Is this the exciting future of Live Rock? Must See!!!

[liverock]

good job...

good job...

Tank should be all clear this morning.....you sure got some nice porcelain crab hitchhikers!

And southwest did a great job...as that transferred through Vegas...to get to Spokane ...and in good shape!

How was the border crossing?

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

Ok everyone, here are the unboxing/preclearing shots!! This rock is amazing! You can hardly see the actual rock through all of the life!

Boxes opened, let's look inside!

Rock box one (sadly I forgot to take a picture of these out of the bag... I guess I got carried away lol.

Rock box two! Man, these rocks are sweet! And think, I've only gotten half of them!

Rock box two out of the bag before the tank

Sand box! I did open and install this first for the record lol. Check out who we found chilling in the sand!

Here comes sand in the tank, wow that water got murky quick!

Rocks are in the tank, but here are just a few of the guys who fell off before being put into the tank.

Well, that's it for now. I'll take a FTS when the water clears, the scape is just piled in for now... I'll do something with it tomorrow when I can see into the tank lol.

 

[Swope2bc]

Tank should be all clear this morning.....you sure got some nice porcelain crab hitchhikers!

And southwest did a great job...as that transferred through Vegas...to get to Spokane ...and in good shape!

How was the border crossing?

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

Border was a cinch, they didn't even ask for the certificate. Everything was in awesome shape too! No leakage at all. It did pill out just over $1 a pound for shipping though.

So far, I love everything about this order, anyone who is balking at the cost it's already well worth it to me! I can't wait see all the goodies that come along with the top half!!!

 

[Swope2bc]

Lol, man I had a crazy night... Finalizing my setup I got called out for an RCMP investigation until almost 4am (I flag for them some times). A motorcycle hit a cow on the hwy. killed em both... Basically I'm crazy tired now lol. And still work to finish on the tank to keep everything doing what it supposed to...

Here is a mostly clear FTS

Future posts in my build thread. (Well until the top half that is!

 

[liverock]

Border was a cinch, they didn't even ask for the certificate. Everything was in awesome shape too! No leakage at all. It did pill out just over $1 a pound for shipping though.

So far, I love everything about this order, anyone who is balking at the cost it's already well worth it to me! I can't wait see all the goodies that come along with the top half!!!

It seems that your experience is more like the rule when crossing from the US into Canada...the last few shipments up your way were the same....just declare it....and they say "what"? LOL

But better to be prepared with the Aquaculture certificate and invoices just in case the do ask...is why I always include them for Canadian customers....was there any duty charges?

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :bounce1:

 

[Swope2bc]

It seems that your experience is more like the rule when crossing from the US into Canada...the last few shipment up your way were the same....just declare it....and they say "what"? LOL



But better to be prepared with the Aquaculture certificate and invoices just in case the do ask...is why I always include them for Canadian customers....was there any duty charges?



sea ya

Richard TBS

www.tbsaltwater.com :bounce1:

Nope, I had the whole family with me and stayed the previous night in the states so we were within our limit. I may have to pay on the next one though because I'll be going alone and just for a day... BTW, can you add a small 5lb bag of sand with my next portion? I was supposed to be giving some to a friend but I don't want to scrape it out of the tank now lol. It's clearing too nicely

 

[sde1500]

You declare it at the border? I've gone into Canada (and back of course) a few times. Not carrying too much that "shouldn't" cross, but always just said nope. I mean, whats the odds they actually check your car?

 

[Swope2bc]

You declare it at the border? I've gone into Canada (and back of course) a few times. Not carrying too much that "shouldn't" cross, but always just said nope. I mean, whats the odds they actually check your car?

They asked what I had and in my list of items I mentioned aquacultured live rock for my reef aquarium. No problem. Also, the certificate provided by Richard legitimizes it too. If they ask and you say no and they do check they can/will impound your car and fine you so be careful. If they find things that are not restricted but you lied about it they can still make life really bad. I only answer the questions they ask but always truthfully.

 

[Hitch08]

After a brief layover and a weather delay, The Package is once again on it's way. Can't wait to see all of the life.

Rick has been tracking and sent an update.

 

[liverock]

They asked what I had and in my list of items I mentioned aquacultured live rock for my reef aquarium. No problem. Also, the certificate provided by Richard legitimizes it too. If they ask and you say no and they do check they can/will impound your car and fine you so be careful. If they find things that are not restricted but you lied about it they can still make life really bad. I only answer the questions they ask but always truthfully.

Yup...I watch to much of the Canada border cops show on shaw/Bell....they get pretty testy when you don't fess up the truth...ain't worth it.... lol

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com:lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:

 

[CuzzA]

Does anyone on this side of the world even recognize borders anymore??? Or does it go something like this...

Border agent: "Are you declaring anything sir?"

Me: "Sure, live aquarium rock, 10 illegals, a cache of weapons and while I'm at it I'm just going to go ahead and declare myself a sovereign!"

Border Agent: "Alright! Go right ahead sir. Welcome!"

