My Package Experience

[Eldouble]

My wife and I decided to try our hand at setting up a marine aquarium after a couple of years with small freshwater tanks. We got a good deal on a 90 gallon pre drilled, with a custom built tall cabinet and hood and while we were waiting on its delivery started looking for what to put in it. We were looking for live rock, and came across the Tampa Bay Saltwater site, and liked what we saw. But of course, all vendors show you beautiful rocks on their web site , and then sell you concrete blocks pulled from a drainage ditch somewhere. We asked around some people we knew with Florida's agriculture department and TBS was mentioned by some people a a reputible company that has been aquaculturing rock for a while. We crossed our fingers and ordered "The Package".

 

[Eldouble]

Base Rock Arrival

Base Rock Arrival

The first shipment arrived the same day, and was the live sand and 4 large base rocks and one smaller rock. All of it was covered in sponges and different algaes worms, and stock full of crabs. I caught most of the gorilla crabs and pistol shrimp eventually, but not until after one of them got a hold of the hitch hicking cucumber.

I also could not control the ammonia and had a spike to 2.0 at one point, so I removed all of the pink, white, and purple sponges, and that fixed my ammonia problems... also be sure to have a NEW ammonia test kit with the drops, not the hang in the tank kind. That was partly the reason the ammonia got so high, was the tank strip showed elevated levels, but not high, when in fact they were off the chart.

The rock is still teaming with life, even after the spikes, so most of what you get you will keep. THe barnacles, worms, and good crabs are all still doing fine, and the rock is still very colorful.

 

[wickedfood]

Learn from my mistake: After your cycle's through, periodically feed the tube corals some kind of invertibrate food. I didn't until I noticed them beginning to dull in color or even bleach a bit. I'm hoping mine bounce back and regain that nice orange/brown color.

 

[Eldouble]

Second Shipment

Second Shipment

Once we finally got the cycle complete after about 2 weeks, I emailed Richard and told him I was ready for the next shipment, and again, it was on a plane the same day, and I had it in the tank that evening. Talk about fast shipping!! I got one more large rock that I used as a base rock and about 10 or so smaller rocks, and all had something attached to it. He also included a few surprises including an anenome, polyp, and a crab that looked and moved like a plant, as well as the listed contents of the package. Took me over an hour to get the rocks set in the tank in a way to best show off the corals and sponges. I still had to position some of them to where some stuff could not be seen, but when there is this much life on the rocks, there is no other option. Here are the results 12 hours after they were in the tank.

A beautiful anenome the size of a tennis ball.

A few Polyps

A clam of some sort

Snails and hermits crowded together

A hitch hicker goby and friends

Almost every rock had one of these corals attached.

It all went together beautifuly, and hopefully after another week or two, we can start stocking with larger fish. We have two clowns in their quarantine tank that will love that anenome!! TBS was great the whole time, even for a Florida Gator fan. The rock is great, the critters are happy, and I don;t think we could have found anything better for the price, beauty, and ease. Thanks Richard, and Tampa Bay Saltwater!!!

 

[liverock]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Hey for a Seminole, you did a darn good job of that aquascaping........now you do remember who won the NATIONAL CHAPIONSHIP, yes?

Thanks for the feedback!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[sgallagher7]

What size package did you order for your 90? The tank looks great. Cant wait to get my 75 up and running. TBS will be the first place I call.

 

[Eldouble]

We wanted a bit more fish room, so we ordered the 70 gallon package for a 90 gal tank. We figured it would be easier to add than take away if we wanted. And with our overflow inside the tank, it takes up a good 5+ gallons.

 

[Eldouble]

New Hitch Hickers

New Hitch Hickers

We found a few new hitch hickers last night that have emerged from the second rock shipment. Anonther small goby, a small shrimp, 2 more gorilla crabs, and a tiny star fish. The anenome, large polyp, and one of the serpent stars were fed chopped shrimp last night and enjoyed the treat. As long as they are eating, that should mean they are doing fine. Ammonia was back up to .25, so I will be doing a small water change tonight (48 hr mark). Other than that everything seems to doing great.

