Questions about tbs rocks

[ctylermast]

So I’m teetering on the idea of 20lb of rock from tbs, was buying base rock. Although I’m not really into creating a crazy intricate aquascape, I typically just stack rock in a fashion to just look as natural as possible. Guy at lfs was telling me the rock is butt ugly and not good for display tank, it just looks like a boulder or whatever. Anyone put base rock from tbs into display tank, does it look decent. I’d love pics!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I’m teetering on the idea of 20lb of rock from tbs, was buying base rock. Although I’m not really into creating a crazy intricate aquascape, I typically just stack rock in a fashion to just look as natural as possible. Guy at lfs was telling me the rock is butt ugly and not good for display tank, it just looks like a boulder or whatever. Anyone put base rock from tbs into display tank, does it look decent. I’d love pics!

Just a side note; fresh live rock from the Gulf of Mexico often comes in with Cirolanid isopods. These aren't parasites per-se, but are considered "micro predators". They will latch onto fish and feed on them, causing the fish some distress. IMO - they will die out over time. In other cases, people use baited traps to lower their numbers to hasten that process.

 

[ctylermast]

Just a side note; fresh live rock from the Gulf of Mexico often comes in with Cirolanid isopods. These aren't parasites per-se, but are considered "micro predators". They will latch onto fish and feed on them, causing the fish some distress. IMO - they will die out over time. In other cases, people use baited traps to lower their numbers to hasten that process.

interesting.
I fish a lot coastal VA. Winter time our puppy drum are riddled with sea lice and little worms . From my readings they are parasites that start as some copipods, wonder if that’s the same.

I know irrelevant, but still interesting IMO.

Thank you for the heads up!

 

[Impunitus]

Get a mix of base and premium rock from TBS. You can check my build thread for some pictures of the rock, primarily in my wife 20 Gal as we used mostly TBS and small amounts of dry rock.

Regardless though the rock is COVERED in life. Even the base rock has a good amount of coraline on it, as well as other stuff like tube worms, feather dusters, bivalves, etc. But the premium rock is going to have more macro algae and even more coraline and other colorful sponges. I would not call the base rock butt ugly, but if you want to do a rock stack, get a combo of the rocks.

Both times we have gotten TBS rock we have ended up with a fair amount of hitchhikers as well. My rock had at least 3 porcelain crabs, a couple of gorilla crabs (still need to catch one), and a smasher mantis which we just caught this morning. The wife's rock also has a small mantis that we have seen which we need to catch now.

Agreed with Jay on the isopods. We did have an isopod latch onto one of the wife's clowns, we were able to get it to release with a very quick tap-water dip as recommended by some very helpful people here on R2R!

 

[Impunitus]

Also going to tag @LiverockRocks (TBS) as they are active on R2R. I love the rock, it has tons of fun stuff but also is going to come with a fair amount of what some people may call undesirable. It is beautiful rock none the less, and my wife's tank started getting new coraline growth before mine, and we started hers 3 months after mine. Hers also seems to have hit less of a 'ugly phase' than mine did, but still dealing with some uglies in hers as well.

Its all part of the process and we love both tanks!

 

[X-37B]

Get 20lbs of premium. It's worth every penny.

 

[ctylermast]

Also going to tag @LiverockRocks (TBS) as they are active on R2R. I love the rock, it has tons of fun stuff but also is going to come with a fair amount of what some people may call undesirable. It is beautiful rock none the less, and my wife's tank started getting new coraline growth before mine, and we started hers 3 months after mine. Hers also seems to have hit less of a 'ugly phase' than mine did, but still dealing with some uglies in hers as well.

Its all part of the process and we love both tanks!

Yea I just took down a tank, mostly because I was wanting to upgrade anyways but my last tank got over ran with Dino’s and GHA, I’ve read that live rock can really mitigate those kind of issues

 

[Fish Fan]

The wife's rock also has a small mantis that we have seen which we need to catch now.

If you can trap that spud, I'd buy him from you guys

Are you in the real Rochester in New York, or one of the other, lessor, impostor Rochesters?

 

[Reef Jedi]

I have about 120lbs of premium TBS rock, nicest and best rock I’ve ever had. Literally will never buy anything other than TBS rock. Check out my build thread for pictures. So much life on the rocks it’s incredible!

@LiverockRocks

 

[ctylermast]

Get a mix of base and premium rock from TBS. You can check my build thread for some pictures of the rock, primarily in my wife 20 Gal as we used mostly TBS and small amounts of dry rock.

Regardless though the rock is COVERED in life. Even the base rock has a good amount of coraline on it, as well as other stuff like tube worms, feather dusters, bivalves, etc. But the premium rock is going to have more macro algae and even more coraline and other colorful sponges. I would not call the base rock butt ugly, but if you want to do a rock stack, get a combo of the rocks.

Both times we have gotten TBS rock we have ended up with a fair amount of hitchhikers as well. My rock had at least 3 porcelain crabs, a couple of gorilla crabs (still need to catch one), and a smasher mantis which we just caught this morning. The wife's rock also has a small mantis that we have seen which we need to catch now.

Agreed with Jay on the isopods. We did have an isopod latch onto one of the wife's clowns, we were able to get it to release with a very quick tap-water dip as recommended by some very helpful people here on R2R

 

[ctylermast]

Get a mix of base and premium rock from TBS. You can check my build thread for some pictures of the rock, primarily in my wife 20 Gal as we used mostly TBS and small amounts of dry rock.

Regardless though the rock is COVERED in life. Even the base rock has a good amount of coraline on it, as well as other stuff like tube worms, feather dusters, bivalves, etc. But the premium rock is going to have more macro algae and even more coraline and other colorful sponges. I would not call the base rock butt ugly, but if you want to do a rock stack, get a combo of the rocks.

