Tampa Bay Saltwater

[31-2c]

Has anyone ever ordered from them? If so, what did you think?

 

[butt.doc]

I am considering one of their package deals, so I too am quite interested in other's experiences.

31-2c, did you have problems with them?

-steve

 

[MarkO1]

I ordered the "package". The rock has more life on it than any other rock I've ever seen. However, I must warn you of some of the drawbacks...
1. Rock is more dense than fiji, hense, more is required.
2. Rock will have a lot more die-off (so I'm told) since it has so much life on it.
3. unwanted critters / hitchhikers also come with it including mantis shrimp (so far I've captured 3 and I know there are more).

Other than that, I'd recommend that you try and duplicate the natural habitat of the rock (temp, lighting, etc...) and I think you will be pleased.

 

[31-2c]

I ordered a package deal about a year ago. There is a ton of life on the rocks. Far to many barnacles for my liking. There service seems to be exceptional. I too had problems with mantis shrimp. (pulled 10 out of 60 lbs of rock) I was far more impressed with the live sand. The amount of critters in there was unbelievable. I even found a small urchin. (it was so small it was hard to see at that time!) It is now over 2 inches across and a neat light purple color. I will warn that following their acclimation procedure is a little more difficult than they make it sound. There was a ton of die off. I was doint 50% water changes twice a day to keep the ammonia levels down. I had to do this for almost 3 weeks. The critter package was pretty nice too.

[ October 24, 2001: Message edited by: 31-2c ]</p>

 

[rockdiver]

I ordered the package and it was GREAT
BUT as everyone has said alot of water changes BUT WELL WORTH IT.
I mean its rock right out of the ocean!TONS AND TONS of life
Would do it again.
diver

 

[Anonymous]

Richard Londeree (TBS) will do something almost no one else will do: he'll ship fresh rock submerged. The shipping is high, no question, but the results can definitely be worth it.

 

[LilBugger225]

I ordered from tampa bay in july and I was very very impressed with their live rock. I didn't have too much trouble with die off except for some sponges. However I have captured 3 mantis shrimp so far and I can still hear at least one. I have also had to hunt down for crabs. Don't keep the hitchiker crabs in your reef tank!!! Mine killed a fish and ate an inch out of my open brain as well as my toadstool leather and polyps. (see my post in the hitchiker forum for more details) They are kinda hard to catch too once you have your rock in. I did more water changes than I really needed to and my ammonia levels never really got high at all. It took about 2 weeks to completely cycle. I highly recommend tampa bay saltwater, and I think you will be happy.

HTH

Erica

 

[NoviceReefer]

I got the 75 gallon package and was very happy with the life on the rock and in the sand. Mary and Richard were exceptionally helpful and pleasant.

I too have had problems with Mantis Shrimp. I've removed 10 of the critters and, at least, one more remains. This has been the worst problem.

I really had little die off. However, the packages had a short flight and I picked it up right away so the rock was only packaged up less than 4 hours.

I'd get it again cause if sure looks better than anything at the LFS. But, if you have any great ideas to get rid of the Mantis Shrimp, do it before you set up the rock in your tank.

 

[31-2c]

I am sure that part of the reason I had more die off than others was that it was flown half way across the country and the fools at the airport placed the boxes in an unheated or insulated garage when it arrived. The plane was early and it sat there for about 30 minutes. In a South Dakota winter, thats too long. No Heat packs were included.

When I mentioned this to Richard, he appoligized and made things right. (I asked for heat packs)

They have exceptional service

 

[djh]

Too many barnacles.

 

[J.T]

I flew down to Tampa and stopped in TBS to their store. I got some rock and he let me pick it out myself, I noticed their rock is very dense and most of it was very rounded. When I got home I put the TBS rock in with my Gulf View rock there was no comparison to the life that was on the Gulf View rock and some of it very hard to stack due to the density. Every thing else in the store was awesome, the sand was great looking and far better than gulf view with the grain size, and there were tons of critters and crabs. But that’s Just my opinion I’m sure people got some good rock from them and I was probably there when they were drained

 

[bfeit]

i have 180 reef i have 170lb of rock tb had 10 mantis shimp in it. i have 75lb from http://www.petsforum.com/seacritters/ very nice will buy more .

 

[MarkO1]

How much of a problem are mantis really??? I know the ones in my tank are small, but I think they're much less fearsome than they are made out to be.
Take them as they are.... remove them as you must, but I think they may actually be beneficial(my guess). I agree with Lil bugger... crabs are finicky and atrocious and will tear your live cr#! apart. Keep them on the down low and I think you will be happy.