Not much on Caribsea Life Rock - what's your take?

[Jim Harrison]

I've scoured this forum and read up on Caribsea Life Rock and that seems disproportionately little information compared to other topics here on R2R.

Is that because not many people here use it? And if so, why not?

Is it just not appealing to a large portion of reefers?

Or is it just good enough to have no complaints but no praise?

So whats your take on Caribsea Life Rock?

I'm considering going that route.

Thoughts? Success stories? Failures?

 

[OREGONIC]

Following, I was eyeballing it but ended up with pukani instead. Pukani had lots of dead stuff on it and took a long time for the issues associated with all the dead organic material to go away. I plan on setting up a bigger tank in the next year or so and am considering life rock or stax rock.

 

[Jim Harrison]

I looked into the Stax Rocks as well - but I've got a bandsaw, so if I really need flattened surfaces I reckon I can get that done.

 

[leahfiish]

Used it for my 90g and like it. I haven't really had any big algae issues with it. There's a ton of little Feather dusters growing all over my rocks and the pieces in my sump have lots of sponges on the bottom. It has lost its purple color a bit. I had a layer of purple dust on the bottom of my tank after aquscaping but I also have some coralline growing on the rocks. I've noticed with some types of rock, it seems like coralline will never grow on it and I'm glad to see that that doesn't seem to be the case here. I also found the 40lb boxes pretty easy to work with and I liked the mix of shapes I got. I like the branch as well but the pieces are very uniform, which has its pros and cons. I really like the look of the new "Shapes" pieces.

One thing I don't like is that when you break the rocks in half, it's just white on the inside so it looks pretty weird and unnatural if you have the broken side facing out.

 

[Jim Harrison]

Used it for my 90g and like it. I haven't really had any big algae issues with it. There's a ton of little Feather dusters growing all over my rocks and the pieces in my sump have lots of sponges on the bottom. It has lost its purple color a bit. I had a layer of purple dust on the bottom of my tank after aquscaping but I also have some coralline growing on the rocks. I've noticed with some types of rock, it seems like coralline will never grow on it and I'm glad to see that that doesn't seem to be the case here. I also found the 40lb boxes pretty easy to work with and I liked the mix of shapes I got. I like the branch as well but the pieces are very uniform, which has its pros and cons. I really like the look of the new "Shapes" pieces.

One thing I don't like is that when you break the rocks in half, it's just white on the inside so it looks pretty weird and unnatural if you have the broken side facing out.

How bad was the purple dust issue?

 

[Claus84]

I have 100lb life rock in my 90, I'm happy with it and would purchase again. I also have a couple of chunks of real reef. I would say the reel reef holds its colour better but feels heavier and for the extra cost IMO is not worth it. The colour on the life rock does seem to fade over time, particularly in areas exposed to the most light but it still looks good anyway and gets coverered in corralline and corals soon enough. I would recommend it as a sustainable and pest free alternative to live rock.

 

[leahfiish]

I wouldn't really say it was an issue, just an observation. Here's a picture you can see what I mean. I didn't bother cleaning it out, I just poured my sand over it and have never noticed it since.

 

[Jim Harrison]

I wouldn't really say it was an issue, just an observation. Here's a picture you can see what I mean. I didn't bother cleaning it out, I just poured my sand over it and have never noticed it since.

Oh, you're right, thats really not an issue. Thanks for the pic!

 

[lickyricky]

I used it in my new setup and love how it looks. Today is day 16 and I'm getting diatom and hair algae. The box was a great mixture of sizes and IMO it looks natural, take a look below

 

[Rglad91]

Yah there dosnt seem to be much out there about it as I searched and found not to much about it. But I ended up using 120lbs of it in my new 90 gallon set up, I picked up all 4 different kinds of it.
There's a few things I don't like about it but overall I'm happy.
I set it all up 2 weeks weeks ago and it's been at an ammonia spike since last Thursday when I added some Dr Tims ammonia.
First 3 pictures lights are off, last 2 the lights are on.

