Debate: TBS vs Traditional Start Up

Hello,

I have really appreciated the support offered in my thread about my new tank (Journey's journey into salt water aquaria). I know that my start up was not the traditional way and you all have been very polite and respectful even though I'm sure you have some doubts about the method. It's definitely not what I'm used to hearing about either.

So, I wanted to start a thread where we can debate the pros and costs of start up the TBS way (Tampa Bay Saltwater Live Rock) and the traditional ways...where everyone can say what they want to without regard to the thread being about my personal tank (like the other one).

I'll let Richard at TBS know about it so he can throw in his opinions as well.

My personal experience with starting up the TBS way has been this.

I filled my tank with water. I filled out an order form on line for TBS "package" for a 25 gallon tank. Richard emailed me within 24 hours saying he could ship the next day I believe and gave me details about how to pick it up etc. I drove to the airport in Charlotte to pick up the rock. His rock is shipped in water in styrofoam boxes...it does not sit out, dry out or die off. He sends the start up package in two separate shipments.

My first shipment contained my live sand and one half of my live rock. Directions were to put items into the tank with some flow and use water changes any time the ammonia got above 1ppm. He explained how much water to change, etc. My parameters never got that high and within a week had dropped down below .25 which is the clue that it is time to call Richard for shipment number two. Oh, I forgot a part. He also sends a bag of bacteria to add to the tank. You can go to my thread to see pictures of the rocks and the list of hitchhikers that came with it. This rock does not look anything like traditional live rock. Please take a minute to look at the pictures (best ones on page 11) so that you can really understand what we are talking about.

So, a week after the first shipment, I'm off to get shipment number two. It is supposed to be my second half of rock and my clean up crew. Again, picking up is super easy. I get home and unpack my second half. Totally awed at the rock (see my thread for pics) and then...I see the "extras". Richard sent anemones, feather duster, gorgonia, sea fan, sponge trees (2 different colors), decorator crab, caulerpa crab, slipper lobster, a cardinal fish who hitchiked into his rock, plants to eat nitrates, a red sponge, safe sea cukes, jewel snail, extra shells for crabs and snails in CUC tons and tons and tons of awesome hitchhikers like porcelain crab I discovered today. Other hitchikers:
a mantis shrimp (boo), coral cups, baby feather dusters, corraline algae all over, sponges all over, all sorts of worms...tons of stuff...you get the point. Oh, and barnacles and clams.

So, my paranoia sets in. Surely with all of these sponges I'm going to have massive die off. I'm going to kill everything. Oh God.

It has been almost one week since I got the second shipment. No visible die off. Directions are to keep ammonia below 1ppm through water changes. I did 2 water changes a day (5 gallons in a 25 gallon tank) for 2.5 days. Ammonia is now below .25 and all other things are dropping as well. No deaths that I know of.

So, in summary using this method my tank cycled much, much faster....less than 2 weeks to complete it. I have MUCH more life than traditional methods would permit at this stage. (Again, please look at the pictures) And, I haven't had to deal with massive diatom blooms, red algae etc. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop but that's where I'm at right now.

The cost was also of interest. My LFS is selling live rock at 9$ a pound. When I added in shipping to the cost of my LR AND assumed that the sand and clean up crew and extras were FREE, I STILL paid less than my LFS. And the LFS offered what you typically get when you buy live rock. Not this stuff.

Throw out questions, comments, arguments. It'll be fun to flush out the costs and benefits of each method.

7faces said:

id like to know more about the "bacteria" he shipped you with your "package"
is it like "cycle" available at petsmart? or is this something different?
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754077

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I'll have to let Richard answer that...I don't know.

OgreMkV said:

I'd like to try it the TBS way, but I can't afford the package, so I'll just go a little bit at a time.

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I saw someone on here making their own rock which sounded really cool AND inexpensive...obviously the life on it will take longer to grow and be less diverse but I recall it being like 8 cents lb or something really cheap. Was it you 7Faces?? Such a cool idea.

I'm trying to think about cons of this method too. I think some people prefer to use rock as "shelves" for their corals and not as part of the decor itself. If this is the case, buying base rock makes sense to me and cheaper I'm sure if you can get it on Craigslist or something.

I like the idea of my tank looking as similiar to the ocean as possible so TBS was a better match for what I wanted.