Tampa Bay...

[inkblue]

anyOne ordered from Tampa Bay Saltwater ? They look really good, just wondering if they really are... :scratchch

 

[House of Laughter]

I heard (and only heard) that they get alot of hitchhikers.

I exclusively buy from Dr. Fosters and Smith for live rock.

House

 

[Reefer420]

I did- love the rock! I would not get it if you do not really really want a natural looking tank, with lots and lots of hitchhikers though. Take a look at my tank thread for some pics. Its a really good deal, considering you get the LR, LS, cleaning crew, and some cool extras thrown in (though i didn't want my anenome as I'm sure you know ). They have been having problems getting rock with all of the storms down there and a huge red algae bloom that has destroyed their site in the gulf (and most other sites as well- also the fishing industry, reefs, etc...) , but they have a second site in the FL keys which is where my rock came from.

I love what I got- wouldn't want anything else! The rock is really colorful, and has a ton (and I mean a ton) of fan worms, bivalves, misc. corals, worms, etc. I didn't really get any bad hitch hikers, though there is a fairly large risk of getting a mantis, etc.

They ship in water so I had little, if any die off- my tank didn't even seem to cycle! No ammonia or nitrate spikes at all. They are also really cool to deal with. Shipping costs a lot, since I had to take a cab from Manhattan to Laguardia ($60 round trip ), then throw in the airfreight cost (much cheaper than fed ex, etc.)- and you have to take the shipment in two parts, which cuts down on stresses due to cycling. I will always buy rock from these guys- no matter how large my tank gets- but then again I love the natural look.


As I said, look at my tank here on this site and here are a few links that you can spend the next few days looking over on Reef Central...


My tank...
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4547

Other links..

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=456077&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=572947&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=514702

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=254435&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=569267

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=516114

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=465695

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=622024

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=596348&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=609659&perpage=25&pagenumber=12

http://hickschatt.homestead.com/aquaria/rock.html

 

[inkblue]

Thanks reefer! I've seen some other people's taNks and yes, it looks like a LOT more life than any I've seen. I may get a smaller 'package' and miX it with other rocks from different places like Oceanpro Aquatics...

...Jim, how are rocks from Dr. Fosters and Smith :scratchch

 

[Reefer420]

That could be a good idea- the rest of the rock will eventually be as alive as the TBS rock. TBS rock isn't as porous as FIji, etc. so a mix would probably look nice. I'll be posting new pics of my tank tonight, so you can get a good idea of how it looks after 3months!

 

[inkblue]

Cool! Please do... I shall wait :thanks: ...besides, I caN't afford the bigger 'packages' so am picking one that I can afford... :sigh1:

 

[NYPDFrogman]

reefer is that rock man made??

 

[marrone]

Watch out for the Gorilla Crabs :shocked1:

 

[Reefer420]

its not made made in the sense that garg.org makes their rock- but it is a porous type of rock that is taken from land and dumped in the ocean for a few years and allowed to 'grow'. Not like fiji from a reef. I would guess that if you could take Fiji rock and ship it in water directly from the ocean it would look better- but would probably cost an arm and a leg and I don't know anyone that does it. This rock is almost exactly like gulf-view.com rock, but I don't think gulf-view ships like that.

I certainly don't have any complaints! You do have to watch out for hitch hikers though- I'm not sure if I would just dump this rock into an established tank without a nice long QT- but I got lucky and didn't have any bad ones that I've found yet (but then again I only received a 16 g package so didn't have much rock to begin with..)

 

[inkblue]

Reef... where are the pics :smokin:

 

[Deanos]

Reef... where are the pics :smokin:

Reefer420

 

[inkblue]

That site took down tHe pics

 

[Deanos]

LOL inkblue! There are 78 posts in that thread; many with pictures. Try again.

 

[inkblue]

man!!! i read more now that am on this forum :arg: :smokin:

 

[Reefer420]

The pics are there- just updated last night... sometimes the hosting sites go down for a while and you can't see any of the pics, or else you are behind a firewall that won't allow you to see any.

 

[inkblue]

:sigh1: aM behind a fireWall... i'LL look at it tonite... dude, you should post here instead

 

[Reefer420]

I do! Only my first post has a link to my nano-reef.com posting...all the rest have my photos directly on this site. I have to host through tinypic.com to get my photos on--- the files are too big to cut and paste into the quote boxes... i think most people here use a hosting site like photobucket or some other sites!

 

[inkblue]

reZ your pics to about 300px and 72 dpi so they wont be huge... if you use photoshop, Save For Web and they shouldn't be more than 40k :smokin:

 

[cali_reef]

I am not sure the algae on those TB rocks is good for a reef tank.. People usually buy snails and tangs to get rid of algae, why would you want to them in?

 

[inkblue]

doeSnt that depend on what kind of aLgae is on there :smoker: