Gulf-view LR

[Ernesto]

Hi all,

 

Gulf-View LR is awesome!

 

I just ordered 15 lbs of Premium Deco and 5 lbs of coral clusters for my 20 L and I couldn't be happier with what I got. The colors and life is phenomenal. Even though it did not survive the journey, the shipment even included an octopus as a hitchhiker. Yes it is a little dense, but I don't care. The premium deco lr looks just as good if not better than what is advertised on the website. This picture shows what a stock tank with just ls and gulf-view lr can look like.

[Physh1]

Now just wait a few weeks and see what other goodies start poping up:D.....I love my GV rock and probably will be ordering more for my bigger tanks....

 

Cameron

[SteveC]

Not only is the rock good, but Dale (the Gulf View guy) treats you right! I am still extremely pleased with my purchase and GV can definitely expect some repeat business from me.

[TStaut]

Yeah, I've had lots of great goodies pop up. Like aiptasia (30 or so), 2 mantis shrimps so far, bryopsis, predatory whelks, crabs... let's see, I'm missing a few "goodies..." I'll let you know when I remember the other bonuses I got.

 

No gulf LR for me ever again. Just in what the mantis shrimp has killed I could have bought the serpent stars, urchin and algae I got with it.

 

JMO, of course.

 

But GV service WAS great, no arguments there.

 

Travis

[gobies]

*Always* quarantine new live rock before you put it into an existing system or into a system with critters.

 

About two or three days after you get the rock, put a piece of shrimp on the bottom of the tank. If it disappears, you know you have something in the rock -- and you may not want that in your tank.

 

Another reason to QT live rock: a month-long fishless QT will starve out any lurking ich cysts.

[TStaut]

Another good preventative is dipping each rock in hypersaline water, 1.030 I've heard does the trick.

 

Makes the bad guys jump out.

 

But then you still have aiptasia and possible evil bryopsis algae to deal with, and may have killed a fair amount of the life you're paying extra for.

[SteveC]

For me, the fun of it was not knowing what would come out of the rock. I put it in a new tank and even after two months I still haven't added anything other than a few cleanup critters. I guess I see the reef more as entertainment than anything else, and if I had been planning a big display tank for decorative reasons or if I wanted to grow specific corals or have certain kinds of fish, I might have chosen my rock differently.

 

As it is, I'm still thrilled with my Gulf View rock. I guess it just depends on what kind of experience you're looking for. I wanted adventure and so far I've gotten it. No mantis shrimp yet, though, and I had pretty much figured on getting one. I even had a little tank set up for it.

 

The last time I checked, you didn't need to buy Gulf rock to get bryopsis and aiptasia. Everybody seems to get a little of that stuff. Or maybe you ordered the "aiptasia rock" by mistake!

[TStaut]

No, that stuff doesn't come exclusively on gulf rock, but if you want to be almost GUARANTEED to get crabs, mantis, and aiptasia, then certainly an adventure awaits with Gulf rock.

 

Maybe I ordered the "everything bad you could possibly get with your rock" rock by mistake.

 

My rock looked awesome when I got it. I just think the coolness of it is an illusion, in time the cool stuff mostly went away and the bad stuff hasn't gone as easily.

 

Travis

[Xavier]

Originally posted by TStaut

Another good preventative is dipping each rock in hypersaline water, 1.030 I've heard does the trick.

 

I hear 1.030-1.035 for 1 minute. Pick off anything still left w/ tweesers - including dead growths from the trip. Then into a bucket of 1.023 saline with a PH and the lid on for a week (to cut all light). Sounds a bit harsh to me (you don't want your beneficial algae and bacteria to die)... anyone try this method?

 

I haven't tried either yet - just starting w/ my tank. My LR comes in on Wed from LiveAquaria.

[SteveC]

Originally posted by TStaut

No, that stuff doesn't come exclusively on gulf rock, but if you want to be almost GUARANTEED to get crabs, mantis, and aiptasia, then certainly an adventure awaits with Gulf rock.

 

Maybe I ordered the "everything bad you could possibly get with your rock" rock by mistake.  

 

My rock looked awesome when I got it. I just think the coolness of it is an illusion, in time the cool stuff mostly went away and the bad stuff hasn't gone as easily.

 

I dunno, Travis, mine looks better every day. I've had no mantis (so far, but I can always hope), no nasty algae that I couldn't remove easily by hand, only a few aiptasia (does anybody not get this stuff?), and three hitchhiker crabs that I'm pretty sure are Sally Lightfoots. I love watching my urchins, my sessile cucumbers, my brittle stars, etc., and looking at my tiny but growing corals. I love finding something new almost every day. Yesterday I saw a tiny conch rise up suddenly out of my sand bed!

 

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience, but it sounds like you are in the minority. Maybe you got a bad batch, or maybe your life is meant to be a cruel joke and you will never know happiness. Either way, I hope you have better luck with your next batch of live rock, wherever it's from!