Both times we have gotten TBS rock we have ended up with a fair amount of hitchhikers as well. My rock had at least 3 porcelain crabs, a couple of gorilla crabs (still need to catch one), and a smasher mantis which we just caught this morning. The wife's rock also has a small mantis that we have seen which we need to catch now.

Agreed with Jay on the isopods. We did have an isopod latch onto one of the wife's clowns, we were able to get it to release with a very quick tap-water dip as recommended by some very helpful people here on R2R!

Any idea if I get 20lbs and did 10 and 10 if they’d still ship in same bucket.

 

[Impunitus]

If you can trap that spud, I'd buy him from you guys

Are you in the real Rochester in New York, or one of the other, lessor, impostor Rochesters?

The real Rochester NY! Will keep in mind once her mantis becomes more emboldened and actually able to catch him! I'll be honest I put a bottle trap in my tank and had mine caught within 30-45 minutes. I was a little surprised, but he had become much more active in the tank so really needed to get him out before he killed something I cared about (he killed a lot of snails, but didn't want him killing my porcelain crabs or peppermint shrimps. Or even worse one of my fish!)

 

[Fish Fan]

The real Rochester NY! Will keep in mind once her mantis becomes more emboldened and actually able to catch him! I'll be honest I put a bottle trap in my tank and had mine caught within 30-45 minutes. I was a little surprised, but he had become much more active in the tank so really needed to get him out before he killed something I cared about (he killed a lot of snails, but didn't want him killing my porcelain crabs or peppermint shrimps. Or even worse one of my fish!)

Nice! We are near Canandaigua

 

[Impunitus]

Any idea if I get 20lbs and did 10 and 10 if they’d still ship in same bucket.

I'd reach out to them and ask what they can do! They are super responsive and don't see why they wouldn't want to quote out something like that but can't speak for them directly.

 

[Impunitus]

Nice! We are near Canandaigua

If you go to Caribbean Forest at all, they have the one we caught today. Did a $10 trade-in which honestly I'm just happy it went to somewhere that can give it a good home. We only have AIOs and didn't have a real sump to put him in and let him be a sump monster, and really not wanting a 4th tank (we already have the 2 SW plus a planted fresh tank) to the mix

 

[W31Olds]

Just a side note; fresh live rock from the Gulf of Mexico often comes in with Cirolanid isopods. These aren't parasites per-se, but are considered "micro predators". They will latch onto fish and feed on them, causing the fish some distress. IMO - they will die out over time. In other cases, people use baited traps to lower their numbers to hasten that process.

Hi Jay, I have 20lbs of TBS rock curing right now in my 40 gal breeder. I have no fish in this system so how long would it take for those Isopods to die off? I received the Rock on 12/12/25. It's really nice stuff but the snapping shrimp are annoying, and I have yet to see one. I also have a Smasher Mantis and approx., 30 crabs and numerous snails, many barnacles, lipids, Clams, feather dusters, and sponges. Quite a bit of die off and phosphates/ nitrates are very high.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi Jay, I have 20lbs of TBS rock curing right now in my 40 gal breeder. I have no fish in this system so how long would it take for those Isopods to die off? I received the Rock on 12/12/25. It's really nice stuff but the snapping shrimp are annoying, and I have yet to see one. I also have a Smasher Mantis and approx., 30 crabs and numerous snails, many barnacles, lipids, Clams, feather dusters, and sponges. Quite a bit of die off and phosphates/ nitrates are very high.

Sorry - I don't know. Without fish in your curing tank, I don't think you can know if they have survived the process or not.

 

[Impunitus]

Just a side note; fresh live rock from the Gulf of Mexico often comes in with Cirolanid isopods. These aren't parasites per-se, but are considered "micro predators". They will latch onto fish and feed on them, causing the fish some distress. IMO - they will die out over time. In other cases, people use baited traps to lower their numbers to hasten that process.

Hi Jay, I have 20lbs of TBS rock curing right now in my 40 gal breeder. I have no fish in this system so how long would it take for those Isopods to die off? I received the Rock on 12/12/25. It's really nice stuff but the snapping shrimp are annoying, and I have yet to see one. I also have a Smasher Mantis and approx., 30 crabs and numerous snails, many barnacles, lipids, Clams, feather dusters, and sponges. Quite a bit of die off and phosphates/ nitrates are very high.

I still have some in my SR60 and have had TBS rock in there for 4-5 months at this point.

If they do latch onto a fish getting them to release is not hard. A simple tap water dip (only took ~30 seconds in my case) should be all that is needed. We've had it happen once in the wife's tank and they have slowly been getting eaten. As long as you observe your fish I do not personally believe them to be a huge issue to handle.

 

[serval]

I bought both base and premium rock from TBS 6 months ago and recommend it highly. I used mostly premium in my tank (I’d ordered too much). The premium has nicer shapes whereas base rock tends to be flatter, as you might expect.
I got some gorilla crabs, which are out now (caught two, a couple died), and a mantis. I’d like to catch her but she’s wary. I feed her krill once a week and she eats my snails. I do worry that she’ll kill a fish one day, but honestly I’m a bit fond of her now. I saw no parasitic isopods. The various native corals, sponges, feather dusters, porcelain crabs, and other life was and is fantastic.

My tank is a 40 gal cube and here’s looking in one side of it:

 

[Fish Fan]

If you go to Caribbean Forest at all, they have the one we caught today. Did a $10 trade-in which honestly I'm just happy it went to somewhere that can give it a good home. We only have AIOs and didn't have a real sump to put him in and let him be a sump monster, and really not wanting a 4th tank (we already have the 2 SW plus a planted fresh tank) to the mix

Yes, I go to that shop sometimes. I'll see if I can get there tomorrow. Thanks!!