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sweetpea
04-26-2009, 05:50 PM
I don't know if I am posting this thread in the right place but has anyone used garf grung? Can u add it to a tank that is established over a year?

Amphibious
04-27-2009, 04:56 AM
I've never used it and have read mixed reviews about it. It is the "grunge" from the bottom of their LR curing vats, if I remember right. It would be a mixture of LR rubble, gravel and sand with tons of life in it. I would say yes you can add it to an established tank. You would be adding a great mix of bio diversity to your existing LS bed. If you go for it, please report back here your feelings about what they send you. GARF is one of the oldest on line suppliers of corals and other things. I haven't been to their site in awhile.

Dick

sweetpea
04-30-2009, 10:18 AM
GARF GRUNGE $5.00 LB.
0NE POUND FOR EACH THREE GALLONS WILL ACTIVATE TWO INCHES OF ARAGONITE SAND
ADD ONE POUND PER 10 GALLONS TO IMPROVE WILD LIVE SAND!

This is a clip from their website. I dont think I wanna push it with one lb per 3 gall, maybe the one lb per 10 gallons sounds better. I actullay wanted to try it in my 20 gallon that I am having the most cyano and hair algae problems with. Do you think I could just order the one lb and add it to the 20 so I dont over load my system. I figure that this would be a happy medium since I dont actually have 20 gallons of h2o in my 20 gallon tank.

Phurst
04-30-2009, 10:22 AM
I've heard mixed opinions on it as well. I certainly don't think you'd need to add any more than a pound. Whatever's in there will multiply just fine on it's own.

sweetpea
04-30-2009, 10:24 AM
Yeah I agree. SMALL STEPS! I think I may try a pound and add it gradually if the bucket will hold stable for a few days while I add a cup or so at a time.

sweetpea
04-30-2009, 10:25 AM
The mixed opinions..... was the bad really bad or soso?

jim t
05-01-2009, 10:47 PM
I purchased some 7-9 months ago. I think it would be better to buy a
chunk to cheato for a tank you trust. I might not be able to see the difference
I would not waste the $$$ again.

Amphibious
05-02-2009, 05:11 AM
The mixed opinions..... was the bad really bad or soso?

They ran the full length of good to bad. Some people's expectations are way high due to GARFs bragging about the Grunge. Reality is probably less than what is expected. If you know a reefer close to you just ask them for a cup of their sand. If you know more than one do it with all. You will get a diverse mix of sand dwellers that way, too. Also get some chaeto as Jim mentioned.

Dick

sweetpea
05-04-2009, 01:39 PM
Alrighty, here is a question though..... I am setting up a sump for my smaller tank but my big tank has nothing, can I put the chaeto in the display? I have no other place to put it.

CarmieJo
05-04-2009, 10:30 PM
Sure, I have a ball of cheato in my nano. It is kind of behind the rockwork.

floodland
05-05-2009, 03:45 PM
I just put in a small order.. Should be here tomorrow and I will post pictures of what I get.

floodland
05-07-2009, 05:14 AM
Ok, so I placed this order on a whim as I could not really find any feedback from people who had ordered it and didn't like it. Leroy is fun to talk to and sells up a bit. He tried to get me to take 40lbs of Grunge, but I halved it (and should have halved it again.. more on this later!), he upsold me on some Grunge+ and threw in some extra along with some algae he said would be really nice.

So today I received my order, it came via priority mail and was left on my doorstep (luckily it was 78F today). It was shipped Monday, arrived Wed.. not too bad.

http://snoble.smugmug.com/photos/530411481_NtCvK-S.jpg

I got 20lbs of Garf Grunge, 8 Lbs of Grunge + and some free macro algae.

The Grunge + (Labled G+ on the bag) came with a bit of macro algae on top (maybe a handful) and some extra algae in a another bag (about half a handful). The algae was disappointing, but for free I can't complain. It certainly sounded good on the phone ;)

http://snoble.smugmug.com/photos/530411655_ZKU6v-S.jpg

I tossed all of that in my refugium and went on to the next box

http://snoble.smugmug.com/photos/530412113_pj2Pq-S.jpg

The Grunge itself came in 2 10lb bags well packed inside multiple bags to make sure that it did not spill. As I was adding it in, I realized that a.) I really didn't need 20 lbs, 10 would have been enough and b.) it was not really very wet, infact it was pretty dry in the middle.

http://snoble.smugmug.com/photos/530411976_HRiHP-S.jpg

I finished adding the Grunge and waited for it to settle a bit

http://snoble.smugmug.com/photos/530411930_7cQ2b-S.jpg

It's a bit bigger then expected but nothing too terrible. There were a few big rocks, some small shells, some coral skeletons, but nothing too bad. I left everything in.

