CaribSea LifeRock shapes (from Amazon)

[Kika]

Hi All ! I was gifted RedSea 250 from a friend who left the state. I don’t like the rocks + aquascaping and I would like to upgrade/change those rocks. I am wondering if I can use the linked Amazon 20 pounds caribsea LifeRock shapes as a replacement. Would that “hurt” my already established tank in any way? I have 3 clowns, 2 tangs, and few entry beginner corals (not yet glued to rocks, just on a coral shelf). Thank you.

https://a.co/d/6udDZCs

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Swapping out the rock stack is no simple task in these tanks. There's beneficial bacteria on the existing rock that is very important to the health of the system, and takes some time to become established. To just remove all the rock could cripple your biological filtration, which would be very detrimental to the tank. I'm not saying you can't switch the rock, you just have to have a solid plan and understanding of how the rock is your tank's main biofilter.

Good luck!

 

[Kika]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Swapping out the rock stack is no simple task in these tanks. There's beneficial bacteria on the existing rock that is very important to the health of the system, and takes some time to become established. To just remove all the rock could cripple your biological filtration, which would be very detrimental to the tank. I'm not saying you can't switch the rock, you just have to have a solid plan and understanding of how the rock is your tank's main biofilter.

Good luck!

Much appreciated!!

 

[Fish Fan]

Much appreciated!!

Happy to try and help. Again, if you'd like to switch the rock, it can be done, it just shouldn't be done all at once with dry, uncycled rocks. Have you kept an aquarium before or is this the first?

 

[Kika]

Much appreciated!!

Happy to try and help. Again, if you'd like to switch the rock, it can be done, it just shouldn't be done all at once with dry, uncycled rocks. Have you kept an aquarium before or is this the first?

This is my first, I’m a beginner… what if I use live rocks like caribsea instead? Would that still harm the biological filtration? I am just trying to get this tank an aesthetic look, rocks look ugly, lol

 

[LPS Bum]

I’ve only used those CaribSea rocks once, and I’ve batted green hair algae for 2 years since doing it. I would always recommend live rock to anyone starting a new tank. Or at least a couple of pieces to augment the dry rock if price is the issue. You can’t beat the bio diversity of real live rock.

 

[Uncle99]

Hi All ! I was gifted RedSea 250 from a friend who left the state. I don’t like the rocks + aquascaping and I would like to upgrade/change those rocks. I am wondering if I can use the linked Amazon 20 pounds caribsea LifeRock shapes as a replacement. Would that “hurt” my already established tank in any way? I have 3 clowns, 2 tangs, and few entry beginner corals (not yet glued to rocks, just on a coral shelf). Thank you.

https://a.co/d/6udDZCs

It would depend on how old the system was.
And did it stay wet when moved.

I’m not sure I’d replace the rock if it’s matured, that might set you back big time.

You could add some new rock, I’ve used that stuff and I love the look right away, but, it’s not seasoned.

You could mix the too which would lower processing

Or if the existing rock is new, I pretreat that rock for 30 days in a bucket, then you can add it all except 1 piece of the old for seeding purposes.

Expense rocks but looks great, works as good as any other rock I’ve purchased, just not brown or white.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hi All ! I was gifted RedSea 250 from a friend who left the state. I don’t like the rocks + aquascaping and I would like to upgrade/change those rocks. I am wondering if I can use the linked Amazon 20 pounds caribsea LifeRock shapes as a replacement. Would that “hurt” my already established tank in any way? I have 3 clowns, 2 tangs, and few entry beginner corals (not yet glued to rocks, just on a coral shelf). Thank you.

https://a.co/d/6udDZCs

The established rock, no matter how 'ugly' is the main biological filter for the tank as well as home to many useful animals.

It's almost worth its weight in gold :-)

I would not mess with it unless you have a great deal of experience.

 

[Fish Fan]

Please know that the CaribSea rocks are all a type of dead, dry rock, despite the intentionally misleading names like “Life Rock”. Real live rock comes wet from a Local Fish Store (LFS) or from a mariculture facility.

Can you post of a pic of the rocks you have now? I’d be willing to bet there’s ways to make them look better :-)

 

[PapaFishRocks]

Agree with Fish Fan, a rearranging of the current rocks would be the best approach.

