TBS has been great for this newbie!

[asuh]

I've just got into this hobby and took a lot of time conducting research and purchasing all the equipment.

And I spent an inordinate amount of time looking into live rock - from the LFS to a myriad of on-line vendors. (my wife didn't believe I would ever get it all set up...)

The bottom line is that the live rock I purchased from TBS has exceeded my expectations and I have been very happy.

I was a bit daunted by the shipping process, but it was all very smooth and I would highly recommend receiving live rock shipment packaged in water vs. damp newspaper. Richard has been very efficient and he definitely delivered the goods.

I just received part 2 of the package last Friday, and the tank is going through it's cycle now. I hope to stock it with fish by Thanksgiving...

Some additional details about the shipping process:

Purchased the 50 gal package + extra 40lbs of live sand

Part 1 of the package: shipping costs came to $135 to DCA on USAir (this shipment occured on the hottest day of the year when DC hit 100+ degrees and the rocks were fine)

Part 2 of the package: shipping costs came to $80 to DCA on USAir

 

[HowardW]

Sounds good! It is mandatory to post some pics

 

[ybenormal]

Congrats asuh. I agree with you that TBS LR is a great investment.

I see you live in the DC area. Have you had a chance to check out the Washington Area Marine Aquarium Society (WAMAS)? It has to be one of the best reef clubs in the country with lots of very smart folks to help answer any questions you might have. The group is also very active with meetings, tank tours and frag swaps. Stop in and say Hi sometime!

 

[asuh]

Thanks for the referral to WAMAS, ybenormal. I'll check it out.

I hope to post some pictures soon... just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[asuh]

I forgot to mention another major plus of ordering live rock in water - there was minimal die-off during transit and the tank cycle was very mild.

I thought I would have to wait weeks for the cycle, but part 1 of the package only took a week. I gave it another week just to make sure, and now I'm in the middle of cycling with part 2 of the package which is turning out to be even milder.

Ammonia never got above 0.5
Nitrates stayed below 10

 

[watchdr]

How are you guys getting rid of all the gorilla crabs??

Although you guys seem to be pretty enthusiastic about the rock I am not. My first shipment had at least 36 gorilla crabs!!! And one mantis shrimp. I have to say the first shipment of rock had 100 times more life on it other than the gorilla crabs than the second shipment.

The second has been an extreme let down. 4 giant mantis shrimp and so far more than 28 gorilla crabs and still counting. I just found 4 more. This is really not worth it. by having to dimantle the rock work everyday to remove these pests this rock will be completely dead by the time I finally get rid of them. Right now I am thinking maybe 6 months to a year to finally get rid of them all.

The second batch of rock had almost no life except the mantis and gorilla crabs.

I ordered the 50 LB. package and on the second shipment only one rock had some nice corals on it which looks like they were glued on. None of the other rock had life from the second shipment.

The second batch should have been sent first as base rock and the first shipment should have been second since it had many corals and sponges.

Again I would never do this again. The hassle of these hundreds of pests is NOT worth it.

Sorry Richard. I know this doesn't help you business. I believe other need to know.

How are you guys getting rid of the cracbs??

 

[asuh]

I've caught a bunch of gorilla crabs before I put the rock in, but I still see several that I missed (and I'm sure that means a bunch more that I can't see). I am also hearing clicking noises and have caught three shrimps... but there's more in there since I can stil hear them.

I was getting stressed out about these critters and at first, and I also took out the rocks to hunt them down. I got tired of that and decided to take a more passive approach - traps and opportunistically catching them with my net... however, I doubt I'll catch them all with this approach.

I'll continue my traps and see how destructive the crabs become...

But in the end, I'd prefer the life (good and bad) that came with the TBS rock vs. boring base rock I've seen in other places.

 

[watchdr]

I am going to try a bath in high salintiy water and see what happens. Dr. Mac mentions this approach on his website.

I'll try it on one of the rocks I got in my second batch from TBS because it is dead base rock anyway and I won't be killing anything else!

I agree I am tired of trying to remove them. But I have a shrimp or gorilla crab that is now killing all my hermits. If that continues what will be next?

I'll let you know what happens with the bath. I am hoping to get it done by Wed.

 

[buus]

Use a chopstick to smash them. They don't even see it coming! It's really, really easy to get rid of them this way. You can even leave the carcas around for the hermits to clean up

Bryan

 

[watchdr]

Bryan,

Tried that. It's great when you have a few. But with close to 90 of them It just isn't feasable.

I did try the high salintiy yesterday and it does NOT work. Nothing happens.

A carbonated water bath for about 5-10 mintues does wonders. It won't get them all but I think after spending the whole day doing this we got another 20+ gorilla crabs out. That is close to 90 total in 50LBS. of rock!

After working all day yesterday on the baths and putting the rock back in the tank we saw a couple that made it through.

I would only recommend the carbonated water bath for those that have extreme problems like my rock.

For 2 or 3 crabs use a chopstick or one of those claws or grabber things.

I'll post a picture tomorrow showing the crabs we got out yesterday.

 

[watchdr]

When I got home the crabs were a mess. It looked like some of them attacked the others!

So I couldn't get a good picture of them to show all the bodies. It wasn't possible to count them either.

Although about half way through the bath my wife counted about 20. So there were more than that but no way to determine just how many.

That's what I get for leaving my camera at work!

Thanks to all of you that have helped me on this. I really appreciate it.