I have heard a lot about the garff grunge especially from local reefers.  I was wondering what everyone thought about it and if its worth the Total cost (including shipping).  I was wanting to buy 6# of the stuff, and the cost of shipping was more than the price of the sand.

Any adivice would be appreciated.

I've bought from Garf before and they have quality stock. A little pricey for what you get, but quality.  I believe that if you came to one of our meetings and asked a few willing participants, a half dozen of us would donate to the cause.  Sometimes we have a sand swap.  I believe it gives a good diversity to your tank.  Not everyone agrees. You do run the possibility of introducing bad things too.  Although I feel the people that would assist and people that would not do that.

Come join us at the next meeting.

From GARF's website:

LIVE SAND ACTIVATOR

Also kind of interesting:

�the most important part. This is a "Grunge" from G.A.R.F. What the stuff contains is a culture of sand, coral rubble, small reef rocks, macro-algae, annelid worms, small pieces of sponges and corals, snails and crabs that is some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen!

I still keep seeing different things I didn't see before. We got 10 pounds about a week after the system was set up and mixed it in with the top layer of sand. This really gave the reef a pleasing natural look since it is very coarse and has a lot of color to it� *

Letter from The Sea Star
     A monthly publication 
    for the marine aquarium hobbyist
 by the  President - Tim L. Weidauer
Wasatch Marine Society in Salt Lake City, UT.

I bought a bunch of grunge for my research tanks years ago.... loved it!  Had it in my tanks ever since.

Adam

The meetings definately sound entertaining.  I would like to attend the June meeting since I'll be out of town for next months. 

In regaurds to the grunge, it sounds really cool, but $10 a lb for sand is steep.   Does anyone know of a better way to get the same kind of biodiversity??

I like the Idea of a sand swap.

Mark, I can't believe that you were in Syracuse and didn't call!

As for a sand swap, I can pitch in from my refugium. But beware... it's Utah Oolitic Sand, so it will need to be handled by someone certified as HAZMAT.

Mark, thanks for the stuff.  all is looking well in the tank, and I've noticed a signifigant drop in the alge growing on the glass.  My corals seem to be doing better too.

Thanks again

Maybe I'm missing the point, but I thought the whole premise of the grunge is that a little goes a long way.  If I read correctly even GARF uses a small mixture of grung with a fairly finely crushed coral type substrate.

Am I misunderstanding something here?

hi will

when i first started my 55 gallon garf recommended 14 pounds of grunge.

the tank only holds 40 gallons of water.since that time i have added 2 pounds to refresh it. and it is doing great.

i'm just getting ready to build my prop tanks hopefully this weekend and i'll use grunge in them

you don't need anything for your tank it's beautiful

Jeff,

when you get your grunge, are you going to boise and having them deliver the stuff to the post office or are you getting it sent straight to your house??  I was going to get some, but $5 a lb for sand an $5 a lb for shipping makes for really expensive sand.

grunge isn't really sand, the two bags that i got were more broken up small pieces of rock and alot of mud. when you dump it in the tank gets very murky

i usually go through leonel at garf and i have asked if i could drive up and get it he said no! their facillity isn't safe for the public so i guess shipping is the only way! 

hmmm.....should I get some of that stuff for my refugium? I was looking at this on eBay, but the grudge sounds alot less expensive, although this auction has more than just microfauna:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=43043 01556

So is it worth the money, or should we just mooch off of other geeks in the group...hehe.

I was thinking about adding some to my refugium, how much sound I get for a 25 gal Refugium? 150 gal tank?

They suggest 1 pound per 3 gallons, but that's pretty steep, how much is enough to seed the tank?

Hi Mark,

Is it "Live"? If so I am desperately trying to seed my refugium so I'd love some.