My 40 Gal "Package"

[ak-dave]

This thread will document my experience with my 40 gallon package order.

The first half of my order was shipped via Delta Air Cargo to Anchorage, Alaska (ANC) via Atlanta on Sunday evening, the 9th of October. It was shipped on the last flight to Atlanta and the first flight to ANC the next day. It arrived at ANC at about 2PM, and I was able to pick it up at 5:30PM. Shipping cost was $109.93 or something like that. I forgot the exact weight. I had it in the water by 6:30PM. The 3 boxes arrived in perfect condition, with no leaks. They were a little cold, so for the second half of my order, I think I will ask for heat packs. So far, I have not seen a detectable increase in ammonia, but I am going to buy a different test kit to make sure. There may be a little die-off of sponges, but most everything seems to have survived ok. For critters, I have seen one serpent star about 3" in diameter (missing 1 leg), some small hermit crabs, and a few tiny snails, in addition to the usual copepods and amphipods. I have not seen any isopods (good or bad) yet and have not heard or seen any mantis shrimp, which is unfortunate, because I was hoping for some. I saw what appeared to be a 1” chiton on one of the rocks, but I didn’t want to keep the rock out of the water long enough to be sure. I have not seen any crabs (other than small hermits) yet either. There was quite a bit of macro algae of various types. The rock looks pretty good, much better than any I could have purchased locally. As for the sand, I didn’t see very many worms or larger invertebrates, but they may be hiding (I think the serpent star and the hermits and snails I have seen came in on the sand) . I’ll try to get some of the sand under a microscope and see what’s crawling around in it. I may decide to stop being lazy and actually take some pictures to post to this thread. If I do, I’ll try for a series of pictures showing the progression of the tank over a few weeks. At this time, I am not planning on having any vertebrates (fish, mob witnesses, etc) or additional livestock for a while, so the only thing in the tank will be what came in on my order, plus a few extra bristle worms from my bristle worm tank (it’s a long story, don’t ask) to help with any die-off.

I'll update this thread as things develop.

[Jocko]

Cool, thanks for sharing. So far so good! Looking forward to updates!

[jezzeaepi]

Look forward to picks =)

[docklink]

Sounds like an excellent start. Pictures!! Yes!! Pictures!!

PS Many a critter will creep forth over the next few days (weeks?months?). That's the amazing thing about TBS.:D

[kp1917]

Dave,

I too live in ER. About six miles down Eagle River Road. I bought a fifty gallon package almost two years ago, had the rock out too long and had tons of ammonia and die off. I have moved it from my old house down by the bowling alley then up to the valley then into a sixty five gallon tank. It looks great now but it would have looked even better if I would have listened to Richard and done massive water changes and not worried about the mantis that evaded me anyway.

When you find them (and you will) and you get tired of them eating all your blue legs, I have an easy way of getting rid of them.

Write anytime akpattersons@hotmail.com

Kyle

[ak-dave]

Well, no camera yet, so no pictures. When I get my camera back, I'll see what I can do. So far, my biggest concern is that I may not have room for all the rock. I know you are supposed to stack the rock into piles and stuff, but I didn't get any that I would consider "base" rock. Everything has stuff growing on it that I want to be able to watch. There is no way to stack it without covering something I want left exposed. Still no mantis shrimp :( (I have one coming with the second half of my "package"), but I have seen a few small non-hermit crabs. Lots of spaghetti worms and featherduster-type worms in the rocks. I’m having a bit of a diatom bloom right now, but that’s to be expected until I get some diatom grazers in there. I also have a nice crop of hydroid jellyfish – dots with legs (http://rshimek.com/cnidaria.htm) – on the glass. I actually saw these on little stalks on the rock before they swam off to the glass. I have seen a few swimming around, but they are hard to see and I'm sure the filters and pumps take a toll on the swimmers. I also ended up with some gorgonians, which I initially thought were macro algae until I saw the polyps and decided to look them up. Hopefully I will be able to keep them alive. I have started adding live phytoplankton (http://www.phytofeast.com/) to feed all the filter-feeders, and I'm trying to start some copepod and brine shrimp cultures for things that like bigger food. I plan on culturing rotifers for the tank, too. I did add a small yellow-tail damsel as "isopod bait" a few days ago, but I have not seen any try to eat him yet. I gave him a house made of two 2" black PVC pipe elbows that I attached to the corner of my tank with suction cups. It should be easy to catch him by holding a net over each opening and removing the pipe, if needed. I sent Richard an email today requesting the second half of my order, so I will update gain when it comes in, or sooner if I get my camera back. Hopefully the latest hurricane will not mess up his oprations too much.

kp1917, I live about mile 7 Eagle River Road. I would be interested in seeing your tank sometime. I may even be willing to part with one or two of the rocks from my order, if you are interested.

[kp1917]

Dave,

Write me at akpattersons@hotmail.com or kpatterson@securetransarmored.com

[fareforce]

Dave,
I am in Anchorage, AK and the 1st half of my TBS is comming in on Thursday. If I have a mantis he is all yours as I really don't want one!!!

[liverock]

Originally posted by fareforce
Dave,
I am in Anchorage, AK and the 1st half of my TBS is coming in on Thursday. If I have a mantis he is all yours as I really don't want one!!!

We are shipping both of your orders for Thursday arrival, so make sure your name is on the box, as sometimes air freight guys mix them up as the boxes look the same......who wants a mantis?
TBS

[ak-dave]

Originally posted by kp1917
Dave,

Write me at akpattersons@hotmail.com or kpatterson@securetransarmored.com

I'll send you an email from my home account tonight.

[ak-dave]

Originally posted by fareforce
Dave,
I am in Anchorage, AK and the 1st half of my TBS is comming in on Thursday. If I have a mantis he is all yours as I really don't want one!!! Originally posted by liverock
We are shipping both of your orders for Thursday arrival, so make sure your name is on the box, as sometimes air freight guys mix them up as the boxes look the same......who wants a mantis?
TBS
I ordered a mantis along with my rock, so I should be getting one in Thursday's order, but I'll take any that you find in your shipment as well.

[Jocko]

Is it true that the new shipments are gulf rock?

[liverock]

Originally posted by Jocko
Is it true that the new shipments are gulf rock?

We finally were able to dive the Gulf as the red tide has dissipated enough to allow us to get into the water safely.

What we found was the rock was all dead from the bottom to about two foot off the bottom, but, above that two foot level the rock survived as that was where the thermocline was that kept the red tide bacteria trapped on the bottom depleting the oxygen killing the bottom of the Gulf.

The rock is not like it was before, not many sponges, but that is a good thing as sponges are what causes ammonia in your tank when some of them die. The sponges that did make it through 10 months of red tide are doing well, according to Bob.

We also found that for some reason the coralines grow like crazy when put into our systems, much more than ever before.

Now the hurricane has messed up the gulf real well, so it will be a week or two before we can dive again, so we may be off to the keys to get rock there again until the Gulf clears up.

We actually saw four fish on the rock piles, first thing we have seen alive on the site since February. So there is hope, mother nature almost dealt us a death blow, but she seems to be cooperating a bit more now.

The red tide is still here, but not in the concentrations that it was....it will be interesting to see how long it takes for the bottom dwellers to reappear, gorgonians, sponges, arrow crabs, mantis shrimp, ect, as the bottom is totally barren of life.

Which is why there are no fish yet as there is nothing for them to eat, except what is on top of our rock piles. Good thing we piled that rock up real high, or all the rock would have been lost.

Supply is very limited and will continue that way until next summer at the soonest.

TBS

[fareforce]

I do not want a mantis shrimp - Travis


I am starting a thread for my tank progress as well...