Bit of a rant here. Caribsea shouldn’t sell their painted dry rocks as ‘live rock’

[Phoerut]

As a newbie here I researched and decided I needed live rock to put into my aquarium. I go the aquarium store and buy ‘Caribsea live rock’. I did wonder how it could be alive without being in water but I just assumed it lay dormant or something lol.

Went to a better aquarium store and quickly came to realise my rock is a dry rock not a live rock.

it’s so misleading! How can they be allowed to do that?!

 

[Miami Reef]

As a newbie here I researched and decided I needed live rock to put into my aquarium. I go the aquarium store and buy ‘Caribsea live rock’. I did wonder how it could be alive without being in water but I just assumed it lay dormant or something lol.

Went to a better aquarium store and quickly came to realise my rock is a dry rock not a live rock.

it’s so misleading! How can they be allowed to do that?!

I think this rock is infused with dormant nitrifying bacteria spores. It’s definitely not “live” as a rock that’s been wet and established. Not anywhere close.

 

[jhuntstl]

It's called "Life Rock", but I see your point. It can be misleading to a new hobbyist. Their apparently is a dormant coating of bacteria on the rocks, but it's not exactly natural.

If it makes you feel better I've had good success with caribsea life rock.

 

[Tonycass12]

All comes back down to the buyer being responsible for knowing what they are getting. Same goes for fish and corals. You seam to question the rock as soon as you realized it was dry and a quick search on Google or R2R would give you the answer. A store employee should have been able to answer this for you as well. Dont ever be afraid to ask if your unsure.

Up until the live rock Companies from Florida opened back up more recently true "live Rock" from the ocean was difficult to come by.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

As a newbie here I researched and decided I needed live rock to put into my aquarium. I go the aquarium store and buy ‘Caribsea live rock’. I did wonder how it could be alive without being in water but I just assumed it lay dormant or something lol.

Went to a better aquarium store and quickly came to realise my rock is a dry rock not a live rock.

it’s so misleading! How can they be allowed to do that?!

Well, I believe it is actually called "Life Rock." It does have inactive bacteria added to it that become active once the tank becomes wet.

 

[Rmckoy]

It’s called life rock , not live .
there is supposedly dry nitrifying bacteria which is supposed to help speed
Up the process .

Once you start to cycle your tank by adding the initial ammonia source . Everything in your system Will become in a short time

I’ve Thought of buying a few large pieces of life rock to add to my established system to see how long it takes to change colour

 

[Tonycass12]

This is life rock after a year in the water. Its all encrusted in coraline and looks good. You do go through an ugly stage as some of the epoxy chips off around the 3/4month mark. Dry rock isint abnormal in the hobby anymore it just may take some more time for your tank to mature for some of the more sensitive corals.

 

[eb1o-0]

As mentioned earlier its called life rock. Might be misleading but the buyer must be responsible enough to know that live rock is never dry and must be wet.

 

[Koh23]

Long time ago, in galaxy far far away.....

I was told that "live rock" reffers to type of rock, not specific rock current state, wich can be dry, wet, cured, fresh......

So, this is like thumb and fingers, all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumb.....

Same here..... Live refers to tock type....

Beside, 95% of "reef products" are elaborated "scams", and hevy relying om small letter prints, and buyers ignorance or lack of knowledge......

 

[lancesmith1]

It is concrete IMO

 

[Rmckoy]

This is life rock after a year in the water. Its all encrusted in coraline and looks good. You do go through an ugly stage as some of the epoxy chips off around the 3/4month mark. Dry rock isint abnormal in the hobby anymore it just may take some more time for your tank to mature for some of the more sensitive corals.

I haven’t priced it yet .
but the last live rock I bought was $10/lb

 

[LordofCinder]

I guess just changing a v to an f helps them sell a lot, but protects them legally.

 

[Tonycass12]

I haven’t priced it yet .
but the last live rock I bought was $10/lb

Yup crazy expensive. I remember over 10 years ago when Fiji or tonga liverock was available at almost any saltwater fish shop. Instant turn key way to start a tank because you were putting chunks of a reef into a tank. But then we hit the ban on all that because guys were literally blowing up the reefs to collect rock for us. Back then it was only 6$ or less a lb. Now you see Australian liverock from time to time going for over 30$ a lb

 

[eb1o-0]

Long time ago, in galaxy far far away.....

I was told that "live rock" reffers to type of rock, not specific rock current state, wich can be dry, wet, cured, fresh......

So, this is like thumb and fingers, all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumb.....

Same here..... Live refers to tock type....

Beside, 95% of "reef products" are elaborated "scams", and hevy relying om small letter prints, and buyers ignorance or lack of knowledge......

I must disagree, many of what is sold as live rock is 70% of the time man made rock dumped in the ocean that is then harvested when mature. its called live rock because of the many microorganisms and micro fauna living in and on it.

 

[bert236]

Long time ago, in galaxy far far away.....

I was told that "live rock" reffers to type of rock, not specific rock current state, wich can be dry, wet, cured, fresh......

So, this is like thumb and fingers, all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumb.....

Same here..... Live refers to tock type....

Beside, 95% of "reef products" are elaborated "scams", and hevy relying om small letter prints, and buyers ignorance or lack of knowledge......

That’s a big claim that 95% of reef products are scams. Care to back that up with anything other than vibrant? Just so the rest of us aren’t buying all these “scam” products

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

Alive dead or in between I’ve used it no issues here

 

[Gp!]

It is definitely a lame choice of names. They obviously picked it to be confused with live rock on purpose.

 

[Rmckoy]

Yup crazy expensive. I remember over 10 years ago when Fiji or tonga liverock was available at almost any saltwater fish shop. Instant turn key way to start a tank because you were putting chunks of a reef into a tank. But then we hit the ban on all that because guys were literally blowing up the reefs to collect rock for us. Back then it was only 6$ or less a lb. Now you see Australian liverock from time to time going for over 30$ a lb

At that time . I have bought complete systems closing just to get the rocks and equipment .
At one point in time I had almost 600 lbs of live rocks in multiple tanks

aside from the 300 lbs I have in my current 230 the rest are dry and in foam shipping containers .
Sadly . Only a few of my rocks now are larger than 12” which makes aquascaping a challenge .

 

[Hermie]

It is definitely a lame choice of names. They obviously picked it to be confused with live rock on purpose.

the more i think about it the less sense it makes to me. life rock is as terrible name IMHO. its hardly "alife" at all.

 

[Rmckoy]

the more i think about it the less sense it makes to me. life rock is as terrible name IMHO. its hardly "alife" at all.

Makes me wonder about the bacteria sprayed on the rocks to give the fake coralline colour .
does it eventually break down to cause future issues ?
What is it sprayed with ?