Any good live rock available for pick up in florida?

[BrettDS]

I'm setting up a new 75G tank and will need live rock soon. As I started looking online around planning to have it shipped I realized that I live in Florida (Orlando area) and it looks like a lot of live rock is aquacultured in Florida. I'm thinking I can save on shipping costs and it would probably be a lot better on the rock to only be out of the water for a couple of hours rather than a couple of days.

Does anyone know of a good place for live rock in florida? The closer to orlando the better, but daytona or tampa aren't bad drives. I might even consider jacksonville or palm beach/ft lauderdale, but miami might be pushing it a bit.

[d2mini]

www.tbsaltwater.com

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2509664

[Aframomum]

Wow, definitely TBS without a doubt! A great time to get in on the aquaculture rock now that they have introduced thier new rock.

And if you do any diving you could sign up for some scuba in the morning with one of the local charters and then pick up your rock afterwards - sounds like a win-win day to me! :)

Mark

[mystikal]

I have about ~5-7 lbs and about 10g of seeded water. I'm in Orlando, lmk if your interested

[oldbones]

If I lived that close, I'd drive down to the boat launch TBS uses with my BC and regulator and a big bag to pick out my own! I wonder how much extra he'd charge me? ;)

[tkeracer619]

Kinda like how I used to float out into lakes on my wakeboard asking for a tow :lol:.

"Uh hey dude, can I uh, come cherry pick some rock with ya?" My guess is his insurance wouldn't allow it.

[Mark426]

What d2mini said.

[BrettDS]

Thanks for the recommendation guys, I traded emails with Richard this morning and I'm driving the hour and 45 minutes out to TBS to pick up my rock right now. I'll try to post some pictures later:)

[oldbones]

Nice!

[Dkuhlmann]

That's cool you live that close! You made a great decision.

[tkeracer619]

Take photos!

[moondoggy4]

Home court advantage, I guess it could be nice to live in Florida, except the humidity and mosquitoes.

[d2mini]

Thanks for the recommendation guys, I traded emails with Richard this morning and I'm driving the hour and 45 minutes out to TBS to pick up my rock right now. I'll try to post some pictures later:)

You lucky dog! :celeb1:

[BrettDS]

So I got the rock and sand into the tank. The tank is quite cloudy now, so I can't take any pics, but I'll take some later tonight or tomorrow when it clears up. We got quite a few snails (at least 10), two hermit crabs (that I've seen so far) and this urchin (he's a good inch+ in diameter). http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/27/a51625c8f638235115eccb53a0c565eb.jpg

[BryanS4]

Home court advantage, I guess it could be nice to live in Florida, except the humidity and mosquitoes.

It's pretty easy to cool down. Not a bad day today.

I'm a 30 minute boat ride from Tarpon, let's go.

http://i.imgur.com/2RcCrPz.jpg

[moondoggy4]

^^^^^^ Ah you taunt me,looks real good.:beer: I guess I need to go on vacation there and check it out.

[BrettDS]

As promised (although perhaps a little late) here are a few pictures of the rock. This is about 75lbs of the 150 I'm getting. I'll pick up the rest in a week or so after the tank cycles. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/29/a4964c45f2d0242250d19cf2168c1dea.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/29/7cec10def40a752a4c267730d6ae7500.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/29/b56475b0773dab337b70db9ba06c73ed.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/29/4ce4f0733293fca91cb35a1deb116d57.jpg

[d2mini]

Nice! Just wait till you get the second bunch of rock.
Looking forward to seeing how you aquascape the whole batch. :)
You'll probably be good to go in a few days.
Just keep an eye on those ammonia levels and have some fresh saltwater handy just in case.

[Dkuhlmann]

Holy mother of sponges batman!!!!

I doubt you will have much die off since you went and picked it up. Others that get it shipped report very little ammonia swings. Please post updates on the rock you receive as well as the cool and some not so cool hitchhikers.

[hotelbravo]

keep us updated!!

[BrettDS]

I picked up batch two yesterday and got everything put in last night... Things are looking great today. Here's a quick picture. I'll try to take a few more later. With the exception of about 100lbs of dry sand, everything in there came from TBSaltwater. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/05/bda8f72d84c42181db84cedb73474a48.jpg

[d2mini]

Wow! Instant reef! :eek1:

[tkeracer619]

Awesome! Looks great.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay?

[BrettDS]

Awesome! Looks great.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay?


Honestly, I don't recall, but I did the package for a 75 gallon tank, so you can plug that in and see. I had to pay tax since I was in FL, but no shipping since I picked it up.

Frankly, though, it was almost too much rock. If I had to do it again I might go with 65 or 70 for a 75 gallon tank.