I just thought I would take a few minutes to document my experience with "The Package" as it has been so positive!!!
First a little background - I'm essentially a "newbie" to the reef keeping hobby. I have had several aquariums over the years, including one fish-only salt water tank (but that was about 20 years ago), so I am somewhat familiar with maintaining water quality, tank maintenance, etc but I really have been bitten by the reef tank bug. I talked it over with the wife and she agreed to let me give it a try, so I purchased a 29 gallon CoralLife Biocube, hoping to start small and learn as I go. I also decided that I wanted to use aquacultured live rock and captive bred corals and fish so as to have minimum impact on the reefs.
So, long story I know, but I did a lot of research online and decided that I wanted to start off with Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater! I gave him the size and dimensions of my tank and he took it from there. I dropped him an e-mail on Friday afternoon and he responded within an hour and said that he could have the first part of the package ready for shipment on Saturday morning - incredible! I agreed, and he had it at the air freight office by 8:30 on Saturday morning for an 11:30am flight on Southwest.
The package arrived right on schedule and I picked it up at about 4PM on Saturday. The boxes were in good shape and only one had any leakage, but when I opened it there was still plenty of water, in fact, I couldn't even figure out where it leaked. I had everything in the tank by 5:30 PM.
I am extremely pleased with the package contents! The live sand was great and there was even a sea urchin and a star of some kind in the bag. The sea urchin is doing fine in the tank but I haven't seen the star since I put it in - hopefully hiding somewhere. And the live rock was also amazing! The pieces Richard picked out were very pretty and fit well in the tank. This rock was far superior to anything that was available locally!
So for now, I'm keeping watch on the ammonia levels and will probably rearrange the live rock a little bit (just got it in the tank as I couldn't really see because the water was so cloudy, but it is perfectly clear this morning!
So far, my experience with the package has been outstanding!!! I will try to get some pictures of the tank later and post them, and I will post again after I receive Part 2 of the Package!
Great experience Richard! :dance:
Art Hallenbeck
First a little background - I'm essentially a "newbie" to the reef keeping hobby. I have had several aquariums over the years, including one fish-only salt water tank (but that was about 20 years ago), so I am somewhat familiar with maintaining water quality, tank maintenance, etc but I really have been bitten by the reef tank bug. I talked it over with the wife and she agreed to let me give it a try, so I purchased a 29 gallon CoralLife Biocube, hoping to start small and learn as I go. I also decided that I wanted to use aquacultured live rock and captive bred corals and fish so as to have minimum impact on the reefs.
So, long story I know, but I did a lot of research online and decided that I wanted to start off with Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater! I gave him the size and dimensions of my tank and he took it from there. I dropped him an e-mail on Friday afternoon and he responded within an hour and said that he could have the first part of the package ready for shipment on Saturday morning - incredible! I agreed, and he had it at the air freight office by 8:30 on Saturday morning for an 11:30am flight on Southwest.
The package arrived right on schedule and I picked it up at about 4PM on Saturday. The boxes were in good shape and only one had any leakage, but when I opened it there was still plenty of water, in fact, I couldn't even figure out where it leaked. I had everything in the tank by 5:30 PM.
I am extremely pleased with the package contents! The live sand was great and there was even a sea urchin and a star of some kind in the bag. The sea urchin is doing fine in the tank but I haven't seen the star since I put it in - hopefully hiding somewhere. And the live rock was also amazing! The pieces Richard picked out were very pretty and fit well in the tank. This rock was far superior to anything that was available locally!
So for now, I'm keeping watch on the ammonia levels and will probably rearrange the live rock a little bit (just got it in the tank as I couldn't really see because the water was so cloudy, but it is perfectly clear this morning!
So far, my experience with the package has been outstanding!!! I will try to get some pictures of the tank later and post them, and I will post again after I receive Part 2 of the Package!
Great experience Richard! :dance:
Art Hallenbeck
