Thinking of placing order but have a big concern...

[iamtheone]

A little history, first I do have experience mantaining a 24g Aquapod for over a year now with no fatalities in any fish/coral but I am FAR from an expert in this field. My main concern being is ordering uncured rock is that I won't be able to correctly identify a potential hazard to my reef system. I'm scared

I plan on moving from the 24g to a standard 55g. Any suggestions to ease my worries???


Great board by the way!!!!

 

[Bortass]

Some of the hitchhikers that you may not/definately don't want are pretty obvious. You'll know a mantis shrimp when you see it. The isopods are easy to recognize as well. Gorilla crabs are straight forward and the stone crabs aren't too hard to recognize.

There is a "bad" hitchhiker page on the TBS site. It's a good place to start.

Some of them you'll be able to find before they go in the tank. other you won't see till later. I don't think most of the hitchikers are super destructive right away. the crabs will become a problem as their size grows.

A mantis may or may not be an issue depending on your thoughts about them. Some people consider them a scourge and other consider them semi-reef safe.

Overall I wouldn't worry too much. You can get something bad anytime you add something to your tank. red bugs on SPS. Sundial snails, flatworms, zoo eating nudis....

Read through the threads and look at how people have tried to minimize the impacts of the unwanted stuff. Also factor in that you will be getting some real diverse life with TBS. For me the increase diversity outweighs the risks of a stone crab or mantis on the lose. I may have to trap one eventualy but oh well. I wouldn't have the little starfish, worms, sponges, macro, without it.

 

[scowiii]

There will be good and bad. Most people here their cycle is usually 7-10 days. Right now im on day 6 and and just did a 12 gallon change today to get it to 1.0 on my ammonia. The other day I was at 2.0-4.0 greens are hard for me to see on these test kits. But the rock has alot of good life mini filter feeders got two small urchins that are grazing away in the tank. I had to scrape some bad dying stinky sponges off that was causing the huge ammonia spike. During that time I found another 4-5 small bad crabs and got them out also. But in the long run this rock will put any rock that I would have gotten from the LFS to shame in a couple weeks.:rollface:

 

[iamtheone]

thanks.

thanks.

Thanks for the quick replies, they are much appericated.

Yes, the last rock I purchased online was pretty much lifeless, no coraline at all. It took quite some time to fully cycle and to start seeing any life forms. It looks great now however and will be an addition to the tank after the new one is setup and running....


I guess I should research how to make a mantis trap before I purchase the rock just to be on the safe side. So, gorilla crabs/mantis are the biggest threats to find on these? I seen some picking up octos's which would be a total trip!

Thanks again for the quick information !


One more question, what is the turn around on this rock? I guess that depends on the weather in Florida?

 

[scowiii]

usually he ships next day of order that same morning and at your airport that afternoon for pickup.

 

[iamtheone]

wow

wow

Well, you can't ask for much better than that. Do you know how backed up TBS is for say the beginning of next week? April 23-25th?

 

[scowiii]

Send him an email he usually responds within 24hrs or even sooner. Also his phone number is there and many people have talk to him.

 

[Amyandlars]

Email is the best way, since he goes out himself to get the rock, packs the rock, and takes it to the airport... etc. Also the phone is in the warehouse, so good luck getting in touch by phone when placing the order.
After he ships it to you, he is quick to call though and make sure that everything went ok.

If your getting the package, it is hands above the best money you are going to spend. We priced it all, once you add the sand, rock, cleaning crew, and all the great extras he throws in your getting your moneys worth! That's not including the hitchhikers that come in.

 

[scowiii]

Ditto on that. Even the bad hitchhikers its pretty fun to get them nasty bad crabs.

 

[iamtheone]

price

price

Yes, at first I have to admit I thought the price was kinda steep. But after taking in consideration what you get for that price is seems well worth the money....

Now, if my lighting choice was this clear cut/easy.....


T5 vs VHO vs MH vs PC...... Sheeesh, I am going to go mad.....






Thanks again guys....

 

[scowiii]

The purice isnt really steep when you look at everything you get. most rock here is like 12-14 dollars a pound and is pretty ugly stuff no life on it. The sand is real live sand not the bag that has been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long. So even there the package is pretty much paying for itself. Plus then the second part you get all your cool goodies.