(relaxing music)
(air whooshing)
- You good?
- [Cameraman] Good.
- This is by far my favorite pack of life rock.
That was it.
Arches, caves, tunnels, all in the same box,
which has some serious advantages.
We've talked about life rock before
about the fact that it's 97% calcium carbonate
and that it has trace minerals,
like strontium and magnesium.
The fact that it has 50% void space
and acts as a biological filter by providing ample space
for the bacteria that's already infused in the rock
to grow throughout its porous structure.
That it's mined from the ground but was once ocean rock
that was home to see creatures a hundred millennia ago,
making it a fantastic option that doesn't involve
taking live rock from our planet's reefs.
And obviously, the fact that it is already covered
in natural shades of pink and purple pigment,
which looks great from day one
and doesn't show that terrible brown ugly stage
the way white rock usually does.
It's a great option for your aquascape
and I've personally used it many times in the past
in a number of successful reef tanks.
But I've got to admit, I have a little bit of a love affair
specifically with CaribSea's life rock shapes.
The life rock shapes are essentially an assortment
of some of the most useful types of rock structures
that most reefers aim to create
when building an amazing aquascape
which means you don't need to smash and glue rocks together
to try and create them yourself.
And instead, can just choose where in your aquascape
you'd like to incorporate them.
In each box of life rock shapes,
you get arches, tunnels and caves.
Each box of life rock shapes contains 20 pounds of rock
which works out to roughly four pieces on average.
And for example, the box I received has two arches,
one donut or tunnel and one large cave.
They're all completely unique
since they are made from natural rock.
And while they are crafted by hand
and are roughly uniform in size,
they definitely look different from one another.
Getting a closer look at the arches,
each arch is around 10 to 12 inches long
and roughly eight to 10 inches wide.
They are a lot more interesting
than just a flat curved rock
and they have lots of texture in the form of mounds
and small boulders on the top of the arch
which provides lots of juts and peaks
and recesses to mount corals to.
The underside of the arch is a gentle semi circle
and while it is flatter to give that feeling
of openness to the archway,
it still has lots of texture to keep things looking natural.
Each arch also has three holes
that pass straight through from top to bottom
and can help with flow, habitat for small fish,
and also allows them to be used with the rod system
that you'll find with the various life rock tree kits.
The tunnels or donuts are roughly seven inches wide
and seven inches deep from tip to tip
of the largest jutting peaks.
Their donut shape is obvious when looking at it head on
but as soon as you start to get an angled look,
they quickly start to look much more random
and natural with all of the small boulders and mounds
obscuring the hole.
They're a fantastic way to allow more float
through your aquascape as well as for fish habitat.
And they can act as the entrance to a simple cave
made out of a rock pile or as a simple pass through
for fish to travel.
I think my favorite shape though is the cave.
They're usually between 10 to 12 inches long,
roughly eight inches wide and seven inches tall
and are essentially a dome-shaped rock
with an entrance on each side
with three jutting rocks inside of it.
It is extremely versatile.
You can lay it curbside down to create
an interesting cave for fish habitat
or with the dome side down which has a very interesting
cavernous valley look to it.
You can also lay them on either of the open ends
for a recessed wall type look with the jutting rocks
creating some interesting places to mount corals.
There's really no wrong way to use these caves.
Back in the day when life rock from the ocean
was all that was available,
I distinctly remember always digging through
the piles of rock at my LFS trying to find pieces
that looked like these caves
and they were hard to come by.
So, I am really glad CaribSea added this shape
to their lineup.
And yes, for those wondering,
you absolutely can create an awesome aquascape
with nothing above the box of shapes.
Here's an example of a quick scape
that I made with these four pieces.
But when you start to add in the other styles of life rock,
that's where the shapes really start to shine.
Building up that aquascape with boulders
and then finding places to add in those shapes
is just a ton of fun.
And you can grab some light rock shapes
for yourself by clicking right here.
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