Have any of you done TBS rock?

[NeveSSL]

Hi all!

Just curious if anyone local had done the Tampa Bay Saltwater rock. I think its an awesome concept and I've been thinking about getting some when I finally get a bigger tank.

Please elaborate on your experience with it. How much bad stuff came, how much good stuff. What you did and didn't like. Etc.

Thanks much!

Brandon

 

[crumbletop]

I think wooglin's rock is TBS.

 

[fishdoc11]

Wooglin is the king of TBS rock
He has a thread in the newbie forum that is Loooooong but it hasn't been updated in a while so it may be hard to find. I think the title is something like "30 gallon TBS startup tank".

 

[NeveSSL]

Sweet... thanks guys!

Brandon

 

[DMBillies]

The only "bad" thing I've heard about TBS is the number of hitchhikers you'll get from it (mantis, crabs, etc.). I have a couple of pieces I've gotten from various places. It is definitely beautiful rock with a lot of coralline (most of what I've seen is a redder color than the purple that seems to thrive in our tanks).

 

[NeveSSL]

Yeah, it seems like it takes patience for a while to get rid of all of the bad stuff before you can put much good stuff in, but that may be worth it. Not sure if I will or not, but I'm really tempted to.

Brandon

 

[crumbletop]

Shoot Wooglin a PM. From what I have read, people who get TBS rock really love it.

 

[NeveSSL]

I'll probably wait until I'm actually getting a bigger tank to PM him. But I will definitely do it then! Right now I'm just curious. I may go checkout the TBS forum... I'm pretty sure they're a sponsor.

Brandon

 

[cczarnik]

Brandon, I've done two TBS tanks. The first was as 2nd owner a few years ago of a 55gal package that I cherry picked down to fit in a nano. Huge variety, I bet I had 30 porcelean crabs, several brains, 2 nems, etc. Sold half of it to Fins for credit. It was gone that afternoon.

Had quite a few mithrax, two pistols, and several bad crabs that prior owner didn't get out. Overall a good experience.

Second batch was about 18 months ago, still quite a few hitch hikers, lots of good stuff, but I spent forever rounding up bad crabs. It took the better part of a year to get the last one. No porceleans or mithrax this time. I'd say I got 1 bad guy/lb. Also lots of calupera.

My 3rd tank was second hand non-tbs rock, it sure was nice not having to go crabbing every week.

I think Richard has two farms- one in the TPA area, and one in Key West. This is conjecture, but I think my first batch came from the TPA farm, which was subsequently damaged by hurricane, and my second came from Key West.

Hope this helps.

 

[NeveSSL]

Awesome... thanks for the reply!

I was definitely anticipating a lot of bad hitchhikers. I think even more than that, the caulerpa bothers me as a lot of times once you've got it, you've GOT it.

Maybe I can do a nano in TBS because I think it could really look great and my main tanks in marco or something to avoid the headaches of bad hitchhikers..

Thanks much for the reply!

Brandon

 

[DMBillies]

Brandon - I'd say that's a good idea. A hitchhiker is easier to detect and catch in something smaller because even if you have to take out all of the rock it isn't too big of a deal. If you really wanted to, you could use that as something of a quarantine by setting the rock up in a rubbermaid or something for a while, then transferring it to your nano for closer observation for a while, then putting it into the big tank (although that sounds like a lot of work).

I'm sure the amount and variety of life you get from that rock makes most other live rock look like a fallcy... I just wonder how long that diversity actually continues to exist in a tank (it seems like certain critters propagate more easily and possibly out compete a lot of the stuff that comes in on the rock) and how much the shuffling of frags amongst hobbyists makes up for that loss (even though I dip everything and quarantine when possibly I have no doubt that some things are making it through that)?

 

[NeveSSL]

Yeah, I think it would be much better to do it in a nano. To be honest, I'm very interested in chasing stuff down, but not in a 180.

I'm also interested in the longevity of the animals that come. I'm betting they probably all don't last and thrive the way they did in the ocean.

Brandon

 

[cczarnik]

The gregorians and sps has done very well for the last 18 months. As did cup corals and various encrusting sponges. I did lose a black urchin after about a year, I don't think there was enough algae in the tank for him.

They now live in my 92 that is mostly non-tbs rock. In fact, all of this survived the calupera that nuked itself when it went sexual. Calupera problem solved

Bad guy crabs did get most of the cleanup crew though. Not a single mantis or pistol in batch #2.

Have to run, Barack and Hillary (my clowns) just decided to host my RBTA! woo hoo!