Me: Thanks! and a

Ok, ok, sorry I couldn't resist. Carry on.

 

[liverock]

Does anyone on this side of the world even recognize borders anymore??? Or does it go something like this...

Border agent: "Are you declaring anything sir?"

Me: "Sure, live aquarium rock, 10 illegals, a cache of weapons and while I'm at it I'm just going to go ahead and declare myself a sovereign!"

Border Agent: "Alright! Go right ahead sir. Welcome!"

Me: Thanks! and a

Ok, ok, sorry I couldn't resist. Carry on.

Went through the border once...from bellingham Wa....douglas I think it was...the customs guy was real "professional"...asked a bunch of questions...grilled us a bit...we were just going on a cruise out of Vancouver to Alaska...got my attention!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

 

[Hitch08]

Just got "The Package" from TBS today (errr, yesterday). It was a fun evening opening up the boxes. My wife said that I looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

There was a pink urchin in the sand. Found a black urchin in some of the rock. There were probably 12 snails crawling in the bags with the rock. A shrimp hopped off some rock as I put it in my tank. Unfortunately, it disappeared before I got a good look at it. Found another four crabs in the bags. A bunch of sponges were included. Not sure if I like the sponges the best or the anemome that was also included.

Needless to say, the rock is amazing! It's covered with life.

Couldn't be more thrilled with what I received. I was up until 4:00 last night and now it's 2:30. Can't wait till my daughter gets home tomorrow to see all of this. So excited, but need to sleep.

I'll get my photos organized and posted.

 

[TillerysTank]

I totally forgot Richard sold dry rock too - I'd look into the Pukani he's got, as it's good rock.

As for aquascaping, I'd suggest going to a few different reef forums and look at aquascaping threads. There are a lot of styles out there, from rock walls to minimalist, islands and pillars. Its easy to just pile rock in there, so think about negative space (open space, or swimming space) as your eye will be drawn equally to the places that there aren't rock. I'd plan out what you can with the dry rock first, try to make a structure with both differing height and depth, and add some kind of "flow" in the shapes. You can always take a hammer and chisel to the dry rock to get shapes you need.

I'll check out his dry rock as well. And I did exactly what you had mentioned. I probably read on a couple different forums for a few hours Strait on how to aquascape. Using the rule of thirds and making sure I have negative and positive space. My tank will only be viewable from the front and will be a FOWLR for now. So I don't have to worry about coral growing in.

Again do you cycle the dry rock first then seed with the live rock or just throw it in and let it run at the same time?

 

[toothybugs]

I took a LOT of good shots last night of everything and will post them later. I didn't last night because I was a little overwhelmed with it all! The amount of life on the rocks was amazing. I actually feel kinda bad that I probably won't be able to keep all the barnacles alive, but they're all out fanning the water for chow anyway. Initially I was a little disappointed, I was looking for crabs and all the "stuff" that comes in and nothing was kicking around the bottom of the bag. Until I looked in the holes.

Holy smokes. The entire surface was crawling!!! And it took a bit but a monster gorilla showed itself and we had a little fight before I decided to come back to it later this week (the rock is in a holding tank, aka my temporarily-empty fuge).

And, my tank is clicking and snapping like a sonofagun. I have some hunting to do - I was hoping to get a mantis and/or an octopus, I got at least one!

That's all for now. I'm still overwhelmed. All the "goodies" that Richard included have literally run me out of room. I have absolutely no space for anything anymore and 3 pounds of frags are showing up this morning. I have no idea what I am going to do and I couldn't ask for a better problem.

In summation: Folks, this is a guy who knows how to do his job very, very, very well.

 

[Hitch08]

OK. Here are my pictures.

This is what it looks like when you open the box. There were four or five bags containing another bag, which contained the rock.












This little guy hitchhiked in on the rock. He didn't look too good last night.


This guy hitchhiked in with the sand


More hitchhikers - three porcelain crabs and a gorilla crab


Sea cucumber

 

[Hitch08]

More fun stuff.











Here's that black sea urchin again. It's still on the same rock, but looks much better.






Rick threw in an anemone, which was kinda of hiding out a bit

 

[Hitch08]

Last two.



Want to guess which is TBS rock and which was bought dry?

 

[sde1500]

Man, I've been considering to go dry rock just to save a few bucks on a future build, but this stuff is really amazing. Those crabs in those pictures look huge too! Absolutely looks like it is worth splurging a little on this rock. Great pictures.

 

[Bent]

So this is the TBS rock everyone's been talking about.

As big as this thread is, I've never read it.

Doh.

 

[Swope2bc]

Man, I've been considering to go dry rock just to save a few bucks on a future build, but this stuff is really amazing. Those crabs in those pictures look huge too! Absolutely looks like it is worth splurging a little on this rock. Great pictures.

If you can afford it it is definitely worth it!!! This rock order is the single most expensive option of my build. As a matter of fact it cost nearly the same as everything else combined!