TBS "The Package". Too much rock?

[BetterJake]

Using mostly base rock is a good plan... Then you won't need to worry about how you place the rock/scape

Please post pics of the rock when you get it!

That's what I figured, the base rock gives should give me more flexibility. I'll post back here once it's received. I don't think I'll even receive my tank for another couple weeks, may be a while, So excited

 

[BetterJake]

Using mostly base rock is a good plan... Then you won't need to worry about how you place the rock/scape

Please post pics of the rock when you get it!

Quick Question. If I'm using all live rock + sand, do I still need to add bottled bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims? Or would the rock and sand essentially provide all thats needed to start the cycle?

 

[Tamberav]

Getting my list together for my soon to be delivered Reefer 250.

I'd like to go with live rock and sand from TBS. I like the idea of their package, but the recommendation for a 54 gallon tank, it 108 pounds of rock and 54 pounds of sand. I feel like 2 pounds per gallon would make it very crowded in the tank. Thoughts?

keep in mind their rock is denser then dry rock we are used to and it is wet so it will weigh more.

 

[Tamberav]

Quick Question. If I'm using all live rock + sand, do I still need to add bottled bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims? Or would the rock and sand essentially provide all thats needed to start the cycle?

no reason you need to add bottled bacteria. Whatever strains are in a bottle pale in comparison to ocean rock.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Quick Question. If I'm using all live rock + sand, do I still need to add bottled bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims? Or would the rock and sand essentially provide all thats needed to start the cycle?

It will have the bacteria, but depending on die off (of bigger stuff on the rock), it could still take a little while to cycle.

 

[BetterJake]

no reason you need to add bottled bacteria. Whatever strains are in a bottle pale in comparison to ocean rock.

I thought so Thanks for the confirmation

 

[Blue Cheese]

I picked up 100 pounds at the air port put in a 100 gallon rubber maid stock tank I had and left in my barn for 2 months,i checked every night for hitch hikers to remove the bad ones and made the tests,it never had to be cycled
The only regret was not knowing about the stinky shrimp bottle trap I should done during the quarantine

 

[Duncan62]

Quick Question. If I'm using all live rock + sand, do I still need to add bottled bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims? Or would the rock and sand essentially provide all thats needed to start the cycle?

No

 

[chinkle]

Getting my list together for my soon to be delivered Reefer 250.

I'd like to go with live rock and sand from TBS. I like the idea of their package, but the recommendation for a 54 gallon tank, it 108 pounds of rock and 54 pounds of sand. I feel like 2 pounds per gallon would make it very crowded in the tank. Thoughts?

I clearly don't have the answers but I was also looking at " The Package" from TBS and loving it till I got to the 1600.00 cost. I have a new 100 gallon arriving soon, new to this and want to get a good start too! I have heard the issues with dry live rock particularly Marco Rock and it seems to me live rock is the way to go but expensive. I was thinking maybe a mixture of dry live and live would be the next best thing to all live rock. Would love to hear from someone who used to be a newbie and had a smooth first cycle and the kind of sand and rock they went with. I also just read a horror story about a hitchhiker grab that wiped out a bunch of fish! Anyway risks with anything but looking to improve my odds at success!

 

[chinkle]

My thoughts as well. Not sure why the package calculator recommends that much.

PROFIT!

 

[Duncan62]

I clearly don't have the answers but I was also looking at " The Package" from TBS and loving it till I got to the 1600.00 cost. I have a new 100 gallon arriving soon, new to this and want to get a good start too! I have heard the issues with dry live rock particularly Marco Rock and it seems to me live rock is the way to go but expensive. I was thinking maybe a mixture of dry live and live would be the next best thing to all live rock. Would love to hear from someone who used to be a newbie and had a smooth first cycle and the kind of sand and rock they went with. I also just read a horror story about a hitchhiker grab that wiped out a bunch of fish! Anyway risks with anything but looking to improve my odds at success!

You can start that that with 50 lbs of KPaquatics or tampa Bay uncured rock. Add more later. Or use the live base rock to fill in. Mostly good hitchhikers.
Good luck.

 

[chinkle]

You can start that that with 50 lbs of KPaquatics or tampa Bay uncured rock. Add more later. Or use the live base rock to fill in. Mostly good hitchhikers.
Good luck.

Have not checked out either of those so thank you for the lead!

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

108 lbs. sounds like the old school pile of rock we used to do in the 90

Quick Question. If I'm using all live rock + sand, do I still need to add bottled bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims? Or would the rock and sand essentially provide all thats needed to start the cycle?

Ocean live sand and ocean live rock will cycle a tank, no bottle bac needed.

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

I clearly don't have the answers but I was also looking at " The Package" from TBS and loving it till I got to the 1600.00 cost. I have a new 100 gallon arriving soon, new to this and want to get a good start too! I have heard the issues with dry live rock particularly Marco Rock and it seems to me live rock is the way to go but expensive. I was thinking maybe a mixture of dry live and live would be the next best thing to all live rock. Would love to hear from someone who used to be a newbie and had a smooth first cycle and the kind of sand and rock they went with. I also just read a horror story about a hitchhiker grab that wiped out a bunch of fish! Anyway risks with anything but looking to improve my odds at success!

The Package is recommended not only to cycle new tanks but achieve a long term, stable marine environment.
Yes, it began in the 1980s and is still valid today. Look at today's dry rock, bottle bac troubles of dinos, cyano, cycling troubles, etc.... these headaches were not prevalent in the years prior.

The Package per gallon is a lot of rock, but keep in mind that all rock does not need to go in the display. Live rock can be hidden in a sump, refugium, cryptic zone, canister filters and even overflows.

Many of our customers either don't want a lot of rock or don't want to spend the $, so we recommend ordering a smaller sized Package with added lbs of sand to the 1lb per gal ratio. (yeah, you can cycle a tank with 1lb ocean sand and 1lb ocean base rock per gallon. That is what the Package ratio is.)

We have other customers who purchase only live sand and base rock to cycle their tanks, then they add dry rock later.
Lots of ways to go about it.

 

[Mikey-D]

Please let us know how it goes, I am going with TBS as well and doing their critter package too. I am building a package instead of their precalculated adding a bit of old live rock to offset costs.