Ok what's the deal?

[liverock]

Black on the Bottom!

Black on the Bottom!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6522699#post6522699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jezzeaepi
how many days of low winds do you need before visibility sohuld improve? Was looking at the forecast for next week and it looked like it was oingto be raining bt the winds were settling down.

Take it easy,
Jesse

Look here

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/cgi-bin...853&swrPhrase=SOUTHWEST+FLORIDA&nowPhrase=853

We have had front after front, for months, has not let up.
When it blows that hard the Gulf turns to black and there is no visibility to see on the bottom

It takes a week or two to clear up after such storms, but it never gets a chance too, as along comes another front.

Mother nature has really killed us the last two years, we have not been able to dive for rock now almost 70 days. Our salvation will be summertime as things calm down and we can dive everyday.

But reports of red tide at New Pass this week, is a very bad sign, as if the red tide comes back like it did last year, we are in big trouble. We hope the red tide event of last year was a 100 year fluke, and we do not get hit like that again.

Meanwhile we have all the time in the world to collect the critters in the Keys, so we are fully stocked on them if anybody needs.

Thanks
TBS

 

[MalibuLou]

live sand?

live sand?

Do you guys have live sand?

 

[liverock]

Re: live sand?

Re: live sand?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6530526#post6530526 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MalibuLou
Do you guys have live sand?

\
Yes we do!

TBS

 

[MalibuLou]

I placed an order for a "package", but I don't feel like looking at an empty tank till summer. I'd like to get some live sand and some critters if possible. Thanks Lou
Boatguy6969@yahoo.com

 

[liverock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6536237#post6536237 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MalibuLou
I placed an order for a "package", but I don't feel like looking at an empty tank till summer. I'd like to get some live sand and some critters if possible. Thanks Lou
Boatguy6969@yahoo.com

Hopefully it will be way before summer we can dive......usually March we start to get some decent weather.....if the visibility would just clear up, we would be able too see on the bottom, but that is not happening as it usually does.

Please fill out order form for what you need, can ship sand and critters asap.

TBS

 

[bugged]

0-6" of vis all the way out to 80 feet.

 

[Jfoster33702]

Hello - I am local and need a small amount of rock and sand for a 15 high. Do you have anything at all right now?(rock, critters?) Also, are you open on Saturdays?

Thanks
Jeff

 

[liverock]

Really Strange!

Really Strange!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6548918#post6548918 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bugged
0-6" of vis all the way out to 80 feet.

Yea I know, we have "0" vis on the site, is the strangest thing, has never been like this in 30 years of doing this.

I belive it is a left over product from the year long red tide we had last year, and the channel dredging. Did you see any fish?

All we are seeing are some baitfish on the top over the rock piles, we even tried fishing, not a bite, na-da, no squirrel fish, grunts, grouper nothing, where we used to have many thousands of resident fish, there are none right now.

We are going to try again soon as this front goes by this weekend.

Thanks for the update out deep!
TBS

 

[Reef_Dweller_69]

So whats the word on clean up crews/critters. Would I be able to get some for a 55gal?

 

[zoebeaglezoe]

ordered 50 lbs. of liverock 6 months ago very very happy with what I received by far the best liverock i've ever seen or bought from any LFS... I have seen in this thread that your not collecting because of visibility and weather is that in the keys or gulf location or both? also do you still have any mantis shrimp and what types/species. what is red tide?

 

[liverock]

Critters

Critters

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6553489#post6553489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reef_Dweller_69
So whats the word on clean up crews/critters. Would I be able to get some for a 55gal?

We always have the clean up critters in stock!

TBS

 

[liverock]

Red Tide info...

Red Tide info...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6555235#post6555235 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zoebeaglezoe
ordered 50 lbs. of liverock 6 months ago very very happy with what I received by far the best liverock i've ever seen or bought from any LFS... I have seen in this thread that your not collecting because of visibility and weather is that in the keys or gulf location or both? also do you still have any mantis shrimp and what types/species. what is red tide?

Red Tide info....

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/redtide/viewtopic.php?t=2

http://research.myfwc.com/features/view_article.asp?id=25276

http://www.tampatrib.com/MGB41NS2ECE.html

TBS

 

[zoebeaglezoe]

when was the last time you collected from either one of your sites and did the red tide have any effect on rock and its inhabitants.

 

[lunner]

Any update on rocks? Been waiting to place an order. :rollface:

 

[Me No Nemo]

Hi Liverock..., sorry for OT, but I live in Geneva and we are about to be the "lucky" recipients of that radioactive phosphate mess in our landfill from the fertilizer factory there in Tampa. Just curious, could that facility be dumping or have runoff into the Gulf that's causing the Red Tide to proliferate?

 

[liverock]

78 days, rockless

78 days, rockless

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6570083#post6570083 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zoebeaglezoe
when was the last time you collected from either one of your sites and did the red tide have any effect on rock and its inhabitants.

\
The red tide event of last year was the worst we have ever seen in recorded history.

It killed thousands of square miles of the Gulf, from two to about forty miles out and from Sarasota up to Hudson, Fla.

It basically eliminated the Florida live rock industry, as you will notice many websites of live rock farmers are down.

We were real lucky as our rock site is just two miles offshore where the ebb and flow of the tides kept up the 02 levels up enough to prevent a total wipeout of the rock.

However we are experiencing a visibility problem and have been for 78 days now. There is ZERO vis on the site....is very unusual, and we feel is a by product of the red tide devastation, and the dredging of the shipping channel in Tampa. It has prevented us from harvesting any rock.
If we could see on the bottom we would have plenty of rock. But that is not the case right now.

We had a backup site in the Keys where we would go when we could not dive here, but it along with all the other sites in the Keys was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma, so we are dead in the water until visibility returns here in the Gulf.

Read the links I posted and you will see where billions of gallons of phosphate waste was dumped and continues to be pumped into the Gulf.

Phosphate is fertilizer, and red tide feeds off of it.

We will be going to take a look again soon as this front that we are getting hit with today goes by, but don't hold your breath....

TBS

 

[wooglin]

I hate what is happening right now. Its a real bummer. I feel lucky to have my TBS rock from several years ago. I sure hope things get better for you soon Richard.

 

[pasafire]

I emailed about ordering some LR also. I'm here local in the state as soon as some rock is available please let me know.

 

[jezzeaepi]

So, if there is 0 visibility, then does that mean that 0 light is reaching the rocks? If so, then do you expect there to be many photosynthetic organisms left?

 

[liverock]

Dive

Dive

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6596148#post6596148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jezzeaepi
So, if there is 0 visibility, then does that mean that 0 light is reaching the rocks? If so, then do you expect there to be many photosynthetic organisms left?

We will know that when it clears up enough to dive!
TBS