• Stands on its own - a single moulded column does the job a carefully balanced stack of five or six rocks would otherwise do, and it cannot shift and collapse the way a stack can.
• Reversible by design - flat side down gives a nook-filled pinnacle, flat side up gives a flat-topped tree platform. The same rock builds two different scapes.
• Around 30 cm of height per piece - enough to lift corals into the upper third of a standard reef tank, where the light is.
• Holes across the top face - frag plugs seat into them directly, so the pinnacle doubles as a frag rack you do not have to look at.
• Two per box - one for each end of the tank, or stacked and offset for a single taller feature.
• Open structure, not a solid lump - the porosity that makes it light for its size is also biological surface area working inside the display.
• No curing - dry aragonite infused with living spored bacteria, so no die-off and no ammonia from the rock itself.
• Coralline-toned coating - purple from new, rather than a bare white column waiting a year to colour up.

CaribSea designs the Shroom to work either way up, and the two orientations produce genuinely different aquascapes.

Flat side down

The stalk points upward and the wide face sits on the sand or glass. This is the stable pinnacle configuration, with nooks and crevices running up the sides for frags at several heights. It is the version to use if you want a tall, narrow feature with plenty of planting positions.

Flat side up

The wide face becomes a table. CaribSea describes this as a tree-style platform, with holes across the top for easy frag placement. It suits a frag-heavy tank, or a scape where you want one broad shaded overhang for fish to hold under.

Tiled into the tank floor

CaribSea also suggests puzzle-piecing Shrooms into a rock bed on the bare glass, filling the crevices with sand, to build a firm reef bottom to scape on top of. That is a useful option in a tank where you want structure without a deep sand bed.

Shrooms are feature pieces rather than bulk rock, so the sizing question has two halves: how many pinnacles suit the tank, and how much total rock the tank wants.

For total rock, CaribSea's own published guidance is one 40 lb (18.14 kg) Dreamscapes Assortment Box for every 40 to 60 US gallons. Converted, that is roughly 0.08 to 0.12 kg of rock per litre of display volume.

The rock column is CaribSea's figure converted to litres. The pinnacle column is our own scaping guidance, not a manufacturer specification - two identical pinnacles placed symmetrically is the most common mistake, and offsetting them in both height and position is what makes the scape read as natural.

In a tank of 200 L or more, expect to buy base rock as well. A box of Shrooms supplies the height, not the volume.

CaribSea makes a similar-looking piece called the Moani Shroom under item number 00366. This listing is the LifeRock Shroom, item 00367.

If you would rather buy a matched assortment sized to the tank, the LifeRock Dreamscapes Aquascaping Kit supplies arches, ledges and base rock together.

1. Rinse lightly in clean fresh or saltwater. This removes loose dust only - it is not a cleaning or curing step.
2. Decide the orientation before the sand goes in. Flipping a pinnacle later means digging out and resettling the base.
3. Seat the base directly on the bare glass where you can, then bring sand up around it. A pinnacle standing on sand can tip when a goby or wrasse burrows underneath.
4. Set the two pieces at different heights and off the centre line. Matched, symmetrical placement is what makes a scape look manufactured.
5. Push firmly on the top of each pinnacle before adding water. If it rocks now, it will topple later.

No adhesive is supplied. A shroom standing flat-side-down is stable on its own; bonding is worth considering if you stack one on another or run very strong flow across the top.

Suitable for: marine and reef aquariums; frag tanks, where the flat top works as a display shelf; nano and mid-size reefs that need height without losing swimming room to a bulky stack; African cichlid tanks, which want the same hard, alkaline water.

Not suitable for: planted freshwater aquariums, soft-water community tanks, blackwater setups, shrimp tanks and discus systems. CaribSea states plainly that LifeRock raises pH and alkalinity and should only be used in marine, reef or African Cichlid tanks. For a freshwater feature rock, use Dragon Stone Freshwater Rock instead.

There is no replacement interval. Aragonite dissolves very slowly and a pinnacle placed today is still a pinnacle in a decade.

The one maintenance point specific to this shape is the flat face. Whichever way up it sits, that broad horizontal surface collects detritus faster than sloped rock does. A baster or a powerhead blast across it at each water change keeps it from becoming a nutrient reservoir behind the corals.

The purple colouring is a factory coating that mimics mature coralline algae rather than live coralline. In a tank with stable alkalinity, calcium and magnesium, real coralline typically takes over the surface within several months.

• CaribSea LifeRock Original 40lb - the base rock that fills out the scape around the pinnacles.
• CaribSea LifeRock Flatz - sliced shelves for bridging between two pinnacles or capping the stalk.
• CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Reef Sand - an aragonite sand bed with chemistry that matches the rock.
• CaribSea Purple-Up - calcium and trace supplement aimed at bringing real coralline growth over the factory colouring.

CaribSea does not publish a warranty term for its aquascaping rock. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply regardless, and are not limited by anything the manufacturer does or does not offer.

CaribSea does not publish a box weight for the Shrooms. Retail listings put a two-piece box in the region of 11 kg, so treat it as a heavy parcel when you check freight, and expect some variation because every piece is hand made. Tall, sculpted rock is the most fragile shape in the LifeRock range - a clean break can usually be rejoined with reef-safe gel and disappears into the scape.

How tall are CaribSea LifeRock Shrooms?

CaribSea lists the Shroom at 12 inch height, which is approximately 30 cm. Every piece is hand made, so expect some variation between individual pieces and between the two in a box.

How many come in a box?

Two. CaribSea packs and sells the LifeRock Shroom two per case under item number 00367.

Can they be used upside down?

Yes, and CaribSea intends them to be. Flat side down gives a stable pinnacle with nooks up the sides for frags at different heights. Flat side up gives a tree-style platform with holes across the top for frag placement. Neither orientation is the wrong one.

Do LifeRock Shrooms need curing?

No. CaribSea states that LifeRock does not need curing and suggests only a light rinse in clean fresh or saltwater to remove loose particles before it goes into the aquarium. Because it is dry rock there is no die-off and no ammonia produced by the rock itself.

Will they cycle my tank on their own?

No. The rock carries living spored bacteria that activate in saltwater and give the cycle a head start, but it seeds a cycle rather than replacing one. Test ammonia and nitrite and wait for both to read zero before adding livestock.

Is this the same as the Moani Shroom?

No. CaribSea produces both, and they are separate items - the LifeRock Shroom is item 00367 and the Moani Shroom is item 00366. This listing is the LifeRock Shroom.