I may have to break out a thesaurus for this review because I will run out of superlatives. I'm over the moon with delight at everything Richard gave us this go 'round. He gave us so much cowbell.
It's taken us a week or so to post this review because, frankly, we've been having so much fun tinkering that I didn't want to stop.
When I picked up the shipment from the freight office I was extremely lucky. I was very nervous about my wife coming inside with me, because I would rather her not see the freight charges. My lucky break however, was that my wife, being a naive, wide eyed, sweety pie, thought the freight charges was the price of the entire package. I didn't lie, per se, but I kept my big yap shut and let her assume this was the case. Shhhhh, only me and you know. :lol2:
There was so many bags that acclimating everything was a huge endeavor. I wanted to put my living stuff in last, so that I didn't have to worry about placing rocks on top of my critters. So maneuvering my rocks past my floating bags and trying to arrange them was a heroic feat. There's probably an easier way to do this.
It doesn't help that my tank is 31 inches tall, so everytime I place or move a rock, I get my whole arm wet.
I placed my rocks as best I could, but I recieved so many rocks between both shipments that I pretty much created the Great Wall of China across the back of my tank. Richard, did you end up giving me more rock than I ordered? All the rock had such a kaliedoscope of riches that I would be hard pressed to scrap any. We decided to keep it all, as over time, most would be covered in additions. We have plenty of surfaces for future pretty stuff.
I planted all our gorgs and sponges and whatchamacallits as best I could. I have moved a lot of stuff around since these initial pictures, but this will have to do. Mind you, all these pictures are with a cheap cell phone. They do not do justice to the beauty.
The starfishes we got were COLOSSAL. Plus, there was a MASSIVE urchin the size of a grapefruit. There is so many snails and crabs that we gave them all the same name, "Number 46". Yes, they are all number 46.
Don't forget we have a giant Red Mithrax crab from Shipment One that my wife has lovenly named Richard. This should not reflect on eithers personality. I wouldn't want to give my crab a bad reputation. Haha. (Love ya Richard).
We are still doing water changes to bring down my ammonia level. Some people are luckier than us. I think we have such a big bioload ... and that my tank somehow knows I'm a beginner, so it's schooling me.
We couldn't be happier with our purchase from TBS. We can't believe our eyes. We spend so much time looking around the tank and we see something new every time.
My wife is so pleased with our piece of ocean that she has decided to forgive Richard for not including a bottlenose dolphin in the package. Maybe that will be in Shipment Three? ...as if theres any room left in my tank.
Thank you Richard and your partners at TBS. You guys knocked our socks off. Consider us barefoot. We will buy from TBS again in the future.
If we ever have to terraform another planet, for humans to migrate to, and the seas there are devoid of life, I nominate Richard to stock the planets oceans. ... Now I'd like to see how low the barge rides for that dive!
:inlove::inlove::inlove:
It's taken us a week or so to post this review because, frankly, we've been having so much fun tinkering that I didn't want to stop.
When I picked up the shipment from the freight office I was extremely lucky. I was very nervous about my wife coming inside with me, because I would rather her not see the freight charges. My lucky break however, was that my wife, being a naive, wide eyed, sweety pie, thought the freight charges was the price of the entire package. I didn't lie, per se, but I kept my big yap shut and let her assume this was the case. Shhhhh, only me and you know. :lol2:
There was so many bags that acclimating everything was a huge endeavor. I wanted to put my living stuff in last, so that I didn't have to worry about placing rocks on top of my critters. So maneuvering my rocks past my floating bags and trying to arrange them was a heroic feat. There's probably an easier way to do this.
It doesn't help that my tank is 31 inches tall, so everytime I place or move a rock, I get my whole arm wet.
I placed my rocks as best I could, but I recieved so many rocks between both shipments that I pretty much created the Great Wall of China across the back of my tank. Richard, did you end up giving me more rock than I ordered? All the rock had such a kaliedoscope of riches that I would be hard pressed to scrap any. We decided to keep it all, as over time, most would be covered in additions. We have plenty of surfaces for future pretty stuff.
I planted all our gorgs and sponges and whatchamacallits as best I could. I have moved a lot of stuff around since these initial pictures, but this will have to do. Mind you, all these pictures are with a cheap cell phone. They do not do justice to the beauty.
The starfishes we got were COLOSSAL. Plus, there was a MASSIVE urchin the size of a grapefruit. There is so many snails and crabs that we gave them all the same name, "Number 46". Yes, they are all number 46.
Don't forget we have a giant Red Mithrax crab from Shipment One that my wife has lovenly named Richard. This should not reflect on eithers personality. I wouldn't want to give my crab a bad reputation. Haha. (Love ya Richard).
We are still doing water changes to bring down my ammonia level. Some people are luckier than us. I think we have such a big bioload ... and that my tank somehow knows I'm a beginner, so it's schooling me.
We couldn't be happier with our purchase from TBS. We can't believe our eyes. We spend so much time looking around the tank and we see something new every time.
My wife is so pleased with our piece of ocean that she has decided to forgive Richard for not including a bottlenose dolphin in the package. Maybe that will be in Shipment Three? ...as if theres any room left in my tank.
Thank you Richard and your partners at TBS. You guys knocked our socks off. Consider us barefoot. We will buy from TBS again in the future.
If we ever have to terraform another planet, for humans to migrate to, and the seas there are devoid of life, I nominate Richard to stock the planets oceans. ... Now I'd like to see how low the barge rides for that dive!
:inlove::inlove::inlove:
Last edited:
