Our Tbs

[jnb]

what is a hydor head - I saw that discussed yesterday and did a search only to find hydor thermal filters, etc - can you make a link to one?

Originally posted by bobt2
i think part of the problem is the narrow output of most powerheads. i just ordered some hydor heads to see if that helps. if not i may try cutting the nozzle off a p/h and spread the flow out. your right, when i dive the keys theres pleanty of water movement but it doesn't sweep you away.

[bobt2]

i can't make the link work, but go to www.marinedepot.com and look under wavemakers, you'll find the heads

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

not meaning to steal the thread, but i'm setting up a second tank and was leaning towards tbs, i asked a local thread and i got more negative responses the positive about whether or not they would do it again. Would you guys do it again if say you set up another tank?

[patsan]

Don't listen to the people who put the TBS down. If it is the look you want, then go for it.
There's good and bad with whatever rock you buy. TBS has the most life you'll get with any live rock. If you can deal with some of the bad things that could possibly (not all people get bad things) come with it, then that's great.
I know for me personally, after reading thru wooglins TBS thread, that I had to have it. I have never regretted that decision once.
I've since set up another tank with pacific rock, and I love that as well. It's very different from the TBS and has hardly any life compared to the TBS.
I can see good and bad with both type of rocks I purchased and to sum it all up, I don't regret getting either of them. I love them both!

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT
not meaning to steal the thread, but i'm setting up a second tank and was leaning towards tbs, i asked a local thread and i got more negative responses the positive about whether or not they would do it again. Would you guys do it again if say you set up another tank?

I'm still waiting for my TBS rock, so I can't say if I would do it again. But I did buy some florida aquacultured live rock, which is very similar to TBS. The main question you have to ask yourself is if you can deal with the bad things that come with the rock?

If you don't mind hunting down mantis shrimp, gorilla crabs or bad snails or whelks, then I think the amount of life you get on the rocks is well worth the trouble. But if you are a reefer that prefers a hands off approach and don't want to look for bad things on your rock, then maybe TBS isn't for you. I just discovered a gorilla crab on my rock that has been in there for 6 months now.

But keep in mind that live rock from anywhere is more than likely going to have some kind of bad thing on it. Most pacific rock will come with aptasia that are a pain in the butt to remove. In general the pacific rock will have less bad things to deal with because of the longer time out of water. Of course the tradeoff is that less good things will survive as well.

I'll stop babbling now

B.

[bobt2]

i started reefing with a 33long with tbs. now that the tank is running for a few months i'm so tbs hooked that i'm in the process of setting up a 75. it will be tbs again for sure!

[drk70]

Ditto Pat. I don't have any other type of rock to compare it to but everything you said it right on.

I have only heard few if any people who actually have TBS and not like it. Most people that put TBS down don't even have it.

If you like the look of the rock you can't compare to TBS. You may find the same type of rock from others but no one ships their rock like TBS. The rock comes in bags of water which preserves most of the life on the rock. I had a very small if any cycle with both my shipments of rock. That is a testimate that their procedure of packing and shipping does work.

I can't really speak for the other companies but you won't find nicer people than Richard, Mark and Mary of TBS. I have spoke with all three of them and they were the nicest people in the world to me and willing to speak about the weather and what was going on down in Tampa.

If yoiu like the look of the rocks and tanks you see on this thread then go TBS all the way. You won't regret it one bit.

[krajacich]

I would absolutely do the TBS rock again. After the sand settles and you can see all the colors and life on the rock, it's absolutely amazing. It looks like a mature reef almost immediately.

On another note, I got some new stuff today. Pictures to come later tonight. I ordered a couple of zoos and a mushroom from Reefscience.com

I'm hoping they'll be open by the time I get home tonight

[H2OLUVSME]

NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT - it seems your question is covered. i strongly agree with everything posted. i have received rock from 7 different locations, and the TBS is hands down the only live rock i own. anything that is dry shipped (even after curing at LFS for months) is really just rock. LR is something that takes a lot of time to develop, usually only within a tank. TBS offers something from the bottom of the gulf that is really live! since they ship in water most of the life is preserved. even if i lost half of the life in shipping, and another 25% in cycling, then 50% of that because of lack of knowledge of how to care for it.....my TBS would still have 10 times the life of any other of my rock. fortunately that wasnt the case and my TBS has 100 times the life of any of the other rock!

Danielle looking forward to pics.

Dennis, Bob thanks for sharing lots of pics over the past few weeks.