So my experience so far has been so-so .. I certainly think it's a cool product but you probably only need a limited amount.. I did not find anything "alive" in the order yet other then the algae which looked ok.

I will post pictures tomorrow once the tank has had time to settle.

CarmieJo
05-07-2009, 12:32 PM
I am looking forward to hearing your ongoing opinion.

floodland
05-07-2009, 04:12 PM
Thanks Carmie :)

I will state that I don't see a big value to this for a established tank. Some people have mentioned that they got new and different colored coraline algae, which from looking at the Grunge I can see that it has a lot of variety. My main concern right now is that the top layer of my substrate is a lot of pea sized items, rocks, shells, corals. I hope that my yellow wrasse will not be upset as he likes to sleep under the sand :).

Also as a disclaimer, my tank was already cycled (no detectable ammonia/nitrate/nitrites) as I have been very careful in transporting everything during my move and all of the rock has been in proper circulated/heated water continuously for almost a year. The water was taken from the other tanks slowly and mixed with > 1 week old rodi sw. I have tons of pods all over my tank right now and had them before the grunge.

I am planning to monitor everything closely to see if this causes a cycle, there was a lot of interesting liveish material in the bags including plant leaves (might be some sort of algae). I saw a dead adult brine shrimp float by this morning.. :)

PhotoJohn
05-07-2009, 04:18 PM
brine shrimp? really?

floodland
05-07-2009, 05:27 PM
Yes.. I recognized it from pictures people post about feeding live bbs to their fish and what adult ones look like.. I assume it was fed to a tank and just got into the sump or wherever they get this stuff from.
http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/images/Artemia.JPG

rayme07
05-07-2009, 09:36 PM
'Very interesting cant wait for more. :)

floodland
06-12-2009, 05:24 PM
So an update. The Garf Grunge seemed to cause a mini-cycle in my tank, nothing that I could not handle, but noticeable for sure. I've also determined that it caused more of a mess in the tank then anything else. There are now all these big pebble sized rocks mixed into the sand.

The 'fuge seems to be doing well, I am not sure if it has to do with the Grunge or not, but there are a lot of pods and small shrimp and such hanging out in there, so I am happy with that.

I ran into someone who has been out to the GARF facilities and met LeRoy. The person had nothing bad to say about LeRoy, but did comment that he could also dump some random stuff in a bag and sell it to me, if that was what I was looking for. His quote was "I wish I had the marketing skills that LeRoy has, he can sell anything"

V
06-12-2009, 06:27 PM
got to love a business that makes money selling a bag full of sh^t & loving it! lol

floodland
06-12-2009, 07:28 PM
It is interesting that you say it that way.. as that is what the person said to me, I just didn't think it was polite to quote so directly.. :)

I think the quote was something like "I could sh^t in a bag and sell it to you... it would add about the same value to your tank"


got to love a business that makes money selling a bag full of sh^t & loving it! lol

V
06-12-2009, 08:13 PM
lol, sounds about right!!

yeah well, hang around me long enough & you too will dispence with the usual pleasantries :D

Coreyz
06-19-2009, 12:27 AM
that's to bad sounded like a great source for some mico bacteria and pod's now it kinda sounds like snake oil from back in the day.... Thanks for the review though.

floodland
06-19-2009, 02:30 AM
I think really your LFS is the best place for pods and such.. just get some stuff out of their 'fuge and be happy.. that is all this really is. Also since it is shipped via USPS, is a bit dry and is said to be used within 8 days, you can see that it will not contain that much life.

V
06-19-2009, 05:19 AM
oh i dont know about that. opinion time .... im still open buying a bag of crap, as long as that bag of crap contains benifical animals that are from a contolled environment.
secondly, LFS unless its the main stable display tank (even then im wary) i just wouldn't trust. To high turn overs - not forgetting they are a business first & formost, so nasties %ages are alot higher.

so scoop away with care i say