KP aquatics? Experience?
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This was shipped in wet paper towels, not submerged.
Gulf Live Rock
Gulf Live Rock
Yes, I have bought it a few times.
It has great life but the rock itself as in its shape I was not a fan of. It is just personal preference and Gulf/KPA/Tampa are all quality.
This depends where you live. The die off was pretty rough when I lived in northern MN as even priority that they used took 4 days.
WhatCouldGoWrong71
Well-Known Member
@JGT @srobertb - I need to share my recent experience with KP as well. If we are spending this kind of money, we really need to share real life experiences so that others can understand what they are getting into. For the record, your mileage will vary and I will continue to only use wet live ocean rock no matter for the tank or sump.
This would be my second tank that I have worked with Phillip from KP on. Incredible service and great communication. Twice now Phillip has gone outside his normal schedule to help me out. I appreciate that and it was one of the deciding factors for me placing my second, and larger order, with KP.
So, on to last week. I'll attach photos to at the end, and you should be able to follow the flow. If not, too bad not sad
I ordered 70 pounds on 7/5 to be shipped via SouthWest airlines in water, Phillip and I had multiple conversations leading up to me actually processing my order online. I was originally told they would be there the same day, on the 5th at around 8:30 PM. It's a quick flight from Florida to Memphis. When the airbill was activated, it was now showing around 8:30 AM the next day 7/6, so I am thinking perhaps there was some confusion there, no big deal, AM vs PM
So, the rocks are in my display (brand new set up) by Noon on 7/6. My wife ( @Susannah.odle ) and I decided to put a Reefer 250 in our bedroom as we love watching the biodiversity from the first shipment interact with the tank. Frankly, we thought the hitchhikers were almost as much fun as corals and the fish. In fact, we spot feed and name the hitchhikers!
Fast forward 12 hours and our bedroom smelled like a morgue that lost power for a few days, it was clear something was up. We executed the identical plan as previously. Salinity was 35 and temps were 78.5 - 79.0. Once we sorted out what was happening, we had basically a complete die off instantly. We counted over 100 hitchhikers that were dead in the bottom of the tank. The water was quickly turning opaque. Instantly I texted Phillip and he was absolutely in communication with me, never once did he waiver in his communication with me. I showed pictures, explained what the scenario was, what the situation was like when we opened each of the 4 boxes. What time I picked them up, current parameters, etc. KP (Phillip) stated that this was a very rare situation and that I should stay on top of my water changes and watch the ammonia.
Day 2, the previous day I did a 100% water change, the stench was unbearable, we had to move out of our bedroom and on to the couch on the first day. Now that we are into the second day, the smell was not getting any better and the water was still getting cloudy, so it was super clear that we did in fact have a complete die off of all hitchhikers, which in some ways is good. There were a lot of "bad" hitchhikers that we now won't have to contend with.
On day 3 I started asking KP "Hey, how did this happen?", "Did the 12 hours it sat in ATL do this?", Does the air freight have insurance?". That third question never got a response, not even a "no". In all, we spent about $930 for a little over 70 pounds of wet live gulf rock, it does look great, but we also know that it is going to change some over the next 6 months, as we have done this before, and we are all good with all of that. You can't script real life, we are realists. But, we are realists that simply want to share our experience. And, look for insight from others as we share ours with you.
So on to Google we went, again, and again and again. On 7/7, 7/8 and 7/9 I did anything from 100% to 80% water changes. Yesterday, 7/10, I did not do one at all. Tonight, I will do 1/3. I've read, on more than one site, that water changes should be done >5PPM of ammonia. My parameters stayed at 35 for salinity and 78.5 - 79.0 so far. Ammonia (well, alkalinity too, just for poops sake) has been (all in the AM):
7/8 - .47
7/9 - 2.50
7/10 - 2.24
7/11 - 2.50
Alkalinity as been 10.2 - 9.6, as expected with new water / constant water changes. I'll continue to test daily.
The smell of death is still in the water, but adding two window fans running 24 hours a day has made a drastic change for the good. I have a brand new skimmer running, and I have never seen water that is actually pitch black before being skimmed. It looks like I took a sharpie and colored the collection cup black... I can't wait to get a whiff of that when I go to dump it, lol.
One of the photos you will see is a text that shows what the temps were over the weekend, per the text, at the dive site.
Again, dealing with living things provides no guarantees. KP has incredible communication, willingness to pivot to your needs and is dealing with no certainties.
So, that's our story thus far.
Edit:
I failed to add -
1) We are planning (and were) to dark cure the rock for 3-6 weeks before doing any next steps.
