"garf grunge" questions

[cmoreash]

I was wondering about this stuff. Anyone got it before? How much do they usually charge for shipping?

 

Does it really help out a tank? and add lots of biodiversity?

Can you add it to an existing setup? and if so, can you plop it right in, or do you have to cure it in a seperate container?

 

Um...basically, for anyone who's gotten it, what's it like? I am really curious, and I want to "activate" my aragonite sand!

 

TIA

 

edit: and how much should i get?

[flaunt]

do a search on this board for "garf grunge." then go to reefcentral.com and do a search there. after i did that i came to the conclusion that the sh_t is better off in the bottom of their liverock shipment boxes...

[Crakeur]

Reefcentral has a whole slew of nasty posts about garf, their employees, their frags and their business in general. I was very interested in ordering from them until I came across a few posts about them. I had emailed them about an order and received a response about a month after my email and maybe two weeks after I read the rc boards. Their business tactics were true to form, according to the rc boards.

[reefriot]

i too sent them an email along time ago about ordering some frags when they had a special going on. never did receive a reply so that was as far as i was going to pursue it. their site is kinda cluttered IMO. if your looking to get something from 1 place try ISPF i've heard alright reports from them, local hawaiians on the other hand don't care for him to much but i heard his critters are nice

[JPF]

I couln't disagree more stronglyout the above comments about GARF and their grunge. I have purchased $200 worth of frags and Grunge from GARF. Grunge has added a great deal of biodiversity to my system. Their frags are healthy, colorful, and most importantly proven to do well in home systems.

I found their customer service to be polite, patient, flexible, and most importantly knowledgeable. Keep in mind THEY ARE NOT A STORE! They are a research facility. Yes their site is cluttered and they don't respond to emails. But they have a dedicated customer support line. They have been conducting research on corals longer than some of you have been alive. Try talking to them. Base your opinion on personal experince and not something you read on a message board. If I had a camera I would submit pics of my tank. You would not believe the color, health and vigor present in the animals.

[flaunt]

so you would ascribe your success to GARF rather than your own reefkeeping skills? what exactly do you mean that the grunge added a "great deal of biodiversity to your system?" what exactly showed up that you didn't have before? i'm not trying to be a smartass, i'd just like to know since i haven't seen hardly any positive remarks about the stuff...

[Crakeur]

ditto that. I heard that their frags, while hearty and healthy (mostly) were tiny. The grunge I have actually heard mixed things about, but the biggest concern with them (from board posters, although my experience is similar) was that they never respond to emails, they call back at their leisure, shipments were screwed up and they took so long to get back regarding said shipments that things died and the buyer was blamed.

 

I have only the one experience with them, that of no response to a phone call and a 3 week delay in responding to an email. Reef central has loads of hate posts and imo if that many people have had bad experiences, odds are they are right (same with aquacon for what it's worth).

[JPF]

Grunge added a large population of pod types that weren't in my system previously. It added many new types of other small invertebrates as well. I can't catalog the exact types for you. It caused a rapid increase in coraline algae. I didn't hear this I experienced it first hand. So their email is nonresponsive. Try picking up a phone. Their advice is priceless. They were cutting their teeth on keeping corals while many of the readers here were literally cutting their own teeth on crackers. If aquacultured items cost a bit more then that is the price of responsible consuming. You can't rape the reefs forever. I will giggle when they ban importing corals completely and you have to turn back to GARF or places that learned the nuts and bolts of reef aquaculture from them.

[JPF]

After combing through Reef Centrals back postings on GARF it is appears that the majority of people who have actually purchased things from GARF are satisfied. A few people were not. That could be said of many places. The real whiners were those that heard things rather than had direct contact or made purchases. I will agree with reef central posters when they say buy "grunge" type sand locally when possible. But I can't and so don't. Sand sharing sounds like a great way to up biodiversity in your tank. I grabbed a 1 liter bottle of sand from the Keys last yr and Medusa jellies appeared in my tank. They grew to the size of dimes before all disappearing overnight. Perhaps my puffer ate them. Yes I have a puffer in my nano and yes it works just fine. He is a figure 8 puffer and seems quite happy as does everything else. Sometimes you have to break the rules to find out what really works and what is hearsay.

[jflysmooth]

Has anyone BEEN to GARF? Did anyone else notice that garf is frag backwards? Something about the names LeRoy and Sally Jo kinda scares me. Their website is ghastly, but it has some info if you take the time to find it.

[Crakeur]

their site is loaded with info. too much to read in a few sittings and, from what I've read, good stuff. Regarding using them once they eliminate reef "looting" for corals, I only order from places that sell aquacultured or tank raised specimens (unless I want something that is not available this way).

 

Regarding their phone and email systems, both sucked in my experience. email took forever and a week to get a response, phone took about half the time but still too long for me to wait.

 

if you like them, great. if you have had a good experience with them, even better. If you want to use them, do so. I have only tried to order from them, with no luck thanks to delays in responding to me so I cannot say squat about their goods, only their staff.

 

I'm done posting on this because I am repeating myself.

[Dave ESPI]

garf = Garbage Ass Rock Frags

 

Garf rock makes great tarp weights fer wood stove piles, and grabage can lids when its windy.

 

X)

the site DOES have viable and decent info I will aplaud them fer that.

IME, the grunge is simply some leftover box junk and some sand. Order some rock from a REAL trans shipper or rock supplyer and that stuff is free. ALSO every time ya add some new rock to yer tanks, it will introduce new species of stuff. rotate some rocks in and out of tanks every now and then.... ya will be amazed.

www.reefsplendor.com

[cmoreash]

JPF: how much did they charge you for shipping, and how much of the grunge did you get?

[JPF]

I ordered about 3 pounds but they gave me 2 free with the corals I ordered. The shipping charge for the total order, sand, snails, hermits, corals was the typical overnight of about $34.00. I dont remember the exact charge. I bought my aquacultured rock from Gulf and was pleased with the freshness and diversity of life. It is dense. Not grossly so but heavier than some of the wild rock.