Tampa Bay Saltwater

LoneStarReef · Aug 11, 2016

For those of you that started your tanks using Tampa Bay Saltwater rock, what has been your experience so far? I am especially interested in long term performance in relation to nitrate/phosphate levels. Also, what about any unwanted pests? I am planning a 90 gallon and hoping to use their rock to stock the tank and was hoping to hear how their rock is doing long term.

Thanks!

dbl · Aug 11, 2016

Dennis @d2mini just started a tank using TBS rock. His build thread is below. You might want to check it out.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d2minis-essential-focus-mixed-reef-build.241805/

d2mini · Aug 11, 2016

I've set up several tanks, all have done very well long term.
Only caveat is you will probably need to deal with a few pests in the beginning, and generally this is not a big deal, especially in new tanks without much coral.
If you are immediately moving in large colonies, it can make pest removal a little harder. Mostly just gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp.
IME, the benefits have far outweighed a few pests that can be removed over time.

saltyhog · Aug 11, 2016

I started my tank with rock from TBS and have been very pleased. The tank has been up 3 1/2 years and is doing well. Phosphate has never been a problem. I have had to carbon dose for nitrates but that's not the fault of my live rock (heavy stocking/feeding).

The rock itself if more dense than some dry rock you can get but no where as dense as Tonga. It was covered in coralline algae and was very pretty from day one. I used a combination of 60 lbs of TBS and 120 lbs of dry rock to start my tank and had no cycle. By that I mean I dosed ammonia to 3 and it was back to zero in 24 hours. I feed the tank for another week before adding the first two fish. No problems at all.

There was a tremendous amount of life on the rock.

Good guys : urchins, feather dusters, hidden cup corals, stomatella snails, limpets, sponges, pistol shrimp x 3, pods.

Bad guys : gorilla crabs x 4, a single eucinid worm,1 whelk,1 nudi,2 polyclad flatworms.....all bad guys but one of the crabs removed within the first 3 days.

I plan to use them again.

LoneStarReef · Aug 11, 2016

saltyhog said:
I started my tank with rock from TBS and have been very pleased. The tank has been up 3 1/2 years and is doing well. Phosphate has never been a problem. I have had to carbon dose for nitrates but that's not the fault of my live rock (heavy stocking/feeding).

The rock itself if more dense than some dry rock you can get but no where as dense as Tonga. It was covered in coralline algae and was very pretty from day one. I used a combination of 60 lbs of TBS and 120 lbs of dry rock to start my tank and had no cycle. By that I mean I dosed ammonia to 3 and it was back to zero in 24 hours. I feed the tank for another week before adding the first two fish. No problems at all.

There was a tremendous amount of life on the rock.

Good guys : urchins, feather dusters, hidden cup corals, stomatella snails, limpets, sponges, pistol shrimp x 3, pods.

Bad guys : gorilla crabs x 4, a single eucinid worm,1 whelk,1 nudi,2 polyclad flatworms.....all bad guys but one of the crabs removed within the first 3 days.

I plan to use them again.

Wow! Great tank. Thanks for the feedback. Exactly what I am looking for. How did you remove the "bad guys"? Also, where did you get your dry rock?

d2mini · Aug 11, 2016

Just to clarify one thing... TBS now offers the Walt Smith 2.1 rock, seeded just like the old "dense" stuff but much lighter.
It's man made by Walt Smith's crew in Fiji, shipped to TBS dry, and then TBS seeds it for several months and it attracts life like crazy.
I've got it in my new tank and it works just as well as the old stuff did in previous tanks.
You can also order it dry too, if you'd like a mix of the two.

brandon429 · Aug 11, 2016

TBS has the best reputation live rock via shipping ive heard of

we dissect their skip cycle method (you get the rock, its ready to reef) and how that proves most tank cycling material of the last 20 yrs is outdated because they lump all rocks into needing an ammonia treatment and bacterial establishment before use. due to the hitchhikers shown, we must prevent all ammonia here and keep the rocks clean and ready asap to preserve the move, they command a fully opposite "cycle" one would get if they were googling how to prepare live rock for aquarium use. You don't have to feed, seed, or anything you just rinse and go and pick out the rascals

to apply any ammonia to these rocks is to purposefully kill the very animals and benthic organisms we're paying top dollar for.

their rock and entire business model is set around skipping an aquarium cycle being highly repeatable.

saltyhog · Aug 11, 2016

[QUOTE="brandon429, post: 3097448, member: 48701

to apply any ammonia to these rocks is to purposefully kill the very animals and benthic organisms we're paying top dollar for [/QUOTE]

Quite true. This was 4 years ago when I was brand new. I got some bad advice. Amazingly the only loss was one of the pistol shrimp. The urchins (7 of them), numerous stomatella, hidden cup corals, sponges, barnacles, feather dusters and all of the undesirables survived my mistake. I'm guessing the quality of the rock and its bacterial colonization saved the day by rapidly breaking down the ammonia.

Really excited about the new rock they are offering. I definitely plan to use it.

saltyhog · Aug 11, 2016

duplicate

LoneStarReef · Aug 11, 2016

saltyhog said:
duplicate

??

saltyhog · Aug 11, 2016

LoneStarReef said:
??

I somehow managed to post the same post twice!

Run4Fun · Aug 11, 2016

I too have had a great experience with TBS and would highly recommend it. You can tell right away when communicating with Richard, he truly loves what he does, and that results in a great quality product. I'm 4 months in and have had some good and some bad hitchhikers, but as long as you're patient, the bad guys are pretty easy to remove.

LoneStarReef · Aug 11, 2016

saltyhog said:
I somehow managed to post the same post twice!

Ha! Didn't notice. Thanks again for all of your help.

LoneStarReef · Aug 11, 2016

dbl said:
Dennis @d2mini just started a tank using TBS rock. His build thread is below. You might want to check it out.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d2minis-essential-focus-mixed-reef-build.241805/

Wow. Love this thread. I haven't read 1/2 of it yet but I have learned a ton already. I am convinced that I need to buy TBS rock now!!

dbl · Aug 11, 2016

LoneStarReef said:
Wow. Love this thread. I haven't read 1/2 of it yet but I have learned a ton already. I am convinced that I need to buy TBS rock now!!

Thought you might...the guy knows how to put a system together!