Gulf Live Rock VS TBS

[Indiana Reefin]

TBS all the way! I bought a 10 gallon package from them and I am absolutely impressed. So much life on the rock and they have been awesome about answering questions. When I go with a large reef I will no doubt be purchasing from TBS!

 

[reneeL]

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

I like Gulf Live Rock, just be sure it is shipped overnight. My order got delayed but GLR made it right. The gorgonians and turkey wings are still going strong. Avoid hot days as the life forms definitely don't do well in the heat. I put it in tubs with high current first, check it over well to remove any major problems. You may get really cool extras like starfish and urchins. I did not see these little guys until they were larger. I am sure that the other is just as good.

 

[alpenreef]

I used both and have good experiences with both. If you look at my build thread, my 170g DT is all gulf life rock. It’s a year old now, and grows corals like crazy, never had any uglies of course and is full of biodiversity. Still have tunicates, sponges, and cup corals. Also a few mantis shrimp, they came in with both vendors.
TBS is great too, but can’t beat the GLR price for the exact same stuff.

 

[RevMH]

I've used both and had similar experiences with each company. Wonderful to work with, but GLR prices were much better for the product received (very similar product). I was happy with each purchase, but the rock is very heavy.

It's not on the list, and the price is higher, but for what it's worth, for my 200 gallon build, I used Australian live rock from @Eric Cohen at TankStop. He was great to work with and the live rock was the best I've received since the early 2000's. Super light, so a little goes a long way. 80lbs filled my 200 gallon with a bunch of rock left over.

Happy reefing!

 

[Subsea]

Both TBS & GLR have great product & customer service . Unless TBS has changed, they ship live rock in water & Gulf Live Rock ships rock damp.

I have discussed the difference with both owners. I choose shipped damp; in the event of a die off, the pollution does not spread to the whole shipment. Both TBS & GLR use dense Bryozone limestone for there maricultured live rock.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

I just got TBS 2 weeks ago and it was shipped fully submerged in water. That is a big difference from being damp. That’s probably the cost difference, and to me it’s worth the extra money for that reason alone.

 

[Subsea]

I just got TBS 2 weeks ago and it was shipped fully submerged in water. That is a big difference from being damp. That’s probably the cost difference, and to me it’s worth the extra money for that reason alone.

Glad for your good results.

I have had many shipments of diver collected live rock that have totaled several thousand pounds. If you think that shipped in water is guaranteed safety of live stock, then you will be in for a bad reality check when your shipment is totally ruined due to pollution spreading from die off of rock inhabitants submerged in water.

 

[Dburr1014]

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

No idea, but love the mustang!

I just bought my first.

Back to the thread.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Glad for your good results.

I have had many shipments of diver collected live rock that have totaled several thousand pounds. If you think that shipped in water is guaranteed safety of live stock, then you will be in for a bad reality check when your shipment is totally ruined due to pollution spreading from die off of rock inhabitants submerged in water.

That’s a good point, but that’s with anything alive when it ships. TBS packages the rock, sand, inverts, and fish separate. Have you had this happen with live rock?

 

[Subsea]

That’s a good point, but that’s with anything alive when it ships. TBS packages the rock, sand, inverts, and fish separate. Have you had this happen with live rock?

Let’s not discuss vendors. I started a separate thread to discuss the science.

 

[Subsea]

Indiana,
It’s most likely to happen with mature uncured live rock due to biodiversity of inhabitants with emphases on sponges & Bryozones.

PS: The labor to seperate would be the major contributor to cost differences.

However, I prefer the introduction of various & unique filter feeders that move carbon up the food chain. Because I do very few water changes, nutrient management is accomplished by recycling carbon using the microbial food web.

 

[pooootiqe]

I just got a pico pack from GLR a week ago delivered to update state NY with 3 day shipping. Despite the cold weather and being wrapped in damp paper towel quite a few creatures survived just fine.

One would probably get more interesting hitchhikers in larger rocks but quite happy with mine.

 

[corosato]

I think the GLR site has better coral hitchhikers, but can't go wrong either way. I've ordered small amounts of both, my TBS had one cup coral hitchhiker. My GLR orders had a Rose coral, Gorg, Tube corals, Cup corals and some random Favia-like LPS.

 

[SnowyFox]

I just got my order from TBS a couple days ago. Really happy so far, and the air cargo shipping was amazingly fast and reasonable to Denver. The bucket it was shipped in has also been useful to reuse for making saltwater in already. I originally ordered it during their Black Friday sale a couple months ago. I wasn’t ready for it arrive when it was first scheduled for delivery, and they made it super easy to delay the order until I was actually ready for it, which really helped me out. Will definitely be ordering from them again someday

 

[X-37B]

@Gulf Live Rock. 150lbs of GLR for my 150 and 35 lbs of GLR for my 50. Happy with the results and can recommend GLR with a smile.
My ext 170 and 150lbs. I had coral in this system within 2 weeks. Tank is 10 months old now.
You can see the 50 in the reflection, lol.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Both also sell base rock. It is not as pretty but contains life also. It is much less expensive and is great to start a tank. You would be better off, IMO, if you could swing enough so that you didn't have to use dry rock for aquascaping. The live sand is great for refugiums if you are setting one up. This method gets you started quickly with less problems in the future. You can order a little premium rock a little later once the tank will support the life on it better.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Here are pictures of TBS “the package”
They also threw in two tiger gobies.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

These both seem like good options. I’m thankful that we still have options to buy live rock. There aren’t nearly as many options as there used to be.

 

[TatorTaco]

Here are pictures of TBS “the package”
They also threw in two tiger gobies.

How big is your tank and what size package did you request?

I started with white marco rock in my Nuvo 25 and after 9+ months, I'm a bit disappointed in both my aquascape and the lack of diversity.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

I have a 9 gallon nano with 10 gallon package:
10 lbs of base live rock (most of the base was premium)
10 lbs of premium live rock
10lbs of live sand
2 tiger gobies (free)
3 astrea snails
7 blue leg hermits
2 orange leg hermits

I elected to ship cargo because I saved a lot of money. Packaging was phenomenal!