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

I have to say, it is truly amazing how quick life is attaching on to this rock. Absolutely mind blowing. And if anyone is hesitant on buying this live rock over dry rock because of price a good way to look at it is you are not only buying the reef structure, but you're also buying a superior biological filter that cannot be found anywhere else, especially not in the form of any mechanical filtration. We willingly spend damn near a thousand dollars if not more for a skimmer and I'd be willing to bet if we did a test and compared the filtration capabilities of the rock vs a quality skimmer, the rock would clean the water much faster and more effectively.
 
CuzzA said:
I like to order a little extra to make sure I get a number of different shapes and sizes. For a minimalist scape I'd say 20-30 lbs. should be good. I would probably go 30 just to make sure I wasn't short of my goal.

Also, while not necessary, if you have some fellow reefers in your club or nearby you may want to see if someone or a group will share in the cost of shipping on a group order. This would also allow everyone to share in buying a few extra pounds so everyone is happy.

Richard is great with communication and customer service so if you mock up a little drawing with dimensions he'll be sure to get you what you want. While each piece of Eco rock is unique they do come in several similar shapes. Off the top of my head there are medium to large roundish rocks, small to medium holey rocks, branch type rocks for caves and shelf rocks.
Click to expand...

well there is no reef club here in WY. I only hear of a few reefers in the whole state and it a big one too. but that is a good idea one I have thought about often.

yeah 30-40# sounds right.

any chance we could get some pics from your next collection dive of the branch and shelfs?
 
liverock, I have a question.

I'd like to try some of your v2.1 rock. I have a 180g mixed reef and 75g fowlr that share a 150g sump/ refugium/DSB. It was been up and running for just over 5 years (I've been in the hobby about 15yrs). I have some sponges that grow under rocks, and a flame scallop that has been in the tank for several years along with a yellow sea cucumber from the Keys. I feed a wide variety of foods almost every day and I haven't seen any ammonia/nitrate rise in 4 years... even when a fish dies behind the rocks where I can't get to it! But then I have 300 pounds or more of Live Rock between the 2 tanks and the sump. I even have gorgonians that I've found at the water's edge after a storm in the Gulf and they do just fine. I even found a large (3" to 4" across it's carapace!) stone crab in my Refugium that probably came home as a tiny crab with something from the Keys like a rock/sponge with a colony of zoas on it or hiding in a stone flower anemone. Anyway, my concern is this, with the amount of life that is on your rock, how much of it should survive long term? I ask because on occasion I've added a sponge (never out of the water), a scallop or barnacle from the Gulf or the Keys and they don't do well long term (long term being 3 to 6 months).

BTW, I'm just down I-75 from you in Cape Coral so I'd love to stop by and pick up a few things.
 
Ron Reefman said:
liverock, I have a question.

I'd like to try some of your v2.1 rock. I have a 180g mixed reef and 75g fowlr that share a 150g sump/ refugium/DSB. It was been up and running for just over 5 years (I've been in the hobby about 15yrs). I have some sponges that grow under rocks, and a flame scallop that has been in the tank for several years along with a yellow sea cucumber from the Keys. I feed a wide variety of foods almost every day and I haven't seen any ammonia/nitrate rise in 4 years... even when a fish dies behind the rocks where I can't get to it! But then I have 300 pounds or more of Live Rock between the 2 tanks and the sump. I even have gorgonians that I've found at the water's edge after a storm in the Gulf and they do just fine. I even found a large (3" to 4" across it's carapace!) stone crab in my Refugium that probably came home as a tiny crab with something from the Keys like a rock/sponge with a colony of zoas on it or hiding in a stone flower anemone. Anyway, my concern is this, with the amount of life that is on your rock, how much of it should survive long term? I ask because on occasion I've added a sponge (never out of the water), a scallop or barnacle from the Gulf or the Keys and they don't do well long term (long term being 3 to 6 months).

BTW, I'm just down I-75 from you in Cape Coral so I'd love to stop by and pick up a few things.
Click to expand...

Hiya

nothing lives forever..... LOL...is the ocean...everything eats everything else....I would enjoy it while I had it!

And in state of Florida is a piece of cake...fed ex right to your door...is overnight service and only about .50 a pound to ship...cost a lot less that gas!

Sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface::rollface::rollface:
 
Devaji108 said:
well there is no reef club here in WY. I only hear of a few reefers in the whole state and it a big one too. but that is a good idea one I have thought about often.

yeah 30-40# sounds right.

any chance we could get some pics from your next collection dive of the branch and shelfs?
Click to expand...

Will be some new underwater video soon as I can get Cuzza certified...

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com
 
^ nice! come on cuzza whats the hold up..haha

Hey Richard is the last pic you posted what would you say the weight of those rock would be?
 
I couldn't wrap up my certification over the July 4th weekend. Family in town and too much going on to do my open water dives which are a few hours north of me at a couple freshwater springs here in Florida. Not to mention I wasn't going to miss bombing the sky for my son.

My 4 dives are scheduled for August 1st and 2nd. Then I'll have my c-card and will get some great video. Looking for good white and actinic flashlights too so we can really see the colors underwater. :)


The two springs I'll be diving.
http://www.divebluegrotto.com

http://www.devilsden.com
 
Last edited:
Richard, I am thinking of switching my tank over to this stuff after I move. What is the turnaround time between ordering and delivery?

Thanks
 
I had an opportunity to see some of the dry Walt Smith 2.1 rock about a month ago...it looks good, and it's very light for its size. So when I heard TBS was using it in their aquaculture operation and saw the pictures, I knew I had to have it. After lurking in this thread for a couple of weeks, on Friday I ordered the 20-gallon version of the Package with the new 2.1 rock. Richard shipped it Saturday shortly before noon, and I picked it up at the airport at 3:30 Saturday afternoon. It was in my tank Saturday evening.

The rock is awesome. Here are some photos I took with my phone today:

2_1-rock.jpg

Here's a closeup of the barnacles that cover all of the rocks:
rock-barnicles.jpg

Here's an urchin that came along for the ride:
rock-urchin.jpg

Richard also threw in a couple of freebies...a flower anemone,
rock-anemone.jpg

four sponges and a gorgonian. (You can only see one of the sponges and part of the gorgonian in this photo.)
rock-sponge.jpg

I'm very happy with everything so far.
 
^ nice!

and cuzza I totally understand just giving ya a hard time!


Man this rock is going to be off the hook in a few more months to bad I need some now...
 
The problem with rock like this is it enevitably will house pests. It's not bad for say a softy or maybe even Lps or zoo tank but there's so many pests in brute how can u be sure
 
Is this the exciting future of Live Rock? Must See!!!

Lonelyreef said:
The problem with rock like this is it enevitably will house pests. It's not bad for say a softy or maybe even Lps or zoo tank but there's so many pests in brute how can u be sure
Click to expand...


Is this from your personal experience or just conjecture? The pests you pick up from your LFS or fellow reefers are far more detrimental than Gulf live rock. You're not going to get Acro eating flatworms or red bugs or Montipora eating nudibranchs from this rock. From your post it sounds like you're implying that rock is no good for an SPS tank. However no sps pests are present on the rock as there are no acros or montis growing on the rock in the gulf off Tampa Bay.

Furthermore there are plenty of sps tanks using this rock so I'm a little confused by this post.
 
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