dense= less porous). In a reef tank nitrate is our enemy. Fish only tank it is not as big a deal.
If I was setting up a new tank today. Money, space, equipment, time was not an issue. I would do roughly a 75% Figi or equivalent and 25% TBS or equivalent. The Figi would go right into the display tank and the TBS would be sitting in a separate tank and when i was sure it was safe I would then add it to the display.
The only reason I would even consider the TBS is because of the different life that I find often more interesting then the Corals or fish. However if the plan is to pack every last inch of that tank with wall to wall corals so none of the rock is ever visible again then i would go figi only and utilize the nitrogen processing qualities of it.
This is only my personal opinion. Some reefers may say i'm crazy and many others would say I'm nuts. It is up to you to decide what category I'm in
that makes sense as it relates to the density. My tank (105) gallon, will have built ups on the sides then slope down in the middle to form a valley in the tank. It will be used as a room divider. So the tank will not be packed with rock. If I do go with some Fuji, where would folks suggest I get it, I want it cured. I was thinking of going with about 100 pounds or so.
I originally purchased my rock from www.PremiumAquatics.com. I was extremmly pleased with shapes, variety of sizes and corraline coverage. However that was 3 years ago so I would try to get some more recent experiances.
i purchased the 10 gallon package for my nano tank. dense rock, but a lot of great life on it! the live sand came with a bunch of sand sifting stars. the rock came with siderastrea radians, a lot of cup coral, plenty of encrusting sponges, hermit crabs, a sea urchin, some smaller emerald crabs, brittle stars, and a bunch more that i cant remember right now. all the pieces were covered with purple and red coralline algae. richard (from tbs) threw in an extra peppermint shrimp and a bunch of extra blue leg hermits and astrea snails. for the package price, it cant be beat. as for shipping, using continental, it only cost 37 dollars for the first 100 pounds. everything was packed in water, minimal leakage, and when i cycled the tank, ammonia never rose above .25. total cycle time was about a week.
as for bad hitchhikers, i was lucky enough to receive NO mantis shrimp, and was assured that if i received one, they are not as harmful as they are touted to be. something to the effect of, since they are the florida smasher variety, as long as they get some food with the rest of the life in the tank, they shouldnt be a problem.
as for the nitrate, it did jump up a bit after the ammonia and nitrites were in check (25-40 ppm) but after a month, came down to something more manageable (10 ppm) and now that i added some macro in an aquaclear 300 minifuge, im pretty sure its down even further.
ordered it one morning, and received it that afternoon. richard is a great guy to deal with, and recommend TBS.
hth
kris
as for bad hitchhikers, i was lucky enough to receive NO mantis shrimp, and was assured that if i received one, they are not as harmful as they are touted to be. something to the effect of, since they are the florida smasher variety, as long as they get some food with the rest of the life in the tank, they shouldnt be a problem.
as for the nitrate, it did jump up a bit after the ammonia and nitrites were in check (25-40 ppm) but after a month, came down to something more manageable (10 ppm) and now that i added some macro in an aquaclear 300 minifuge, im pretty sure its down even further.
ordered it one morning, and received it that afternoon. richard is a great guy to deal with, and recommend TBS.
hth
kris
THis might be a little to early for you but I noticed this on reefcentral.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=343215
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=343215
I called Premium Aquatics for my rock and decided against it, they said that the rock is not really cured anymore because it is selling very fast. I finally went with Harbor Aquatics and so far am pleased. The rock was clean, wet and has lots of life on it, plenty of macro and coralline coverage. I did spot some aiptasia though so I am in the development stage in producing my "UABU" Pronounced U ahhh Boooo (Underwater Aiptasia Blasting Unit) ;D
Harbor made me wait until the rock was ready as they put it. Joy would not ship it to me for 3 weeks and had it in her tanks for 5 in total. I do not see anything rotting or dead on the rock at all, But then again, I didn't see the damn aiptasia either. :-X
Harbor made me wait until the rock was ready as they put it. Joy would not ship it to me for 3 weeks and had it in her tanks for 5 in total. I do not see anything rotting or dead on the rock at all, But then again, I didn't see the damn aiptasia either. :-X
well i went down to their store in tampa last summer and their rock was awsome. a few weeks later i ordered 10 lbs to see how it was and it looked just as good as it did in the store. no odor, lots of life, i highly recomend their rock.
Dave A
Dave A
if u want to hand pick your rock i understand the The Hidden Reef has Fiji rock for $3.99 lb. they also have other types but have not heard the price. here is a link but i don't think they list the live rock. u may want to call the store and ck inventory
http://thehiddenreef.com/index.htm
bob
http://thehiddenreef.com/index.htm
bob
I have read quite a bit of positive press on TBS and its rock. Thats what I will be going with. The tank is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday and the carpenter is already starting the work. Should have the tank in place in about 3 weeks or so. I will be posting pictures of the project. First roll is getting developed.
BobCReef said:
The rock is actually $3.79 a pound, and just a tip it arrives monday, and is usually placed out just after dinner time or so. I would rather get it fresh at the store, and be able to get first pick of pieces then have rock that has been at their store a few weeks. Would rather cure the good shapes at home then get the blah shapes everyone has passed on for a few weeks just because it is closer to cured.
milhouse