2) Over the weekend, we lightly scrubbed the rocks and knocked off any loose stuff, that really seemed to help with the smell some (that and the fans!)
3) I want to repeat, this is no different then buying a fish and 2 days later you are planning services for its passing. And like this, it does suck. I feel bad for my wife as she was looking forward to the hitchhikers, that's one of her things.
This would be my second tank that I have worked with Phillip from KP on. Incredible service and great communication. Twice now Phillip has gone outside his normal schedule to help me out. I appreciate that and it was one of the deciding factors for me placing my second, and larger order, with KP.
So, on to last week. I'll attach photos to at the end, and you should be able to follow the flow. If not, too bad not sad
I ordered 70 pounds on 7/5 to be shipped via SouthWest airlines in water, Phillip and I had multiple conversations leading up to me actually processing my order online. I was originally told they would be there the same day, on the 5th at around 8:30 PM. It's a quick flight from Florida to Memphis. When the airbill was activated, it was now showing around 8:30 AM the next day 7/6, so I am thinking perhaps there was some confusion there, no big deal, AM vs PMSo, the rocks are in my display (brand new set up) by Noon on 7/6. My wife ( @Susannah.odle ) and I decided to put a Reefer 250 in our bedroom as we love watching the biodiversity from the first shipment interact with the tank. Frankly, we thought the hitchhikers were almost as much fun as corals and the fish. In fact, we spot feed and name the hitchhikers!
Fast forward 12 hours and our bedroom smelled like a morgue that lost power for a few days, it was clear something was up. We executed the identical plan as previously. Salinity was 35 and temps were 78.5 - 79.0. Once we sorted out what was happening, we had basically a complete die off instantly. We counted over 100 hitchhikers that were dead in the bottom of the tank. The water was quickly turning opaque. Instantly I texted Phillip and he was absolutely in communication with me, never once did he waiver in his communication with me. I showed pictures, explained what the scenario was, what the situation was like when we opened each of the 4 boxes. What time I picked them up, current parameters, etc. KP (Phillip) stated that this was a very rare situation and that I should stay on top of my water changes and watch the ammonia.
Day 2, the previous day I did a 100% water change, the stench was unbearable, we had to move out of our bedroom and on to the couch on the first day. Now that we are into the second day, the smell was not getting any better and the water was still getting cloudy, so it was super clear that we did in fact have a complete die off of all hitchhikers, which in some ways is good. There were a lot of "bad" hitchhikers that we now won't have to contend with.
On day 3 I started asking KP "Hey, how did this happen?", "Did the 12 hours it sat in ATL do this?", Does the air freight have insurance?". That third question never got a response, not even a "no". In all, we spent about $930 for a little over 70 pounds of wet live gulf rock, it does look great, but we also know that it is going to change some over the next 6 months, as we have done this before, and we are all good with all of that. You can't script real life, we are realists. But, we are realists that simply want to share our experience. And, look for insight from others as we share ours with you.
So on to Google we went, again, and again and again. On 7/7, 7/8 and 7/9 I did anything from 100% to 80% water changes. Yesterday, 7/10, I did not do one at all. Tonight, I will do 1/3. I've read, on more than one site, that water changes should be done >5PPM of ammonia. My parameters stayed at 35 for salinity and 78.5 - 79.0 so far. Ammonia (well, alkalinity too, just for poops sake) has been (all in the AM):
7/8 - .47
7/9 - 2.50
7/10 - 2.24
7/11 - 2.50
Alkalinity as been 10.2 - 9.6, as expected with new water / constant water changes. I'll continue to test daily.
The smell of death is still in the water, but adding two window fans running 24 hours a day has made a drastic change for the good. I have a brand new skimmer running, and I have never seen water that is actually pitch black before being skimmed. It looks like I took a sharpie and colored the collection cup black... I can't wait to get a whiff of that when I go to dump it, lol.
One of the photos you will see is a text that shows what the temps were over the weekend, per the text, at the dive site.
Again, dealing with living things provides no guarantees. KP has incredible communication, willingness to pivot to your needs and is dealing with no certainties.
So, that's our story thus far.
Edit:
I failed to add -
1) We are planning (and were) to dark cure the rock for 3-6 weeks before doing any next steps.
2) Over the weekend, we lightly scrubbed the rocks and knocked off any loose stuff, that really seemed to help with the smell some (that and the fans!)
3) I want to repeat, this is no different then buying a fish and 2 days later you are planning services for its passing. And like this, it does suck. I feel bad for my wife as she was looking forward to the hitchhikers, that's one of her things.
Last edited:
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