TBS treasure chests

STLJam · Oct 10, 2023

Anone order one of the treasure chests from Tampa Bay Saltwater (specifically the premium live rock) and have pictures of what it looked like?

RyanN · Oct 10, 2023

Sorry it's so blue. This was the 8 lb box and I had no ammonia at all.

STLJam · Oct 10, 2023

RyanN said:
Sorry it's so blue. This was the 8 lb box and I had no ammonia at all.

That looks good. Did you put it straight in your tank or did you do a high salinity dip? What hitchhikers good and bad did you get?

RyanN · Oct 10, 2023

I dipped it in 1.026 saltwater just to clean anything loose off and put it in the tank. I had one big limpet, a few snails, sponges, caulerpa, tunicates, gracilleria, some kind of muscles that are still alive, hidden cup coral, some kind of coral that looks like galaxea, and an anemone that is similar to aiptasia but is definitely different. The only bad thing I've noticed is a small crab which I believe is a gorilla crab but I'm not positive. It's small so I'm not too worried about it yet. I debated for a while and finally decided to order and for 8 pounds of rock I was surprised how much life was on it. I would definitely buy from them again.

NVYCPO · Oct 12, 2023

I ordered one that came in last month. Same as Ryan, I had not spike at all. Rock was gorgeous covered with purple, dark, purple and red coralline algae, some micro algae, light blue, orange and dark blue sponges. I also got one cup coral, bristle star, and luckily (that I have found) only 3 gorilla crabs which I removed alone with at least 6 Welch's. I love those rocks and I am getting ready to order some more. Also the rocks we a nice range of sizes. Order it...you will be glad you did. I'm at work so I cannot post any pics but will try when I get home if I remember.

Ghostweim · Nov 23, 2023

Did you order? I am curious - looking to put some diversity in my 40 gallon tank that was started with dry rock. And they have a Black Friday sale going right now. @RyanN and @NVYCPO - would you recommend keeping the rock in a separate tank for a short while to catch the gorilla crabs or any other unwanted pest?

STLJam · Nov 23, 2023

Ghostweim said:
Did you order? I am curious - looking to put some diversity in my 40 gallon tank that was started with dry rock. And they have a Black Friday sale going right now. @RyanN and @NVYCPO - would you recommend keeping the rock in a separate tank for a short while to catch the gorilla crabs or any other unwanted pest?

I recently ordered 10 lbs for my 40g IM AIO to supplement the 25 lbs of dry rock. Looking back I wish I would have done 25 lbs live rock and 10 dry rock(arches). The diversity is awesome, I love looking at all the stuff the live rock comes with. You can check it out in my build thread.