 

[exnisstech]

Cover the rocks with coral and they all look good.
I did what you want to do once and it was disaster. I'll never remove live rock and replace it with dry rock again. I didn't loose the cycle because I left some live rock in temporarily but the new dry rock had no biofilm and was an algae magnet. I battled green hair algae for over a year.
My suggestion would be to leave the tank as is for now and start researching the hobby to find out how our systems work so you can learn about the biofilter which live rock is the heart of.

 

[Kika]

Please know that the CaribSea rocks are all a type of dead, dry rock, despite the intentionally misleading names like “Life Rock”. Real live rock comes wet from a Local Fish Store (LFS) or from a mariculture facility.

Can you post of a pic of the rocks you have now? I’d be willing to bet there’s ways to make them look better :-)

This is what I did after I transported the tank, I was in a hurry, I took out some rocks because it was a lot of big pieces

 

[exnisstech]

That doesn't look bad.
On another note that Hippo tang will outgrow that tank pretty quickly and 3 clowns will most likely be a problem.

 

[Fish Fan]

This is what I did after I transported the tank, I was in a hurry, I took out some rocks because it was a lot of big pieces

II think that looks great! What about the rocks don't you like? Is it the aquascape, or the rocks themselves, like maybe they have algae?

 

[PapaFishRocks]

That doesn't look bad.
On another note that Hippo tang will outgrow that tank pretty quickly and 3 clowns will most likely be a problem.

Yup, 3 Clowns today, 2 Clowns tomorrow.

 

[exnisstech]

Yup, 3 Clowns today, 2 Clowns tomorrow.

And maybe one at the finale if transitioning doesn't go well.

 

[Kika]

This is what I did after I transported the tank, I was in a hurry, I took out some rocks because it was a lot of big pieces

II think that looks great! What about the rocks don't you like? Is it the aquascape, or the rocks themselves, like maybe they have algae?

I think the rocks themselves. That look bulky and brown. Not the look I would rather have but I’ll stick to them for as long as I keep this tank. I will upgrade for sure in a few months given the blue hippo I have. Then I will introduce new rocks. Thank you for your help, really appreciate it

 

[Kika]

That doesn't look bad.
On another note that Hippo tang will outgrow that tank pretty quickly and 3 clowns will most likely be a problem.

Excuse my ignorance, but what’s the issue with 3 clowns? Should I only keep 2. They were included in the tank tho. I have notice one at the corners of the tank often, but I don’t see aggression …

 

[Fish Fan]

I think the rocks themselves. That look bulky and brown. Not the look I would rather have but I’ll stick to them for as long as I keep this tank. I will upgrade for sure in a few months given the blue hippo I have. Then I will introduce new rocks. Thank you for your help, really appreciate it

So I think @exnisstech's suggestion above to keep this tank going as-is while you learn more about the hobby is a great idea. In this hobby, we don't do anything quickly, and changing out the rock is no small undertaking. If you feel like you have ugly algae, members here can help you address that.

This is a great hobby and R2R is a great community, so please keep posting questions, but this one unfortunately doesn't have an easy answer. And I mean absolutely, positively no disrespect at all, but if you don't yet have a solid understanding of how your rocks function as your biofilter, it's going to be difficult for anyone here to help you with the exchange of rocks you are hoping for here. Status quo for now, you'll get there, R2R will help

I think the R2R Supreme Guide to reef tanks was linked above; definitely check that out. While many here at R2R don't care for these videos, I believe that the beginner videos from BRS are also a great way to learn about this hobby. Yes, they want to "sell" you things (who doesn't?), just don't buy anything until you check with R2R first. You definitely don't need every piece of gear they suggest for your tank

 

[Fish Fan]

Excuse my ignorance, but what’s the issue with 3 clowns? Should I only keep 2. They were included in the tank tho. I have notice one at the corners of the tank often, but I don’t see aggression …

Clownfish are not the happy-go-lucky fish Disney would have us all believe

They are typically very aggressive with each other, and with other fish. If you keep one Clownfish, that's fine. If you keep two Clownfish, they are all born male, and then the larger, more dominant fish will become a female, and if that goes well they can usually be kept as a pair, though they can still be hostile to other fish. Keeping three or more is usually a bad idea. There will be ongoing aggression issues (typically; I'm sure someone will note an exception), and often the third fish out will get bullied badly. There's other exceptions like when people keep dozens of Clowns together in a "harem", but this is not what most hobbyists are able to do.

Don't be mistaken with very small, immature Clownfish as seemingly "getting along". They will grow into stocky, 6" bruisers of a fish. Nothing like Nemo at all

And no such thing as an ignorant question, especially in a complex hobby like this one