Gulf Live Rock VS TBS

[Prowler66gt]

Any reason to choose one over the other? Will a seed amount be worth the cost?

 

[Fish Fan]

I very much recommended TBS rock and sand and the ladies that run the show down there. Great people to work with, and awesome rock and sand.

 

[Devilfish]

I can’t speak to one over the other as I only have experience with TBS. However, I could not be more impressed with what I received from TBS. I went with 3lbs of premium live rock and 9 lbs of sand for my 100 gallon tank.

My tank is almost 3 months old. At first it didn’t seem like I had the same amount of life I have heard others mention but wow I was wrong. After a little bit of time for the life that was in it to grow, it has been really impressive. I have found worms, bivalves, two ruby red mithrax crabs, a porcelain crab, three limpets, copepods, an impressive spread of coralline algae, and a bunch of other things I’m probably forgetting. Everything just came in really small. My ugly stage only lasted about a week and didn’t seem bad at all (at least so far). I feel like my tank has been very stable for a first tank and I attribute a lot of that to the live sand and rock. I could not recommend it more.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I’ve done different rock providers. I only buy from the ladies at TBS anymore. I think I’m on my 3rd tank from them. I’ll never go back to any of the previous vendors I purchased from. Pictures in my build thread.

 

[BryanM]

I used GLR, talked to the diver, and was extremely happy. Price is better too.

That said, you can’t go wrong with either IMO.

 

[steveschuerger]

I’ve gotten both. Liked both. My order from TBS was the nano treasure box. Perfectly sized for small tanks but still chock full of life . The Gulf Live rock had more coral hitchers but that was probably luck of the draw.

 

[Prowler66gt]

Sounds like even approval. The reason I asked is that I'm getting ready to set up my 100 gal and it seems I can get over twice the amount of premium GLR for far less than TBS (180/20lb vs 399/16lb).

 

[Sapo]

I bought some rubble from TBS for my 114g and had similar experience as those above. No ugly phase, tons of coralline algae and mostly cool hitchhikers. The only negative was a couple of gorilla crabs, but they didn’t really cause any trouble.

 

[Oldsman]

I'm setting up a 40g breeder right now w tbs sand and live rock, and cant say enough how great their service has been. Mixing w GLR could yield a variety of helpful bacteria, just an option. I highly recommend tbs live sand to start, bagged sand doesn't compare

 

[RockRash]

TBS has my vote. I made my aquascape with dry marco rock but I used TBS sans and rubble rock to seed the tank. If I could do it all again I'd just use TBS everything its really awesome stuff.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I’ve only used tbs for live rock so I can only vouch for them. Our experience with them was perfect. We got high quality rock that was bursting with all sorts of life on it in our pico tank.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

I’ve only used tbs for live rock so I can only vouch for them. Our experience with them was perfect. We got high quality rock that was bursting with all sorts of life on it in our pico tank.

And FWIW, their customer service was excellent. Great communication and package came right on time!

 

[Fish Fan]

And FWIW, their customer service was excellent. Great communication and package came right on time!

The ladies at TBS are fantastic to work with, I can't say that enough :-)

 

[BryanM]

This is all Gulf Live Rock btw.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Contact both ask them the same questions that you may have concerns about. Then you can also go based on response. The collections sites maybe different and you could research health in that area. Both seem reputable. Either way I recommend acclimating the rock like you would fish or inverts as it will have tons of life you will want to try and preserve and not shock.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I purchased GLR, I loved it - was the cheaper option but the diver responded and let me know what to expect, everything arrived perfect very small die off, rocks didn’t smell

Hitchhikers included red mantis shrimp , clams , macro algae, brittle stars and other small organisms of course some aptasia as well but I expected

 

[areefer01]

Sounds like even approval. The reason I asked is that I'm getting ready to set up my 100 gal and it seems I can get over twice the amount of premium GLR for far less than TBS (180/20lb vs 399/16lb).

You local says South Georgia. Could always take your avatar car and take a road trip :) I'm in California and seriously considering making one to Key West, Florida and stopping by to pick some TBS rock on the way back. Of course the route to will have all the fun stops but the way back is a tag team effort or mini cannon ball run to get the rock home.

I have an open order from TBS that they are waiting on me. They are great to talk to and so far gave me a great recommendation on a tank builder for an upgrade I'm working on. This past week we talked about wetsuits as I was getting ready to do some cold water diving in Monterey, Ca. Previous owner I used to talk about Men's Health.

TL; DR - TBS is a great small business to support. You could always buy from both.

 

[Prowler66gt]

Thank you all for the responses! It's great to see nothing but good comments about both vendors.

 

[Mwatts12]

KP Aquatics anyone? I started my last 2 tanks with their rock.

Fantastic rock

 

[areefer01]

KP Aquatics anyone? I started my last 2 tanks with their rock.

Fantastic rock

A while back I ordered a 25 lb box. They are great to work with, checked weather before shipping, communicated, and offer a solid product. I don't think we mentioned it much in the post not because of troubles but rather it wasn't on their list :D