AF Rock vs CaribSea LifeRock

[epinephrine]

New to the hobby and need help deciding on the AF Rock - Mixed Shapes 22lb pack or the CaribSea LifeRock Dreamscapes 15gal pack to build the aquascape for my IM Nuvo 15 build. I kinda like the color more on the Caribsea, but the AF rock being lighter and more porous is making me consider. Can anyone share their experience with either or and how their scape was looking like a few weeks in? Both will be cycled with bacteria + NH4. Happy to take additional recommendations. Thank you all!

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome newer member!

I've never worked with either rock per se, but I've worked with dry rock, including Marco and CaribbSea South Seas base rock. I would bet at least three bucks that CaribbSea is using the same rock for their South Seas rock as they do for their LifeRock.

It sounds like you already know this, but CaribbSea 'Life' Rock isfgor all practical purposes a dry rock, and needs to be pre-cycled like all other dry rocks. Just in case anyone else was questioning that

I'm not going to lie, I like the color of the CaribbSea Life Rock, and if you like it, and don't mind what I I think is an over priced dry rock, I say go for it.

Now, all dry rock has some drawbacks, as does live rock; it's easily the oldest question known to human beings That could be a thread all to itself, but if you're going to use dry rock, do some research (if you've not already) on the 'ugly phase' and the relationship between dry rock and phosphate.

Good luck with your build!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I saw a bad experience with AF rock by @A_Blind_Reefer and do not recommend it.

 

[slingfox]

Search for Caribsea LifeRock on this forum and you will find multiple threads with people dealing with endless uglies. A successful rank can be run with that and any dry rock but it can be more challenging. If you are dead set on going with a dry rock then I would go with whichever one is less dense / more porous. How the dry rock looks starting out is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things since the look will change significantly over time as algae and other uglies, coraline, and corals take over.

 

[commod0re]

My current rockscape is made from a combination of marco rocks, caribsea liferock, and a few pieces of unknown parlance (LFS dry rock from shelves with no labels)

There’s no need to tie yourself to a single brand of rocks

 

[steveschuerger]

Another option that will probably diminish the uglies quite a bit is to get a small chunk of live rock either from a lfs or via a vendor like KP Aquatics or Gulf Live Rock or Tampa Bay Saltwater. That way you can play with the scape and still get live goodness.

 

[Moe K]

Life rock has great shapes but it is super dense. From personal experience and friends reports it takes a long long time to get through some ugly stages.

Personally I just bought a lot of AF rock. It's lighter and more porous. Seems to be lighter than marco rock. The arches are the shape I would recommend as I just started on my scape and wish I bought another box.

Everything I read online was saying that it was great rock. Guess I will find out going through the year.

 

[MikeReefs]

I’ve used Marco Rocks for years with great experience if you’re willing to consider that. Bacteria used was Microbactor 7, PNS Purple and AF life source mud for biodiversity

 

[rtparty]

I wouldn’t touch AF rock after seeing multiple threads and posts about it jacking up alkalinity for months on end.

I’m running two tanks with CaribSea rock and have had zero issues with it

 

[Fish Fan]

I've been having nothing but trouble with a tank I started using Caribbsea South Seas dry rock

 

[Lzvolska]

Hi! I'm from Ukraine, and since we're close to where Aquaforest is based, I use their rocks in my tank. I also have a few CaribSea boulders. The only difference between them is that the CaribSea rock is more porous, but it gets dirty on top faster if the flow is weak. Aquaforest has very few pores both inside and out, so I don't think it plays a major role in biofiltration

Maybe one day I'll figure out how to post photos so I can show you the fracture of the Aquaforest rock

 

[Lzvolska]

 

[TokenReefer]

https://reefbuilders.com/2021/11/25/af-rock-is-aquaforests-man-made-reef-rock/
Too bad they don't say how it's made. I can't see how anything being used is worth protecting; as if that's the reason people buy it and not the shapes / ease. Let people know what they're putting in thier tank!

 

[martin.a]

To my understanding both AF and CarribSea are man-made. Marco is at least natural. Although it's certainly debatable which approach is better (or worse), I don't like the idea of man-made rock. Especially that neither company is particularly transparent about the bill of materials.

My very, very limited experience with starting with dry (Marco) is to keep it in dark and build up microbial diversity beyond what you (me in this case) consider reasonably necessary. Get some live media from a trusted LFS (see their tanks and sump beforehand). After getting the lights on focus on establishing coraline algae asap. It will still get ugly ;-)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This is a thread about one persons bad experience with the AF rock.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...ing-aquaforest-man-made-rock-to-sump.1082013/

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I, and a few others, had massive alkalinity spikes with the af rock that lasted for months. I absolutely would not add af rock to an existing/running system. Moreover, I was quite disappointed with the response (well, lack of) from af themselves. I asked some pretty basic questions regarding their claims about af rocks “stabilation of kh/ph”, as well as curing related alkalinity issues and got nothing but gaslighting and evasiveness. For that reason, I’m personally not a fan of af.

That said, if you’re stating a system from scratch, and are set on af rock, I would not add any living organisms until you are certain that alkalinity has stabilized.

Another weird observation that I personally had (I haven’t heard of anyone else), is that with the coloring of af rock and algae growth. Absolutely zero algae grows anywhere there is orange coloring on the af rock in my sump. Coraline, gha, ulva, all grew on the rock in my sump…..except where the rocks are orange. I can think of no reasoning for this observation.

 

[Danroo]

my experience with the life rock isn't much different than a dry rock. They claim it has BB on it which stays dormant, but I couldn't tell much difference. I had the life rock in my 13-gallon tank, it would have a huge green hair algae issue, but it could also be the size of the tanks. Where nano tanks are extremely hard to keep.

I started this hobby with a dry rock in my 20-gallon tank and it was far better stable in terms of being stable. I didn't go for live rock because of worrying about unwanted pests or aqua scaping had to be done instantly or I would've had a massive die-off.

Now both the rocks are in my 55 gallon and are stable Added more dry rock and all of the m look the same.