 

Steve

[TStaut]

Originally posted by SteveC

 

 

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience, but it sounds like you are in the minority.  Maybe you got a bad batch, or maybe your life is meant to be a cruel joke and you will never know happiness.  Either way, I hope you have better luck with your next batch of live rock, wherever it's from!

 

Steve

 

Hey Steve, I'm glad to hear your experience has been better. Perhaps I did get a bad batch.

 

I always appreciate sarcasm, I mean it, but I know you'll sleep better at night with the knowledge that while I was on the verge of suicide from the nasty critters in my live rock, Dale from Gulf-View called me personally and talked me down from that bridge. After months in therapy, I think I'm ready to face the world again. But I'm still taking it one day at a time.

 

I truly hope I am in the minority, but I've read enough to know better. I got it worse than most, but you got off easy.

 

BTW, that tiny conch? Almost certainly a predatory whelk. I got 3 or 4 of them.

 

Travis

[SteveC]

Hey, thanks for the heads up about the whelk. I really do appreciate it.

 

What I don't appreciate is your insistence that because you didn't have a good experience, no one can have one. I knew going into this that buying aquacultured rock was a gamble, but I wanted the maximum amount of life I could get and I was willing to take the risk that bad stuff would come in. Knowing the risk was/is there, I haven't put anything expensive in the tank. I haven't had to, either, because I've enjoyed watching it the way it is.

 

Your recent responses have carried the implication that I'm somehow stupid or naive, and soon I'll see the error of my ways. Well, maybe. Or maybe you are just an anal retentive control freak who can't stand any critter he didn't specify being in his tank. But I think both of those views are wrong, and we just went into this hobby with different goals in mind.

 

Stating your own experience is fine, but insisting that it is universal implies that those of us who haven't had a similar one are somehow deluded, which I find pretty insulting. So please get over yourself.

 

Steve

 

Cool, I have a whelk!

 

EDIT: OK, looking at this again I think I came off kind of harsh. I do not want to argue that you didn't have a bad experience, and I am glad that you contributed that to the discussion. I agree that if you order any rock that comes with lots of life on it (and from what I've read, that can be Pacific rock too) you had better be prepared for some nasties. Maybe Gulf rock has more potential nasties than Pacific rock, I really don't know, and given that most Pacific rock has less life due to shipping, it's really hard to have an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

Since we are swapping anecdotes here, there is no way to make a claim one way or the other, except to say that both good and bad experiences exist when it comes to this product. The same can be said for Pacific rock.

[TStaut]

Steve, I appreciate the edit. There’s no reason to get personal here, I certainly didn’t mean to.

 

I’m not sure where you got that I think you’re naïve, and when I said I appreciate sarcasm I meant it. I don’t know you, so I have no basis to judge you.

 

However, I have no reservations about defending my opinion.

 

Your edit is correct in that I’m only sharing a point of view, one that conflicts with what a lot of people say. And yet, when I was researching my LR choice, I wish more people had taken the time to write such opinions. Instead, I’ve seen a lot of people rave about their gulf live rock in one post (not here specifically) and then start threads asking how to get rid of their mantis shrimp, and how to get rid of aiptasia, etc…

 

I was 100% behind my rock for the longest time. I kept telling myself, and others, "I’ll take the bad with the good any day." But finally, it got to a point where I had to admit I was wrong. I don’t know the extent of your knowledge about cognitive dissonance, but it’s a lot easier to stand behind something you shelled out money for because you WANT it to have been the right thing. It’s much tougher to change your mind and say, "I wish I hadn’t bought that."

 

I’m not saying everyone will have a bad experience with this stuff. I’m just saying, in my opinion, the bad stuff you can get makes it a losing proposition in the end.

 

I think the apples-to-oranges comparison here is from cured to un-cured rock. I think there’s a lot less risk in cured rock, no matter where it comes from. It may not look as pretty in the beginning, but again in six months I’ll bet there is little difference.

 

I think we’ve about covered all the useful information we have to add on this topic, so I’ll make my exit. Steve, I really do wish you the best of luck with your rock. It sounds like you’re enjoying it and really, that’s all that matters.

 

Travis

[Ernesto]

This is for the benefit of all who do a search on gulf-view and might be conflicted. After 3 weeks LR looks better than when I first received it. No mantis shrimp, only a couple tiny brittle stars. There was practically no die-off with 20% water changes every 2 days. The colors have gotten more vivid and the tank has developed a very healthy pod popluation. All the clams (6 ranging in size from 1" to 4") survived the initial cycle as did the freebie closed brain included in the shipment. Cup corals are all healthy as well. Macro-algae (halimeda and calurpa) are growing like crazy. The drawbacks? A few aiptasia and some inevitable tank set-up algae. You decide if it is worth it.