Our Tbs

[patsan]

I'm staring this thread because we've had 3 threads so far, and it's hard to follow our stories being split all over the place.
Don't make any posts to this for a little while, so we can go get some of the pictures from the other threads to get this new thread going.

[patsan]

I have a bunch of photos to show, so please bare with me.
On January 6th, we got a total of 6 boxes. Two of the boxes had the sand in it and the other 4 boxes had the rock. There was one large piece of rock per box, for a total of 4 base rocks. We have not aquascaped or anything like that yet. We were just anxious to get it into the water for now.

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Porcelain Crab


Full tank picture.

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Mantis never made it into tank. Was mailed to Landon instead.

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These were heavy rocks. Four of them weighed 90lbs.

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These are the things that look like they are opening their mouths and sticking their tongue out. What they are sticking out is a fuzzy looking thing. Found out they are barnacles.

[patsan]

Here are some comments and tips from others:
Just keep in mind that there got to be a curing period and that curing live rock is not only a waiting time. You need to do what's possible to keep the quality of the water. Initial decomposition acids will consume alkalinity and tend to drop PH. High Ammonia and Nitrite spikes are more likely and will stress even more the critters that you want surviving.

Some strategies for increase survivability.

a) Keep on with water changes To keep Ammonia levels under control. It is not true that you need high Ammonia for the bacteria to thrive. You might have a high spike, then lots of bacteria then the Ammonia is gone and lots of the Bacteria die off to the new balance so it is better to achieve a balance and keep the bacteria at par since the beginning than having a big bloom.

b) Keep your skimmer running and clean it often, this is the best way to export the large amount of nutrients being released.

c) As inevitably some sponge will die off and as their releases are toxic I would recommend also to run activated carbon and change it often.

d) Test your PH and Alkalinity, try to keep your alkalinity above 7.5 or 8 dKh use a buffer as necessary. Calcium is not important at this point, what you look for is a stable PH.

e) Lighting or not during this period is controversial. While it is certain that strong lighting will encourage algae blooms no lighting at all will also be stressful for some critters or some macro in the rock. As most of the critters in the rock are not light dependant room lighting shall be enough at this stage.

f) To accelerate the cleaning process try using a powerhead to direct the blast at the rocks to clean the pores and surface of slime (decaying matter) and silt. If you attach a shortened tip of a turkey baster to the powerhead you will have a reduced tip that will act as a nozzle, try the nozzle against the Large holes and pores of the rock and you will see a lot of silt come out from inside. This will keep the matter in suspension for the skimmer to remove it more effectively and will clean the pores of the rock while oxygenating the water and the inner workings of it.

Good Luck and congratulations.

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[SeanT]

Looks good.
What are the drilled PVC pipes near your overflows used for?
Circulation?
Sean

[patsan]

That rock is awesome. If I wasn't totally sold on TBS, I am now. That stuff blows away any other rock I've seen at LFS's to this point. You said 4 big rocks + sand? Not sure I would consider those "base" from my newbie knowledge. :-)

Congrats on spotting that mantis before introduction to the tank.... nice stuff for base rock! wow.

Pat your rock looks great! Congratulations. Keep the pictures coming! Good luck. I'll be following your post and looking forward to getting my rock from TBS soon.
Danielle

looks nice, keep them comming

WOW thats great lookin' rock! looks awsome. i wish i got that many cool hitch hikers when i got my rock...

Yes, the rock is "dirty" when it first comes out of the box. Probably silt settling from being in the stagnant water of the boxes. During your first water change use a siphon hose to clean the stuff off the rock.

The colral that looks like a brain is really a Manacina, close relative, but not a true brain, it you want it to survive, give it some lighting. I live in tampa, and I'll tell you, the decorator and coral rock is absolutly fabulous when you have full pick of the store! check out this thread for some close ups of what the Manacina can look like when healthy.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=500341

just tagging along Pat congrat's on your rock, as i said b4 i'm jelous.
hopefully i'm next....... hint hint TBS

[patsan]

Originally posted by SeanT
Looks good.
What are the drilled PVC pipes near your overflows used for?
Circulation?
Sean

My husband made them because he wasn't happy with how the returns were blowing all the sand out of the way straight down. He drilled the holes into the pvc so the flow would be diversified in all directions.