 

[brandon429]

what liferock brings in is the painted on nitrifiers. its a quicker cycling rock, upon rehydration, critical surface areas will take on biofilm and resulting nitrifying colonies after reamination, faster than dry rock sitting in water would take on in the same time frame.

it is not offering assorted benthic creatures and fanworms and pods, imo what we stock along with that rock is what determines benthic loading and that's why it ranges so much tank to tank. anything is better than stark white rocks, these look great.

it would take a man or a lady at least ten yrs to paint white rock that solid w real coralline, looks about the same close nff

 

[Rglad91]

Let me know if this is off subject here but I have an update on my tank cycle with using the liferock from caribsea.

I just tested it. Using Salifert and API. My ammonia seems to be going down after the initial high spike from adding Dr Tims. The nitrite is now starting to get a high spike. And I'm now seeing a slight trace of nitrate readings. It's 2 weeks from today since initial fill up, and 1 week since I added Dr Tims. And the 2 different test kits do have complete different readings it seems but I averaged them out that's why I'm not saying any numbers with test results.

 

[savetheocean]

I use liferock. Hows my formation? I want to know, I need to find one I like.

 

[Jim Harrison]

Seems to me Liferock is a pretty solid choice. I may add a couple smaller pieces of live rock from my LFS if its beneficial with coraline and such.

Thank you all for your input!

 

[Jim Harrison]

Yah there dosnt seem to be much out there about it as I searched and found not to much about it. But I ended up using 120lbs of it in my new 90 gallon set up, I picked up all 4 different kinds of it.
There's a few things I don't like about it but overall I'm happy.
I set it all up 2 weeks weeks ago and it's been at an ammonia spike since last Thursday when I added some Dr Tims ammonia.
First 3 pictures lights are off, last 2 the lights are on.

That's really sharp. I love your setup. I took a look at your post about Caribsea Liferock earlier.

Super sharp.

 

[Jim Harrison]

what liferock brings in is the painted on nitrifiers. its a quicker cycling rock, upon rehydration, critical surface areas will take on biofilm and resulting nitrifying colonies after reamination, faster than dry rock sitting in water would take on in the same time frame.

it is not offering assorted benthic creatures and fanworms and pods, imo what we stock along with that rock is what determines benthic loading and that's why it ranges so much tank to tank. anything is better than stark white rocks, these look great.

it would take a man or a lady at least ten yrs to paint white rock that solid w real coralline, looks about the same close nff

I'm considering adding some live rock from my LFS to hopefully gain some pods and other creatures. Or I may just seed the tank with some assorted pods.

 

[Jim Harrison]

I use liferock. Hows my formation? I want to know, I need to find one I like.

Looks pretty good to me. I'd be happy with that setup.

 

[OREGONIC]

No matter what rock you choose i would pick up some ammonia from ace hardware that contains nothing but ammonia and some sort of bacteria product and kick start the cycle off with that. I have cycled using this method for all the freshwater tanks i have done it the past and for the reef i have now. I feel it cuts down the cycleing time.

 

[Jim Harrison]

No matter what rock you choose i would pick up some ammonia from ace hardware that contains nothing but ammonia and some sort of bacteria product and kick start the cycle off with that. I have cycled using this method for all the freshwater tanks i have done it the past and for the reef i have now. I feel it cuts down the cycleing time.

Absolutely! I think I saw that on your build thread - and I'm completely sold on ammonia to kick start everything.

 

[OREGONIC]

I'm considering adding some live rock from my LFS to hopefully gain some pods and other creatures. Or I may just seed the tank with some assorted pods.

I would add a healthy piece of live rock. I added one piece and that is where most of the first life in my tank came from. You could also grab a cup of live sand or a piece of marine pure from someone you know. Both my sand and the marine pure balls in my sump are full of pods. I see you are in salem, are you on the local forum for the northwest, not sure if i can post a link here on R2R im sure i could pm you a link. Im sure there are others from Salem that would be willing to give you a piece of live rock or sand from one of their tanks.