Do these rocks look fake? Anyone use them?

[BullyBee]

Hey now. Has anyone used this rock? I. Any tell if it would look too fake in real life.

CaribSea Liferock Base Rock - 20 LBS

CaribSea Liferock Base Rock - 20 LBS in Canada

www.reefsupplies.ca

 

[Copingwithpods]

30% of my rocks are those posted they look pretty good to me specially after being covered in lagae you can't tell the difference.

can you tell?

 

[r20crazy]

only need one thread for this OP...

 

[BullyBee]

only need one thread for this OP...

My bad.

 

[Anihiel1]

I had that exact same rock and ended up replacing it all. The problem is that it's a concrete composite with *some* rock content that is painted purple. Very heavy also if you're using a lot of it. Over time it caused a horrendous algae outbreak and supported very little life. I replaced it all with the KP Aquatics uncured live rock. The difference in my water quality was immediate and the algae has not reappeared. Bonus, it came already covered in various corraline, macroalgaes, and loads of beneficial hitchhikers. Very little die off during shipment. My advice, spend the extra money to get the real thing and save yourself from buying twice like i did.

 

[BullyBee]

I had that exact same rock and ended up replacing it all. The problem is that it's a concrete composite with *some* rock content that is painted purple. Very heavy also if you're using a lot of it. Over time it caused a horrendous algae outbreak and supported very little life. I replaced it all with the KP Aquatics uncured live rock. The difference in my water quality was immediate and the algae has not reappeared. Bonus, it came already covered in various corraline, macroalgaes, and loads of beneficial hitchhikers. Very little die off during shipment. My advice, spend the extra money to get the real thing and save yourself from buying twice like i did.

i don’t wanna do real live rock. I’d rather get MarcoRocks or this stuff. I’m just not sure which one

 

[ReefLab]

I have mostly pukani but do have a couple of those purple rocks. Amazon has good deals on it occasionally. Its been about 9 months and no issues with it. Personally would just go with shelf rock on a new build.

 

[DrDeGuzman]

I have used liferock. It looks pretty good after awhile

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

I have mostly pukani but do have a couple of those purple rocks. Amazon has good deals on it occasionally. Its been about 9 months and no issues with it. Personally would just go with shelf rock on a new build.

I too would rather have used shelf rock. So many more possibilities scape wise. Not to mention the stability that comes with flat bottoms.

 

[bevo5]

Stuff is concrete - so no real bioload capabilities. That said, to each their own - if you like it, then it's great!

 

[Aquavaj]

Aren't Marco rocks man maded as well? I remember ordering directly from them when they were still allowing that and my rocks have perfectly round holes that were made using rods.

 

[boacvh]

Hey now. Has anyone used this rock? I. Any tell if it would look too fake in real life.

CaribSea Liferock Base Rock - 20 LBS

CaribSea Liferock Base Rock - 20 LBS in Canada

www.reefsupplies.ca

I used it and like how it looks a lot. No issues so far. You can check pics in my build thread if you want to see how it looks

 

[Flippers4pups]

Aren't Marco rocks man maded as well? I remember ordering directly from them when they were still allowing that and my rocks have perfectly round holes that were made using rods.

Marco is "mined" from the coast line near the ocean on land. It's ancient coral bed rock. It's dug up, cleaned and allowed to dry in the sun.

 

[Aquavaj]

Marco is "mined" from the coast line near the ocean on land. It's ancient coral bed rock. It's dug up, cleaned and allowed to dry in the sun.

That's what I thought too but what would explain the unnatural holes in mine? They are cut flat on one side. Could they be used to hold the rock while it's being cut?

I was almost going to go with these rocks but decided to go with Reel Reef ones instead cause they look more natural and are live.

 

[roblox84]

I just used them first time ever in my newly setup 20g a few weeks ago and i love the look. I wish i would've found out about them sooner instead of going with ugly white base rock like in the past that just turns green from algae.

 

[Flippers4pups]

That's what I thought too but what would explain the unnatural holes in mine? They are cut flat on one side. Could they be used to hold the rock while it's being cut?

I was almost going to go with these rocks but decided to go with Reel Reef ones instead cause they look more natural and are live.

Could be.

 

[Robertellis30]

Tanks full of them.

 

[Albertan22]

I have 40 lbs of it in my current setup. Only been wet for 6 months but no issues so far. The other 100 lbs of rock in the tank is also man made and came from my previous 120G tank that was wet for about 6 years (10 years total but 6 with the base rock). It was great, covered over in coraline just fine and maintained pristine water quality.

I did run with real live rock for the first 4 years of the tank but was so overrun with pests that I decided to break it down and restart with dry rock. I pulled 8 mantis shrimp from that tank and never got them all. I also had problems with gorilla crabs, parasitic snails, you name it. I do miss the random life that was in there though. It was neat to shine a red light into the tank at night and see peanut worms, random crabs, and generally weird things scurrying around. With base rock it’s just pods and bristle worms that came in on frags.

If you use dry rock I suggest curing it for 3 or 4 months in a barrel to make it live rock. You can skip a lot of the ugly phase of a reef tank by doing this. It’s worth the wait.

 

[hawk82]

I had that exact same rock and ended up replacing it all. The problem is that it's a concrete composite with *some* rock content that is painted purple. Very heavy also if you're using a lot of it. Over time it caused a horrendous algae outbreak and supported very little life. I replaced it all with the KP Aquatics uncured live rock. The difference in my water quality was immediate and the algae has not reappeared. Bonus, it came already covered in various corraline, macroalgaes, and loads of beneficial hitchhikers. Very little die off during shipment. My advice, spend the extra money to get the real thing and save yourself from buying twice like i did.

I started with this rock also, and ended up replacing it with gulf live rock. I had bad algae and dinos when I had this rock too. When I switched to all live rock it made the tank so much better.

 

[Coug92]

I used it on a new tank which is now 6 moths old. I love it. Looks natural right away.