Pat, i didnt see many updates on your new tank while skimming through to catch up. how is it doing? your TBS tank?

i took up a new position in my company. im now the production/maintenance manager for our fabrication shop, so ive been working with my back instead of brains for the past few weeks. it a nice change of pace (much faster) but this 100+* heat is killing me. top that with 100% humidity and no breeze and it equals a lot of mediocre work turns into a lot of hard work. but im still young. i can handle it

last time i had time to post i posted an update of one of my frog tanks. i finally got to post a few pics in my local club thread. check it out and LMK what you guys think
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...36#post5262736

[H2OLUVSME]

jnick, if you dont want to clean the hydor heads dont get any i dont like taking stuff out/shutting off powerheads to clean, and mine have ran out at about 5 months. im not exactly sire how long ago i got them, but its some where in this monster of a thread

Bob, keep em clean

oh and i almost forgot. i spotted my un IDed crab the other day. it is defiantly a gorilla. i chased him into my red brain coral and removed him. so put me down for 1 gorilla, 5-6 whelks, 1 murex snail, and tons upon tons of good stuff

Nirol, on your food list, dont forget the veggies for your herbivores. i use the emerald entree and "two little fishies" sea veggies.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by bobt2
thats my problem, most of my softy's look better with low flows. much less than i was led to believe. the only one that seams to like high flow is the green star polyp. the mushrooms and yellow polyps look much better in very low flow

have you tried leaving them in place (in the higher flow) for a few days and see if they adjust? i have over 4000gph running through my 75 and all of my softies are doing fine, with the exception of my xenia, which is directly in the current of one of the 1500s

[phil519]

Originally posted by Nirol
Hey, now that several 2nd halves are cylced maybe we could compile a list of "must have" foods for a TBS reef tank?

I know many use DT's for live plankton...what else?

Also, how do you prepare it, and how do you feed it? I mean targeting, skimmer off, at night, etc.

For frozen food, I use the san francisco bay brand marine cuisine - it's four different kinds of food and includes the "emerald cuisine". Besides silversides I've used smelt for my anemone and serpent star.

Now that I don't have an anemone anymore it's rare that i feed fish. However occasionally I do feed the serpent (and we're talking 1/2 inch of a piece of fish) when I see it tramping around all over the tank looking for food.

Originally posted by lossman
...Blend with some DTs to make a nice mash, freeze in a nice thin layer and use that.

Imho - doesn't freezing the live phytoplankton defeat the purpose of purchasing it alive in the first place? I would imagine the process would burst the cell walls of the critters since freezing rapidly expands the structure right? While it may still be edible to the tank critters frozen, I'd suggest just dosing the DTs separately to get maximum punch our of your phyto. Then again I subscribe to the "if it aint broke don't fix it" methodology and if mixing DTs and freezing it works...run with it I guess.

Originally posted by drk70
Anyone use the dried cyclopeze instead of the frozen?

I picked up the wafer kind when I was at fishtown in NY. I also have the frozen kind (been too lazy to open up the package...lol). With all dry food I soak them first in some tank water to get it to drop into the water column...then pour the food into the tank.

[phil519]

Originally posted by krajacich
I would absolutely do the TBS rock again. After the sand settles and you can see all the colors and life on the rock, it's absolutely amazing. It looks like a mature reef almost immediately.

On another note, I got some new stuff today. Pictures to come later tonight. I ordered a couple of zoos and a mushroom from Reefscience.com

I'm hoping they'll be open by the time I get home tonight

Danielle - love to see pics as I was talking to pat about possibly ordering from them too. Did you choose this vendor over say reefermadness or dr. macs for any specific reason? I'm trying to decide...(though chad is likely to get my business at this pace).

[krajacich]

Originally posted by phil519
Danielle - love to see pics as I was talking to pat about possibly ordering from them too. Did you choose this vendor over say reefermadness or dr. macs for any specific reason? I'm trying to decide...(though chad is likely to get my business at this pace).

I had read a bunch of positive feedback threads for ReefScience and when I checked their website on Sunday they had just gotten in a bunch of new corals. I really liked the look of a bunch of them and decided to pick out a few. I ended up spending as much on them (including shipping) as I would have at the LFS, possibly a bit less. So I'm pretty happy so far.

I started them drip acclimating at about 9 this morning and then ran back to work. I didn't get back to the house until 1230. There were a few polyps open at this point. But then I did a FW/Lugol's dip and they all closed up. I left just my actinics on and I'll leave work in about 15 minutes (it's 345 in MT). I'm hoping that after ~3 1/2 hours some of the polyps will be open when I go home. If they open I'll post some pics.

[krajacich]

I didn't kill them!!!!

They're really starting to open up. Now I just need more watts over my tank

Not the best pictures I've ever taken but I was just so excited that they were opening! Once they open more I'll try to get some better pictures.

