Honest Review of Tampa Bay Saltwater

[missk]

It would be your biggest mistake ever.. to not get your rock from Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater. Seriously! I rarely write reviews on stuff I've purchased online.. whether things turned out good or bad. But because this turned out so awesome... I couldn't not write this!!!!

Today we received the second shipment of the 'package'. And boy oh boy, words cannot describe how shocked and amazed we were at what came in the boxes. Unfortunately I don't have pics yet.. i just made it home from work after laboring for hours to get everything settled into the tank and didn't get a chance to take pics.... but tomorrow hopefully.

We received the ocean. Colorful specimens...sponges, corals..sea cucumbers...starfish.. a shrimp..crabs..snails..a purple sea urchin....a yellow sponge. a magenta/purple sponge. a orangey peachy colored sponge. a tall orange sponge. corals. leafy stuff...and of course.. the live rock.. as live as it can be.. "true live rock".. beautiful purple coralline algae.. etc etc...

I am a newbie so I really dunno how to positively identify all this stuff!!!! If only I could i would list them all out here.. i promise i will take pics of everything as soon as possible and upload them.

Richard from TBS went above and beyond with this shipment. The first shipment was awesome in and of itself as is.. a sea urchin and a decorator crab showed up with the first set of boxes...but we are totally blown away by this second shipment.

I am beyond myself. Now even more nervous as ever.. not knowing what everything is and not knowing how to make sure everything lives happily forever.. But gonna get to it right away!!!!

Thank you Richard!!.....

 

[StephLionfish]

It would be your biggest mistake ever.. to not get your rock from Richard at Tampa Bay Saltwater.

lol, I have to admit, My jaw fell slack there for a second... I was thinking " Now here's some gossip! "

I haven't ordered from TBS, but I love seeing all the critters that come off the rocks in pix. Waiting for the pictures.

 

[missk]

Help me identify these please!!!!

Help me identify these please!!!!

Here's some pics of what we received yesterday.. more to come.. If anyone can help identify everything.. I could use the help!

 

[missk]

Help identify please!!!

Help identify please!!!

More pics for identification..

 

[missk]

More for identification

More for identification

any help is greatly appreciated... thank you thank you!

 

[liverock]

Awesome job!

Awesome job!

any help is greatly appreciated... thank you thank you!

See...you were scared to death of being a 'newbie'...and pulled it off like a champ!

The green plants on top....plant them in the sand as you would a potted plant, and they will root...other than that, perfect job!

and all critters ID should be here...if not let me know and I will add them!

http://tbsaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :spin1::spin1::spin1:

 

[StephLionfish]

Full tank shot?

 

[mndfreeze]

I can ID 'jealousy' from me. ;/

Nice sponges and others! Man! Sheesh!

 

[missk]

Full Tank Shot

Full Tank Shot

Full tank shot?

Stuff is kinda leaning over.. gonna have to try to re-situate some of these guys..

I am slightly concerned.. the temp went up by 1 deg C from yesterday to today.. the tank is at 27.3 C. Heater is not on. Room temp is same as usual. Hmm. Do I need a cooler system? Low 80's should be ok though for this tank.. it is acrylic so holds in heat a lot more though supposedly..

 

[Jaxom]

Nice looking tank missk, job well done.

 

[StephLionfish]

Awesome tank. Like the look. Find any mobile creatures, yet?

 

[missk]

There's supposedly a nutribranch in there somewhere because someone identified that I have nutribranch eggs... Pistol shrimp is likely because of the clicking noises we heard during the day. Crabs are a plenty.. all over the rocks. We have two decorator crabs. One itty bitty one and one that has grown already in size from molting.

 

[StephLionfish]

Decorator crabs are awesome! I wish I had a little orange one. With all that colorful rock, I'd just stare at it all day.

 

[missk]

Decorator crabs are awesome! I wish I had a little orange one. With all that colorful rock, I'd just stare at it all day.

Oh my.. we discovered another one. Now we have three decorator crabs.

 

[Devaji108]

love to see some update pics if you have time! very nice set up.

 

[missk]

update

update

Well it's been exciting to say the least! We have added three fish to the tank, Nemo & his girlfriend Penny, and Wally a valentini puffer. Just added them in the past couple of days. The fish are doing great and water parameters are great..

Am wanting to add some branching rock, but unsure how to aquascape it all.. the sponges have already attached themselves to the rocks.. Wondering if it's ok to move them?

 

[missk]

updated tank pic

updated tank pic

Not happy with how it all looks... but been too busy to spend time on it.. here's an updated pic.. It seems the yellowish/orange sponge is deteriorating..

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Not happy with how it all looks... but been too busy to spend time on it.. here's an updated pic.. It seems the yellowish/orange sponge is deteriorating..

Sponges can be hard to keep if you don't have enough flow hitting them.

 

[ocean2012]

Im thinking about going withTampa Bay's liverock.Does anyone have any specific or special advice?My only concern is that I will receive a bad hitchhiker.Im referring to something that may be harmful to humans.Whether its poisonouse or venomouse I would like to stay away from something of that nature.I have enough trouble keeping my hands away from my black longspine sea urchin.Does anyone know of any dangerous sea creatures I may encounter if I decide to go with Tampa Bay's liverock?Although I have spent time researching for this project there is still so much to learn.This is a great hobby but requires much much research.Advice appreciated...thank you