Finally the goods!

[MarlinDreams]

First and foremost, when it comes to doing projects I study and research almost to a fault. But I can safely say that TBS goes above and beyond the norm for a business. In fact through the e-mails with Richard, it was almost like dealing with a good friend. I had contacted him several months back about the "package" and what all was needed and what all it included. The system I have is a large 210 gallon display tank, a 65 gallon tank for sessile creature and a mangrove plant, a 20 gallon algae growth tank for pods and such and a 100 gallon sump. 257795

257796

Instead of doing a (2) shipment process, Richard wisely suggested a (3) shipment process whereby the first shipment would be only the sand since there would be so much of it and how cloudy it would make the tanks. Sorry if the pictures are a little fuzzy, my camera broke on me and these are from my phone. The first of these three pictures is very important to me and what I feel is very important to the hobby, aqua culturing. 257797
257799 the second is the tank after installing all (6) 17X17X10 boxes of very well packaged sand. BTW, I strongly agree with Richard on calling the airlines about your arrivals. I had no problems whatsoever, however, there was a poor gentleman that showed up right after I did at the cargo area to pick up what I overheard as "family remains" not sure what that meant. But needless to say the manifest said it was on the plane, but the shipment was actually on another. The guy behind the counter told me I was lucky because most of the shipments were a little scattered because of the massive snowstorms happening at that time.

[MarlinDreams]

So fully expecting to wake up the next morning with a somewhat cloudy tank I saw this.257800

257801 I was totally blown away at how quickly it settled out and even had a small hitch hiker in the mix. Once again, sorry for the bad picture. Richard then contacted me to find out the best date for the next shipment or basically the first part of the rock. This was new for me because usually shipments are sent out when the seller wants to, however, Richard totally fit the delivery around my schedule. And oh what a delivery.257804 10 heavy,full of great rock, boxes. In fact, as I was leaving the airport with the boxes I received an e-mail from Richard that the boxes were at the airport. Talk about service! Sadly, I do not have pictures of the rock in the tank because I inadvertently deleted them. But as you can see from the second and third picture above, the rock and all of the inhabitants are extremely well packaged. There is so much plastic wrap that it seems inconceivable that there could be any leakage. Which there was not. One item that I would also agree on with Richard is to get a good pair of aquarium gloves to use. Like an idiot I was so excited to install the rock that I just grabbed a piece , inspected it and started to put it in my 210. Well let me tell you something, barnacles are VERY sharp creatures! I did not aqua scape the rock at that time due to time constraints and the major fact that there was so much life on the rock that I wanted to try and preserve (not realizing what the next shipment would look like.)

[MarlinDreams]

Once again Richard was e-mailing me the whole time after the first rock shipment to see how things were progressing and answering any and all of the questions I had at the time. I think it would take several pages of pictures from him to show all of the life that comes with the rock. After all of the parameters were settled it was time for the second shipment. Richard was very cognizant of what was going on with the weather and we delayed shipment for a week after I contacted him. Good thing because where the rock goes through before getting to Tulsa was Dallas and they got hit with a pretty bad ice storm that delayed everything for awhile. Finally we set on a day that would work for both of us and walla, another 11 boxes were sent and arrived without incident at the airport. Again, even before I got to the airport, I received an e-mail from Richard saying my rock was there. Not fully understanding what I was about to see, I arraigned the boxes in the order he said to open. The first box to open said Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas, it was full of orange and red sponges, a cool little fish and all sorts of stuff I have yet to identify. The other two boxes were full of even more surprises ranging from what to me looked like every hermit crab and snail in the gulf to shrimps, decorator crabs, starfish and cucumbers. In fact it looked like a laboratory in my kitchen with all of the pitchers and bowls I used to slowly acclimate everything over several hours. Then came some of the most impressive rock I have ever seen from a live rock supplier. They are so full of Christmas tree worms, sponges, corals, tube worms and colorful coralline algae. 257811

257812

257813

257814

257815

[MarlinDreams]

257816

257817

257818

257819

257820
I wish that I could upload more pictures but for some reason only some of them will upload. I promise you that the pictures do not do the rock and animals justice. Surprisingly (from my end, not Richard's) I have not lost any of the animals from the rock, I say surprisingly because I know how tough sponges are to keep. In short, so far Richard has been the best experience in me setting up this new system. Take the time to read about his package and follow the very easy instructions to a letter. Also know that he will be there for you every step of the way. All I can say in closing is Richard, thank you so much and I look forward to working with you again.

Regards,

Jeff

[liverock]

Thanks so much for the kind words......you did all the work, and pulled it off magnificently ! :beer:

Southwest airlines deserves a pat on the back, as they sure did a great job getting all that weight from Tampa to Tulsa, in the middle of some extreme weather.

Thanks for the feedback, and enjoy your new ocean in the new year!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com