[patsan]

I wish I had started with TBS. Would be a great excuse to start another tank. -peggy

If you hear clicking, you should nail this guy before your "pretty stuff" comes. About seeing new things, some creatures I am seeing for the first time and mine is almost 5 months old.
I bet I ended up with 20 or so crabs of different variety. maybe 15 different star fish. Also remember, sponges do not need a lot of light. Just thought I'd pass that along.
Rockker

That rock looks great!! I'm sold on TBS and I live in Tampa... So I can pick it up when ready....
Now all I have to do is get the tank, cut out the wall, build the stand and all the rest setup and be ready to go... It will be a while for me... As I'm putting a 210 in the wall over my couch. That will take me sometime to get done. Your making me jealous Pat your way ahead of me...Good luck...

More life will appear as time goes by. Much of the life is small and nocturnal and is in a bit of shock right now.
The clicking noise may be a pistol shrimp. Generally if you hear rapid series of clicks followed by a pause then more clicking it is a mantis trying to crack open something. If you hear single clicks every now and then it is probably a pistol shrimp. Mantis are also fairly bold, if it is a mantis he will come out. Pistol shrimps like to hide. Alot.

Looking fantastic Pat! The "live" sand will start to come alive either from critters in the rock or from the sand itself. My package is much smaller than yours and I had a variety of worms moving around in the sand - also feather dusters that migrated from the rock to the sand. They didn't open up until a few days had passed - so I assume that would be the same for you. As for the clicking - good luck investigating what it is. This is part of the "experience" with TBS that some folks find thoroughly enjoyable and others aggravating! I'm of the former group. Gorillas are very hairy with black tips on the claws - almost like the way a dungeoness crab has black tips. Speaking of which I'm off to pike place market later to go check them out. Maybe make some dinner for the family tonight!
Phil

[patsan]

Pink Pincushion Urchin
It's on the front glass and moves very slowly.


THE CRAB
Here are 3 pictures of the crab.

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Here is a picture of the worm I found coming out of a hole in a rock.


Feather Duster:


Whelk

[patsan]

Also found a micro crab. Look closely in the center of the picture and you'll spot it.


There are also some teeny tiny snails on the sponge.

[patsan]

I got my 2nd shipment of TBS on 2/11/05.
So here we go on the 2nd leg of the Journey with the TBS package.
I still need lots of help naming and ID'ing things, so if anyone posts a picture asking for an ID, jump right in if you know what it is.

The 2nd part came in 5 boxes. 4 boxes had rock and one box had the critters.



The airlines didn't handle the rock as nicely this time, as the largest box was flooding all over the place, and one of the boxes that contained rock looks like it had been dropped. It was crushed and leaking all over also.
The rock was delayed a few hours and missed the connecting flight, so it came a few hours later than we expected and hoped for. Now it makes it a longer night for us.

[patsan]

This guy is smaller than the one I got with the first part of the package. It's also a different color. This one had a very pretty green color on it's underside.

[H2OLUVSME]

i started out with a 29 gallon aquarium, set up with mixed rock from a locals tank.



i really wanted TBS, so i started saving my pennies. i ended up scoring a 75 gallon with stand canopy and VHO lighting from the first local reef club meeting i attended. my plan was to slowly accumulate equipment, and get it set up and cycled with TBS rock, then transfer my livestock over. of course things dont always go as planned. my 29 sprung a slow leak. i had to set the 75 up immediately. i set the tank up on a saturday. i got my water stable and sump running all that day. on sunday i began acclimating my corals by trading buckets of water from the 29 to the 75 and vice versa. after (15) 2 gallon buckets and getting the temp accurate, i figured it would be safe to transfer the animals over. i moved the corals immediately and drip acclimated the fish and inverts. i had zero losses (with the exception of a few snails and hermits that were buried in the sand). i ended up with this.



after a few weeks of letting it settle and thinking/pondering TBS (what i really wanted i the first place) i thought i wanted to add a small "package" to my current rock. i needed more rock and wanted TBS. low and behold i came in third in a nascar race pool ($$ was the only reason i liked the sport, now im a fan ). i took my $475 winnings and ordered a 25 gallon package from TBS. this was back in the beginning of december.

i was very impressed with the packing job. all my LR was totally submerged. the rock was crawling with mini-brittle stars, nassarius snail (with i later found out were whelks), tons of worms and a few small crabs.





i was also very pleased with the diversity in the LS. worms were crawling all up the side of the bag. there were tons of species ive never seen before. it was a real treat opening that stuff up. well this is what i had after adding the sand and rock.



and a shot with the lights up.


it took a few hours to settle and i ended up with


to be continued.......

[patsan]

This is one of the rocks. I got some awesome looking rock again!

[patsan]

Eww Landon....I love those pictures!!!
I think it'll be nice if we can combine our stories into one thread.