General information
CoraroC is a fully 3d printed aquascape system. CoraroC will look very natural in the tank when the tank matures. The system allows you to move corals individually for fragging or trimming. You can move a single coral from one spot to another to reshape your display, or move a coral to a new location to better meet the corals need of flow and light. The scape can easily be changed, even if coralline growth is excessive.
CoraroC is available as individual parts as well as kits. If you are new to CoraroC we recommend to start with our CoraboX kits together with some of the foots or floating scape connections. CoraroC is a lightweight system to allow for optimal floating scapes. In the beginning, the pieces need to be emptied of air via the vent holes in each piece. This can be done by rolling the pieces briefly under water. The BR-100, SH-100, FC-100 and FV-100 can be filled with sand or reef cement if you like to add some more weight to the scape.
Our floating kits (CorafloaT nano and medium) are possible to use on rimless tanks with a glass thickness between 5-19mm. These kits will allow you to get one or more starting connections for branching scapes from the back or the side of your tank. The CorafloaT kits kan also be used on the bottom of the tank. You can hang the scape on the edge of the tank, but you can also glue the same pieces to the wall or bottom if you like.
Parts are easily twisted together with your hands. Just twist until it stops. You have to twist pretty hard to get a secure connection. If you like to disconnect two pieces just twist the opposite way. If the connector (CO-100) still sit put in one piece, then just push the connector with your thumb inwards. It will release the lock. Never use a plier or similar tool to loosen the connector.
Is CoraroC v2 compatible with CoraroC v1? Yes! With the connector COv1-100 you can merge between CoraroC v1 and v2.
How much CoraroC do I need?
It depends on a lot of factors. How dense do you like your scape? Will you combine it with dead or live rock? If you're only using CoraroC the CoraboX 100 will be adequate for approx. 50-100 liter tank (15-25 gallon), CoraboX 200 fr approx. 100-200 liter tank (25-50 gallon) and CoraboX 300 approx. 200-250 liter tank 50-65 gallon). If you have a bigger tank, just combine the boxes according to your needs. It is very easy to add more CoraroC along the way of your reefing journey.
When will CoraroC mature with coralline algae, pods and so on?
It depends a lot on your husbandry and your tank's biome. To give a hint, a new tank with only CoraroC will mature in like 6-12 months and if you put CoraroC in a running mature tank it will mature in 4-12 weeks. Note that the pieces of CoraroC have “pod-openings” and an open structure for biofilm on the inside and outside. If you fill some pieces with sand, you will get the anaerobic benefits of the sand.
Do I need tools to use CoraroC?
All pieces are put together with your hands. You should not use tools to twist the pieces together. You should use quite a lot of force to get a secure connection. When using the FL-100 to connect to your rimless tank, a flat headed screwdriver is needed to adjust and mount it. A flat headed screwdriver can also be used to open and close the caps on the FC-100 and FV-100 for filling with sand or reef cement.
Why is CoraroC white?
It could be any color really because when it matures it will be colored by coralline and similar. However, live rock often starts with a white coral skeleton. The white color gives you great control on how your reef matures. It is easy to see when different phases occurs and when coralline starts to grow. Colored dead rock may lock more natural in the beginning, but you will have a harder time to see and understand the maturing of your tank.
Curing and cycling?
CoraroC does not need any curing. It is ready to be put in a new or a running tank immidatily.
There are many opinions on how to "cycle" a tank or maybe more correctly phrased "how to get a tank to mature". We know there are many different approaches to success so we will just briefly describe how we normally do it.
Starting up a new tank with CoraroC
If we use the holder FR glued to glass we will let the silicone cure for at least a week before use. After a scape is done, we will fill RO-water. And then mix the salt in the system. We will add bacteria and some filter material (bacteria surface) for example Zeolith or products like Aquaforest Life Bio Fil or similar. If we have access to "clean" live rock/rubble we like to add a few small pieces in the CoraroC scape to speed up things. Normally we will start adding corals on day 2 or 3 to get the biology running. Clean up crew like day 3-7 and then fishes at last from day 7 and forward. We add fish slowly meaning a few small fishes in the beginning and then slowly increase with more and bigger fishes keeping the nutrient load in balance with the maturing of the system.
We have found this way to work really well as long as you don´t add to many fish to fast.
Mature pieces of CoraroC v1 dissembled
Note the very clean surface of the connection point. These pieces are from a one-year-old tank.
Adding CoraroC to an existing tank
As always with reef tanks changes must be made carefully and with some thought. CoraroC will not impact your parameters in a bad way but there are always effects of changes in a reef tank so take it slowly. If you just add a branch or smaller shelf it´s normally ok to just put the CoraroC pieces together outside the tank and then place them in your existing scape.
If you add a lot of CoraroC (like replacing your existing acuascape) consider splitting the addition of CoraroC in two or three steps. The days or weeks between the steps will depend on where your reef is at the starting point and how your reef "react". One option is also to add pieces in your sump. It is best to connect pieces together while doing so to avoid tube worms etc. to build up on the connection points of CoraroC.
If you want to connect a scape to your existing rock work the FR piece is great to glue with epoxy or reef cement and from that connection you can add a branch of CoraroC to your existing scape. The FR piece is also possible to glue directly to the glass. Using underwater glue (Orca or similar) you can do it in a running tank.
Will CoraroC last over time?
Yes! We still have the first pieces of CoraroC made in 2019 running in our tanks. Even if we changed the design a bit, the first pieces are still working like new in connection points, and they look very natural.
