Live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater

[Charlie]

My sister has given me a 55 and a 46 Bow front each with stands. I'm thinking of buying my live rock and live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater. has anybody buy "The Package" from them? Is it worth getting?

 

On another note, I would like the 55 to be a Reef tank with a few fish and the 46 to maybe be a preditor tank with a dwarf lion and a snowflake morey. Do you guys think this is a good idea or should I go the other way around? Thank you for your advise.

[ctenophore]

Sounds like a good plan re: tank stocking. You might check around some area shops for rock before paying overnight shipping for it online. If you are patient (and join WAMAS) you will find good live rock at decent prices from members.

[bbyatv]

I bought "The Package" about 3 years ago. I loved the rock. Lots of woderfull stuff comes with it.

 

 

There is one problem. The rock will also come with some very bad crabs. It took me close to a year to get them all out.

 

If you are willing to work on catching crabs, the rock is great.

 

I also think that before you do "The Package", you should check the "For Sale" forum and see who is selling. There is almost always someone selling rock for $2 or $3 a pound.

 

Bruce

[Charlie]

Thank you for the advise, ctenophore. I've checked a LFSs, Tropical Fish World in Gaithersburg and House of Tropics in Glenn Bernie and was disappointed with their selection and prices. Tampa Bay has LR for about $5 a pound add another buck for shipping and he doesn't look too bad. I'm just kind of nervous about spending about $800 for his package without some local input.

[bcjm]

Thank you for the advise, ctenophore. I've checked a LFSs, Tropical Fish World in Gaithersburg and House of Tropics in Glenn Bernie and was disappointed with their selection and prices. Tampa Bay has LR for about $5 a pound add another buck for shipping and he doesn't look too bad. I'm just kind of nervous about spending about $800 for his package without some local input.

 

 

Check out the craiglist and the for sale as here if you are a member.

[El Camaron]

aquarium one has some nice rock, tropical fish world also has some at decent price last time i was there.

[mogurnda]

I could write a book about TBS rock, but here's a short summary.

 

I have bought rock from them several times. Here's a thread from my last shipment. The upshot is that there's a lot of cool stuff that comes in with it, including stony corals and macroalgae, and there are some nasties as well. Last weekend I pulled a hairy crab out of a batch that was at least 5 years old.

 

If you want to do a Caribbean biotope, or just want a bunch of unusual invertebrate life, it's fantastic. For a standard reef tank, much of the cool stuff will die off, or be overgrown by your corals.

 

If you decide to get it, I might pitch in just so I can be there to see everything that comes along.

[steveoutlaw]

I would do the safe thing and get it from www.marcorocks.com. It's dry rock, but it's very pourous and lightweight. You won't get any hitchhikers with with it and you can get a scoop of live sand and a piece of live rock to seed it with. It's extremely cheap......I''m very happy with what I got.

[angel not fish]

Have you cheched the site of our sponsor pacific east ?

They are showing some from tonga looking very alive.

[quazi]

Have you cheched the site of our sponsor pacific east ?

They are showing some from tonga looking very alive.

 

Excellent comment. Not too far, and great rock and other reef stufff!

[zygote2k]

I've ordered nearly a half ton of rock from TBS over the years. They have nice rock with tons of growth- some good, some predatory species too. Overall a good choice.

[bluefunelement]

+1 PacEast - the liver rock I got from them was $5.99 lb porous, free of hh, but 100% corraline covered.