 

[sgallagher7]

Thanks. I have a 75 and was thinking of going with the 50 package and mixing in some kaelini. Your pics helped a great deal. Thanks and good luck with the tank. Looks like a great start.

 

[pammy]

I was thinking about going with Tampa Bay Saltwater, and also, ordering a bit smaller package to allow more room for fish. Did you find you had enough live sand with the 70lb package for your 90lb tank, or did you order extra live sand from them, or mix other sand in etc? Great job on the aquascaping! Can't wait to get my tank going!

Thanks!
Pam

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9122484#post9122484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Eldouble
We wanted a bit more fish room, so we ordered the 70 gallon package for a 90 gal tank. We figured it would be easier to add than take away if we wanted. And with our overflow inside the tank, it takes up a good 5+ gallons.

 

[Eldouble]

Again, I have a pre drilled tank with internal overflow, so that takes up some space where some sand would have gone, but there is still plenty of sand... At least 2 inches worth.

 

[pammy]

Thanks Eldouble. Are you happy with the amount of live rock in your tank with the 70g package or do you feel you could have used more? Hard to judge how much rock will arrive based on pounds. My LFS recommends 1 lb per gallon, and TBS recommends 2lbs per gallon, so I figured I'd go right in the middle and go with 1.5 lbs per gallon. Thanks again. Pam

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9160650#post9160650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Eldouble
Again, I have a pre drilled tank with internal overflow, so that takes up some space where some sand would have gone, but there is still plenty of sand... At least 2 inches worth.

 

[Eldouble]

If I was going to do more of a reef tank than a fish tank, then yes, more rock would have been required. That would give more room to put corals and sponges and other inverts. But we want a fish tank with a bit more swimming room. And even with the extra rock, I still think we would have been OK. Richard knows what he is doing. And this rock is a bit more dense than most I have seen, so it weighs more per equal volume than most Fiji rock. I wouldn't stray too far from the package guidelines.

 

[pammy]

Ahhh...gotcha. I want somewhere about half and half....half reef....half fish. Definitely not looking to build a reef tank with just a fish or two. Thanks! Pam

 

[Eldouble]

Update to our experience

Update to our experience

Here are a few current pictures. All the colorful corals of course are plastic except for the orange sponge. Need to save up for better lighting so I can grow some real corals. My tang ate all the green life, and a former angel ate all the tube worms. I had a bad week a month ago and lost 4 fish in 6 days. I fought ich brought in with the Regal tang for about 3 weeks in the quarantine tank with the rest of the living. After no signs for a week, I put them back in the show tank. Within a day, the spots were back so I invested in a UV sterilizer, and within another day it was gone and hasnt come back. UV's should be mandatory!! Still have plenty of algae for the snails and hermits too. I also now have a 10 gallon mantis tank with two inhabitants, and I put all the gorillas I keep catching in there with them. But 4 months in and the tank still looks great. Not quite as much plant life as day one, but I am still finding new creatures every week. The orange tube corals are going strong and the coraline algae is starting to spread. I am still very proud to show my tank, and couldn't have found a better rock supplier.

 

[Eldouble]

After 7 months

After 7 months

Here are some new photos after 7 months. None of the sponges made it. And there is only a couple of tube coral clusters still hanging on. I rearanged the rocks the day before these photos, so the white areas were not previously exposed to light and dont have any color. The coraline algae is spreading pretty quickly but as you can see, none of the other life that came on the rocks has made it. Im sure with out the tangs, the macro algae would have done well though. The three clams have survived, and the clean up crew has done fine. I did add 10 more snails at one point, but no hermits. The 4 cucs are still going strong and I counted 8 porcelin crabs one day all waving thier feeders. Pulled out 4 more gorillas during the rock move but I still couldnt find the popping pistol shrimp.
Heres a tank shot.

Cleaner Shrimp

Here is the tang trio

Here is the Cinnamon in his new anemone.

 

[scowiii]

Yeah I spot feed the tube corals and they are going strong. The anemone I am going to have to trade soon because its SO FRIGGING HUGE NOW and is beginning to irk the other tank inhabitants.