Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock
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DesertReefT4r
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Man that rock looks great. I would remove all the macro algae from it though asap, that stuff can take over very fast.
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
Thanks for sharing
Subsea
5000 Club Member
I have used both
https://www.tbsaltwater.com/liverock/index.html
http://www.gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html
For most economical live rock transportation, I use “air freight”. Cost to deliver first 100 lbs is about $90. After 100 pounds, freight cost are $0.45 per pound.
Once while aquascaping a new 150G build, I requested some large pieces. On the boat ride in from collecting that morning, Dale sent me pictures to choose from. I had rock in hand by midnight in Austin, Tx.
At 6 AM live rock was in 30’ of water 10 miles west of Tamps Bay. At midnight in Austin, Rock was in 150G Rubbermade tubs.
https://www.tbsaltwater.com/liverock/index.html
http://www.gulfliverock.com/premium-decorative-rock.html
For most economical live rock transportation, I use “air freight”. Cost to deliver first 100 lbs is about $90. After 100 pounds, freight cost are $0.45 per pound.
Once while aquascaping a new 150G build, I requested some large pieces. On the boat ride in from collecting that morning, Dale sent me pictures to choose from. I had rock in hand by midnight in Austin, Tx.
At 6 AM live rock was in 30’ of water 10 miles west of Tamps Bay. At midnight in Austin, Rock was in 150G Rubbermade tubs.
And this is why their stuff is so valuable! I did not see any die off and a world of life is present on their stuff!
EddieJ
Active Member
When I received my rock order from TBS is smelled ocean fresh! not a scent of death at all.. That's because it ships in water, the freight charge is most definitely worth it. My rock had about a dozen porcelain crabs, a mated pair of pistol shrimp, couple red emerald crabs, some bad predatory crabs, a cucumber and lot's of snails. That was just a rock order.. And now the bad news, time to trap a mantis! yup, little guy came along and now he has gotten larger and is smashing all kinds of snails and crabs.. Love it when he takes out a predatory crab, sad when he wipes out a porcelain crab. And he loves Trochus snails... It's time to trap him. But the risk is definitely worth the reward in my opinion.
CindyKz
Valuable Member
I posted a thread with this question recently and didn't get many responses.
I'm curious, how do their rocks looks a year or two later? Does the cool stuff make it?
Their rock looks so amazing, but I'd hate to spend the money for it to look the same as tanks started with LFS rock or dry rock a few years down the road.
I'm curious, how do their rocks looks a year or two later? Does the cool stuff make it?
Their rock looks so amazing, but I'd hate to spend the money for it to look the same as tanks started with LFS rock or dry rock a few years down the road.
I think there are lots of posts discussing this. Some may be hard to find.
Either way, some people say that much of it died off after a year. Others said that they still have plenty of things survive and would never buy dry rock. At the very least with aquacultured rock you have a mature set microscopic things living in the rock which would take much longer to build up with dry rock, and probably would never be as diverse.
IMO, after having aquacultured live rock for a bit over six months (from KP aquatics in the Keys, vice Tampa Bay rock from TBS/username @liverock and others), how much life is left is a function of how you place the rocks, how much you feed, and whether you dose tiny food for filter feeders. (e.g. @liverock said: "these are filter feeders which require a LOT of nutrients to survive in a captive reef. You can try to keep them alive with liquid foods"). It's definitely much more interesting to look at than the one and a half year old dry rock next to many pieces.
Here's a list of what I've found: (note I now think I don't feed enough, nor dose enough tiny filter feeder food)
Orange boring/encrusting sponges: did not seem to survive long term.
Purple boring sponges, hiding deeper in the live rock: some have seemed to survive
Porites branneri SPS: survived decently. I had half of the colony die off, but the other half is doing well. (in a tank which has had SPS problems, unfortunately, partially due to feeding I think)
Caulerpa mexicana macro algae or similar species: done well.
Coralline algae: done well. Even when my pincushion urchin eats it it grows back fairly quickly. Very little coralline has grown on the dry rock
Various small feather dusters - come and go, fairly stable population overall, though.
Two UI rock dwelling snails - grown pretty big
Lettered olive snail/Olivia sayana - a large, sand-dwelling predatory/carrion snail that came in on live sand - survived surprisingly long even though I can't feed it since it's usually burrowing. (when I see it I quickly pull it out and feed it a pellet)
Chitons - just discovered them
UI bivalves, probably clams - just discovered them
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