Cycled and Copepod-seeded Live Rock

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Announcing - cycled and seeded live rock!

Our Snacklerocks are cycled with live nitrifying bacteria and seeded with our three species blend of live copepods. Dinkins Snacklerock is ideal for starting a new tank, or for adding rock (and biodiversity) to an existing system.

Many reefers use dry rock to start their tanks, in an effort to keep pests out. The downside is that it can take weeks or months to fully cycle the rock, along with multiple purchases of copepods to fully seed them. On the other end of the spectrum, a number of reefers buy rock straight from the ocean. This rock is fully seeded and comes with copepods, but also has the potential to bring unwanted hitchhikers with them.

Our Snacklerock combines the best of both worlds. We source dry rock from Marco Rocks and put it in a closed system with a huge dose of both Fritz Turbostart and our own three species blend of copepods. We leave it in there for an extended period of time, feeding the bacteria and pods daily. Dinkins Snacklerock comes with much of the biodiversity of ocean rock without the potential pests and hitchhikers.

We take great care in the packaging and shipping of our Snacklerock. It ships mostly submerged in saltwater, to preserve the bacteria and pods. All Snacklerock ships for FREE by UPS Ground Shipping - an excellent option due to the resilience of both the bacteria and copepods.

That's right - Snacklerock ships for free!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

How Do We Ship Snacklerock?

We wrap the rock in bubble wrap and double bag it, adding water to the inner bag until the rock is mostly submerged. The water easily flows inside the bubble wrap, keeping the beneficial bacteria and copepods wet and healthy. The bubble wrap keeps the rock from piercing the bag, and also protects it from chipping.

Each bubble wrapped, double bagged rock then gets carefully packed into our biodegradable styrofoam boxes and shipped UPS Ground. We check the weather where you live, and add any ice (or heat packs in the winter) if needed. We schedule shipping so that your rock arrives by Friday of the week it ships.

For orders over 40 lbs, we do offer free air cargo shipping through American Airlines. We'll automatically reach out to you. Air cargo is optional on large orders - it is NOT required.

What Else?

Nothing is ever added to the Snacklerock systems other than fresh saltwater, Fritz Turbostart Live Nitrifying bacteria, and our own carefully cultured copepods (we add all three species of pods - Tisbe, Apocyclops, and Tigriopus).

Snacklerocks remain in this system for an extended time period without light (to ensure no algae growth). Your rock will look just like it arrived directly from Marco Rocks - but loaded with copepods and beneficial nitrifying bacteria.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Do you want to jumpstart your new build? How about adding live rock that is:

1) Already cycled with nitrifying bacteria
2) Already home to a colony of copepods (three different species)
3) Is complete pest-free: no unwanted surprises in your tank

P.S. Dinkins Snacklerock ships mostly submerged in water. It also ships for free.

Who ships ROCK for free?? Dinkins does!

 

[Coral Your World]

Seems kind of goofy tbh… I don’t know that I would consider dry rock kept in water for a month with some bottled bacteria and some copepods “ fully cycled and seeded live rock” but I’m sure some newbie reefers will take the bait.

What is the ammonia source for the nitrifying bacteria? What is the food source for the copepods?

Do you have pictures of the systems where your live rock is cured?

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Seems kind of goofy tbh… I don’t know that I would consider dry rock kept in water for a month with some bottled bacteria and some copepods “ fully cycled and seeded live rock” but I’m sure some newbie reefers will take the bait.

What is the ammonia source for the nitrifying bacteria? What is the food source for the copepods?

Do you have pictures of the systems where your live rock is cured?

Hey there! You have some really great questions.

We start with a mega-dose of Fritz Turbostart 900, then feed the system lab-grade ammonia and test daily to verify that the ammonia is being rapidly processed. Once the system is at 0 ppm (which happens very quickly, as Turbostart is an excellent product), we feed ammonia daily. We then add many, many gallons of our Snacklebox (three species blend of copepods) to the tank, which we feed every other day with our live phytoplankton. The rock stays in the system for at least a month, but generally for much longer than that. Our current rock has been in there for the past 10 weeks.

We always strive to provide an extremely high quality product, and have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Please check out our reviews in our sponsor forum!

 

[Extremeengineer]

Well, I’d been thinking about ordering some pods, and still need a few pieces of rock, so what the heck, ordered 5#, should be one or maybe two pieces. But my question is, if we are looking for certain shapes, I saw no way to leave a note to that effect, or is it just completely random? I know many of the LR sellers here are willing to try to accommodate reasonable requests, so thought I’d ask. If you want to throw me an extra pound or two for the first order post, well I think that would be awesome! I’m the guy in Kalamazoo, MI lol

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Well, I’d been thinking about ordering some pods, and still need a few pieces of rock, so what the heck, ordered 5#, should be one or maybe two pieces. But my question is, if we are looking for certain shapes, I saw no way to leave a note to that effect, or is it just completely random? I know many of the LR sellers here are willing to try to accommodate reasonable requests, so thought I’d ask. If you want to throw me an extra pound or two for the first order post, well I think that would be awesome! I’m the guy in Kalamazoo, MI lol

Thank you for giving us a try! Shoot me a PM with the shape you prefer and we'll definitely do our best.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

We will begin shipping our cycled and seeded Snacklerock next Monday, July 1.

Online preorders are open now!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

We're excited to begin shipping our cycled and seeded Snacklerock Monday.

Who wants already cycled rock, seeded with three species of copepods? The first reply on this thread will get five pounds of our new Snacklerock for FREE. No strings attached!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

For orders over 40 lbs, we do offer free air cargo shipping through American Airlines. We'll automatically reach out to you. Air cargo is optional on large orders - it is NOT required.

 

[muffinmanXL]

We're excited to begin shipping our cycled and seeded Snacklerock Monday.

Who wants already cycled rock, seeded with three species of copepods? The first reply on this thread will get five pounds of our new Snacklerock for FREE. No strings attached!

I’m in! Exactly what I’m looking for combined with Aquabiomics rubble

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

I’m in! Exactly what I’m looking for combined with Aquabiomics rubble

Perfect! If you'll send me a PM we'll get it all set up.

 

[muffinmanXL]

Perfect! If you'll send me a PM we'll get it all set up.

Sent, thanks!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Bump

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

- Begins shipping Monday
- Ships free with UPS Ground (or optional same-day air cargo shipping for large orders)
- Ships in water to preserve the live nitrifying bacteria and copepods

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

We begin shipping tomorrow, there's still time to get an order in!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

Our first 20 lbs of cycled and seeded Snacklerock on the way to its new home!

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

 

[wazzupmac]

Got my order of 1G of pods, 1G of phyto, a small SnackleRock (to try it out - it matched my new Marco Rock in my new Red Sea Reefer S-850).

Everything was perfectly packaged, showed up on time, and put in the tank.

I’ve ordered before and am psyched that Dinkins is helping to get this new tank started right. And the magnet (free goodie) is proudly displayed on my fridge!