ClownsRCoo
New member
My tank build has been a 4 month journey that has finally almost come to a conclusion. I have had 2 other ranks in the past and started both with dry rock mainly due to cost savings and the fact that all "live rock" I find locally just looks like crap rocked dumped in water that hasn't been changed since the store was established. They want $6.99/lb and up for that junk on top of that.
My experience with dry rock was very frustrating. It was boring from day one with a tank full of unnatural bleached white rock. The white never lasts long and after a few weeks you get a nice algae green or brown color as the algae starts to take hold on the rock. From there you have an uphill battle that could last seemingly forever. For some this is simply he only viable option they can pick from. I am lucky enough to be able to afford many options. I had enough of the bleached, algae covered rock and decided the cost savings just wasn't worth it for this build.
I was first introduced to TBS by a well known local reefer (D2mini) following his build threads and seeing his tank in person. I loved how his tanks looked like a snapshot of the ocean floor from day 1. For this build I went all out for aesthetic appeal and there was no way I was going with anything but Richards rock!
I couldn't wait until my build was ready for water. That meant I was only a week or so away from placing my TBS order! During the build I had lots of questions for Richard and for D2mini as this was very new for me. Richard was a pleasure to deal with throughout the process and very quick with his responses. I would like to tank him very much for his help. He has definately earned a lifelong customer in me. The ordering process was very straightforward. I needed a specific delivery date and he was able to easily accommodate that. I'm lucky to live pretty close to him and picking up the shipment was a breeze.
I ordered the 100g package which had 200# of rock. I prefer a smaller grade of sand so I opted for my own supplied sand. He was nice enough to omit that from the price of the order.
I got 4 boxes of rock the first time with some huge pieces of pukani. I'm talking basketball size and covered in life. My wife thought I was crazy getting so excited for my rock shipment until I was unboxing it and she was hen just as fascinated with it as I was. This stuff really is amazing.
A few tips I have for large volume orders like this hat helps is:
1) I bought 2 kiddie pools so I could keep the rock wet and allow me to get all of my rock unloaded so I could look it over first and plan my aquascape.
2) I used a 5g bucket with a colander on top. There is a lot of life in those bags even in the silt left at the bottom. I poured it into the colander to catch it all and sift through the silt. Worked great!
My first shipment went without a hitch and rock was moved in and had 0 ammonia the entire time. So the next day I scheduled my shipment #2 with Richard for later that week.
I thought the first shipment was awesome until I got the second. It was like Christmas morning as a kid all over again. I couldn't wait to bust into the critter box. Richard hooked me up! I got a ton of snails, royal gramma, (4) cucumbers, (2) decorator crabs, (2) serpent sea stars, (4) sponges, gorgonian, unknown macro algae, peppermint shrimp, (3) rock flower anemones and probably something else I'm forgetting. The rock in this shipment was out of this world too.
Here are some pics hat don't do it justice. D2 will be coming by soon to check it out so I'll finally have a real photographer soon to be able to post some pics that really show the life on this stuff.
My experience with dry rock was very frustrating. It was boring from day one with a tank full of unnatural bleached white rock. The white never lasts long and after a few weeks you get a nice algae green or brown color as the algae starts to take hold on the rock. From there you have an uphill battle that could last seemingly forever. For some this is simply he only viable option they can pick from. I am lucky enough to be able to afford many options. I had enough of the bleached, algae covered rock and decided the cost savings just wasn't worth it for this build.
I was first introduced to TBS by a well known local reefer (D2mini) following his build threads and seeing his tank in person. I loved how his tanks looked like a snapshot of the ocean floor from day 1. For this build I went all out for aesthetic appeal and there was no way I was going with anything but Richards rock!
I couldn't wait until my build was ready for water. That meant I was only a week or so away from placing my TBS order! During the build I had lots of questions for Richard and for D2mini as this was very new for me. Richard was a pleasure to deal with throughout the process and very quick with his responses. I would like to tank him very much for his help. He has definately earned a lifelong customer in me. The ordering process was very straightforward. I needed a specific delivery date and he was able to easily accommodate that. I'm lucky to live pretty close to him and picking up the shipment was a breeze.
I ordered the 100g package which had 200# of rock. I prefer a smaller grade of sand so I opted for my own supplied sand. He was nice enough to omit that from the price of the order.
I got 4 boxes of rock the first time with some huge pieces of pukani. I'm talking basketball size and covered in life. My wife thought I was crazy getting so excited for my rock shipment until I was unboxing it and she was hen just as fascinated with it as I was. This stuff really is amazing.
A few tips I have for large volume orders like this hat helps is:
1) I bought 2 kiddie pools so I could keep the rock wet and allow me to get all of my rock unloaded so I could look it over first and plan my aquascape.
2) I used a 5g bucket with a colander on top. There is a lot of life in those bags even in the silt left at the bottom. I poured it into the colander to catch it all and sift through the silt. Worked great!
My first shipment went without a hitch and rock was moved in and had 0 ammonia the entire time. So the next day I scheduled my shipment #2 with Richard for later that week.
I thought the first shipment was awesome until I got the second. It was like Christmas morning as a kid all over again. I couldn't wait to bust into the critter box. Richard hooked me up! I got a ton of snails, royal gramma, (4) cucumbers, (2) decorator crabs, (2) serpent sea stars, (4) sponges, gorgonian, unknown macro algae, peppermint shrimp, (3) rock flower anemones and probably something else I'm forgetting. The rock in this shipment was out of this world too.
Here are some pics hat don't do it justice. D2 will be coming by soon to check it out so I'll finally have a real photographer soon to be able to post some pics that really show the life on this stuff.
