Reef safe man made caves?

jaxteller007 · Sep 17, 2020

We have a couple of caves like in this picture (just singles, not a group) in our tank and our fish love them. Multiple fish are always hanging out in them. Only thing is they don't "look" like part of a reef as you can tell. Are there any out there you can buy that look more like reef rock? Or is there reef rock you can buy that's been shaped into cave structures already? We have 2 yellow tangs, 1 Lt tang, 1 bristletooth tang, 1 vlaminigi tang and a marine betta that all really like them. We are possibly adding 1 more tang down the road so I want to make sure we have lots of hiding places. Plus the man made ones make it easy to re-arrange stuff and help keep any fighting over caves to a minimum.

Albertan22 · Sep 17, 2020

I tend to just stack some dry rock in a fashion to create caves. I have also taken a chisel and drill to dry rock to carve cave shapes out of it. It is quite easy to do, but be prepared to destroy the chisel in the process (though I used an old wood chisel and there are probably other types).

PicassoClown04 · Sep 17, 2020

I take a ‘boulder’ live rock (ugly, not very good for my structure), and use a flat head screwdriver as a chisel with a hammer to break it up. Then I either use plastic screws, zip ties, epoxy, or cement to stick them back together into a solid ‘Cave’.

RichReef · Sep 17, 2020

I plan on using barnacles attached to my rock.

josephxsxn · Sep 17, 2020

Could try some Macro E400 to make custom shapes.

jaxteller007 · Sep 17, 2020

Yea I've stacked the current rock in various cave like structures just wanted to see if any pre made ones were out there. Rearranging things has really helped when introducing new fish.

jaxteller007 · Sep 21, 2020

Does anyone know if things like this are reef safe?

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/imagiatrium-stacked-stone-hideaway-and-aquarium-ornament

#reefsquad

jaxteller007 · Sep 21, 2020

RichReef said:
I plan on using barnacles attached to my rock.

I did order this from Reef Cleaners but I'm wondering how big it will be when it gets here. Should work for the smaller fish at least.

Eagle_Steve · Sep 21, 2020

jaxteller007 said:
Does anyone know if things like this are reef safe?

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/imagiatrium-stacked-stone-hideaway-and-aquarium-ornament

#reefsquad

Not sure if reef safe in the sense of what all is in the resin they use, but we used these in my sons tetra tank and had a phosphate issue after about 2 weeks of them being in there. They were the only change to the tank. RO water (no di for that tank) was 0 for po4. We removed and po4 went down to nil with water changes and the plants consuming it.

jaxteller007 · Sep 21, 2020

Eagle_Steve said:
Not sure if reef safe in the sense of what all is in the resin they use, but we used these in my sons tetra tank and had a phosphate issue after about 2 weeks of them being in there. They were the only change to the tank. RO water (no di for that tank) was 0 for po4. We removed and po4 went down to nil with water changes and the plants consuming it.

Sounds like i'll stay away from those then lol. Reckon i'll just order some small amounts of like the stacker and shapes rocks and make myself some caves. Don't want to replace all of my existing rock of course. Just make some easily movable caves to keep the fish happy and make it easier when introducing new fish.