The Rock Is Here!!!

[masterswimmer]

WE GOT ROCK!!!!!

The rock arrived today. All I can say is wow. Not much rubble. Lots of coraline. Every box had beautiful pieces. Smelled really fresh. We saw hitchikers crawling about. Each box seemed nicer than the previous box. Been taking pics, will post later.

Speaking for myself I'd say the order was a smashing success. Chris @ ReeferMadness was spectacular to deal with. I'd recommend him without any reservation whatsoever. I think the group as a whole was extremely satisfied. Well worth the wait.

Russ

[foxstop]

Ditto!
I also wanted to thank Russ for letting us use his house for the smackdown. We have a few stories to tell after this event! (All of us owe Russ' daughter big time!)

Kudos to Ross too for being a good smackdown partner.
Good seeing Ian and meeting Jay as well!

I'll post pics when I can.

Brain

[nine9d]

Kudos for Brian also. He is a great guy and let me grab some real nice pieces in our smackdown.

ReeferMadness is the best online dealer so far that I have dealt with for live goods. I am going to be doing more business with them in the future. If you don't believe me, check out my rock on the site posted below.

I have not seen this quality stuff in any LFS anywhere. I have only been to a little more than a handful of local shops, but I have since to see them provide anything like this. Thank you all for making this possible.

http://hvreef.org/gallery/nine9d-s-reef

And a SPECIAL thanks goes out to Russ's daughter who pretty much came to save the day!:thumbsup:

[andro]

Awesome looking rock everyone. Russ thanks again for taking time out to organize this group buy, it worked out really well in the end, also thank your daughter for carrying it all into the house. Must have been some workout.

I got my rock all layed out in my old 40 gallon last night, looks like I might have some of the pieces that I wanted to fill some of the gaps in my rockwork now. My only addition might be a few tonga branches but I'll get them from a LFS when the time comes.

I got hardly any rubble and thats awesome. The coloration of the rock also seems to be pretty nice. I was looking at it this morning and did not see any hitchhikers so thats a good thing. Didn't see any movement at all, which may or maynot be a good thing, but I have tons of pods in my main tank, now they will just have a new place to hide.

The smell is not bad at all, kind of musty if you get really close to the water, but nothing noticable in the room itself.

I will take some pictures today after work.

-Ian

[ADS]

Glad to hear it worked out and everyone was pleased with the result.
Adam

[davidk]

Amazing rock! Finished unpacking it late last night. Some great large tonga pieces. Fiji coraline is terrific. Thanks again Russ for putting this together and doing all the leg work - and a big thanks to your daughter for hauling it in out of the cold!. Great meeting you last night - looking forward to seeing everyone at the meetings.
Regards.
David

[masterswimmer]

You guys are truly welcome. The order was stressful at times, exciting most of the time, occasionally nerve wracking, exhilirating now and glad it's behind us. I can really see the difference between the Kaelini and the Ultra. They are both beautiful rock but the Ultra is about 80% coraline covered. It is magnificent.

I did get two visible hitchikers. Two snails, both alive. Not sure if I should put them in the tank or not. The ammonia spiked off the chart last night. Guess the rock is really ALIVE! I'm thinking the ammonia will surely kill the snails, and I'm told the smell from dead, decaying snails is not exactly like petunias.

I laid the rock in the tank with a semi-aquascaping in mind. I know I'll have to rotate rock during the curing so I know it won't be permanent, but it sure looks good to me. And the rock last night was totally not visible.....crap floating around, a minor sandstorm, etc. This morning, the tank is completely clear, the skimmer is pulling lots of gunk out and the smell is not bad at all. I think the smell will get worse as the die off begins to decompose so I'm not expecting it to stay this way. I will post some pix soon. I'm just too busy sitting and staring at a mound of rock. Aaaahhhh the little pleasures in life.

Russ

[foxstop]

Oh yeah.
My basement smelled like low tide this morning, but not bad enough that it made it upstairs.

So far so good!

Brian

[nine9d]

My smell is actually not that bad at all. Or maybe I just like the way dirty things smell!

[Tomzpc]

Looks great! Now get those tanks going already!

[foxstop]

Once the cycle is complete I will have to tackle aquascaping.
I have to make sure my wife and son are out of the house for that as I'm sure I'll be uttering some choice words:D

Hanging my lights this weekend (I hope!)

Getting there!

Brian

[andro]

Uttering choice words as well as getting your floor all wet.....


-Ian

[foxstop]

Ooohhhh! That reminds me! Back to Lowes or HD for some tarps and you can never have too many Rubbermaid containers!

Brian

[foxstop]

Here are some pics of the rock.
Please forgive my feeble digital camera picture taking ability.

Fiji Show (http://foxesreef.com/IM000114.JPG) 88lb Box with 4 Pieces.

Kaelini (http://foxesreef.com/IM000120.JPG) Some great shapes and nice colors. I particularly like the shelf type rock in this box. It was a nice surprise.

Tonga Branch (http://foxesreef.com/IM000125.JPG) A close up shot of the branch box I split with Ross.

I couldn't be happier with the rock and the service.
I will give some more info at the meeting on how Chris at RM has superior customer service and truly cares about his customers.

Brian

[masterswimmer]

Brian,
Great to see such phenomenal pieces. Like you said, i really like those 'shelf' type pieces. Your branch is also gorgeous. You are gonna have one helluva fun time 'scaping.

Oh, my basement is definitely feeling (aka smelling) like low tide. My wife is very kind though. Her term for it.......smells brackish.

Russ

[Fishkiller63]

who got the buna branch. Hwo do you likeit and Pics would be awesome

[nine9d]

Originally posted by Fishkiller63
who got the buna branch. Hwo do you likeit and Pics would be awesome

Hey Fishkiller,
We ended up not getting the BUNA BRANCH and opted to go for the FIJI ULTRA intead (which is GORGEOUS!). Sorry but we have no BUNA pics for you :(