Zoos (described on Reefscience as neon green centers)


More Zoos (described on Reefscience as Green people eaters)


Mushrooms (described on Reefscience as Neon Green Bullseye Mushrooms)

[patsan]

That's great Danielle! Sometimes it may take a day or 2 for them to fully open, so don't worry...they'll be fine. It was good you did the dip too! Now you have to show us them again when they're fully open.
I'm really very pleased with my order from Reefscience. Everything arrived alive and healthy. My 2 zoanthids I got did look different than the pictures I saw on his website, but I also have different lights than they do, so I realize that's the big difference. Now my big quest is to find some really nice colorful corals.
My RBTA sinks deep into the rocks each day and then comes out fully each day. The 2 new clowns haven't gone near it though! (well at least when it's been out and they'd be able to see it).

Landon, so "that's" where you've been. I know you haven't been around in a while. Yes, you're young, so you should be okay with the physical labor. Those baby frogs are adorable!
Both my tanks are doing pretty good. I need more flow in the new tank, but I just don't want to spend the big bucks for another Tunze. I was thinking about a Seio. I have to weigh the pros and cons, the cost, the power usage and the heat both would throw into the tank and then make a decision. I'm just so on the fence right now...I don't know what to do.

I agree with Phil as far as the DT's not being frozen. You would probably be better off defrosting your frozen food in the DT's rather than freezing it. But it does sound like a nice meal you've concocted.
Today I went online to the brine shrimp direct website. I was going to order some things...but then they wanted $70 something for shipping. Cart emptied. I can go to a seafood store and buy fresh stuff and make my own. I can't let the tank eat more costly food than Bob eats.

Phil,
I'm pretty sure you'd be very happy if you ordered from Reefscience. Also, he has more stuff than his website shows....so if there's something you wanted and didn't see.....email him and ask if he has any available.
If I see anything nice and colorful, I would definitely buy from Chad again. I also would like to go to PW and see if they have anything available. I just have to get this flow problem settled before I get any more corals.

So where are all the new pictures from everyone who just got their part 2? You left us all hanging!

Danielle....here's a picture of the green people eaters I got from Chad after they opened.

[krajacich]

Great picture Pat! I was really nervous with these corals today since they're my first ordered online and it was the first time I used a FW dip. But looks like it went ok. I'll definitely have more pictures of them in the future.

Pat- when did you get a RBTA? I must have missed that post.

[phil519]

she got that thru Reef Science also.

The pics of your zoas look great. What is the difference between PPE (people eater) versus just the "regular" zoa? Also - is it zoa or zoo? I've heard them used interchangably.

I'm expecting my fug and a couple other items tomorrow...then once I figure out my new job schedule, I'll be able to better figure out when I can order from RSci. I'd hate to be at work when the stuff is sitting waiting to be picked up.

[greenbean36191]

The regular zoas are Zoanthus and the people eaters are Protopalythoa. Protopalythoa have larger polyps and puffy tentacles compared to Zoanthus.

Since zoo and zoa are both slang terms neither is technically correct , but I prefer zoas since it the word is zoanthid and not zooanthid.

[Nirol]

Originally posted by Nirol
Super! I'll try it and let you know. It is very bright green, even little it can be seen from across the room!

Here he is after flipping him, getting him in a good spot with medium flow and having targeted fed him with some meat...I think he looks better...ID anyone?

[H2OLUVSME]

Pat, one of the guys in our local forum posted that liveaquaria has 20% off of SEIO pumps. you may want to check it out

i as well as a few of my reef club members have ordred mutiple times from reefscience. i think Chad's product and service are top notch.

[patsan]

Thanks, I just checked it out. They have the 820 or the 6 series.
Would the 820 be enough for me?

[phil519]

Originally posted by Nirol
Here he is after flipping him, getting him in a good spot with medium flow and having targeted fed him with some meat...I think he looks better...ID anyone?

appears to be either...

manacina areolata
or closely related...
Colpophyllia natans.

However - manacina is so much easier to remember off the top of my head so I'm running with that.

Greenbean - thanks for the vocabulary lesson! Now I know what a PPE is!

[Nirol]

Thanks Phil!

Here is the Tiger Goby hitcher:

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by Nirol
Here he is after flipping him, getting him in a good spot with medium flow and having targeted fed him with some meat...I think he looks better...ID anyone?

Nirol,

Wow man, what a difference a couple of days and some feeding do, it looks tons better. Just keep it where it is and those feeder tentacles are out, so feed me seymore

What Phil said about ID is right on I think. Probably the Macinia species. Of course ID by picture and not identifying the skeleton is always only a best guess.

Brian