How to connect pieces together
Parts are easily twisted together with your hands. Just twist until it stops.
If you like to disconnect two pieces just twist the opposite way. Normally the connector (AA5) will still sit put in one piece. Then just use the loose piece with a little gap (2-3mm) at the connection point and twist to loosen the connector. See the video above. Never use a plier or similar tool to loosen the connector.
When using the lock screw just twist the parts together as above. Then use the screw SCR to lock the connector in each piece. It will go almost all the way in.
Curing and cycling?
CoraroC parts are delivered fully cured. It means that the casted pieces are allowed to first dry for at least one month and then circulated in freshwater until we have a pH that shows the curing is done. This is in vats full of CoraroC and not to compare with a normal aqua scape in density.
There are many opionions 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 sucess so we will just breifly describe how we normally do it.
Starting up a new tank with CoraroC
We will normally scape the tank dry. If we use the glass holder GH-100 we will let the silicone cure for at least a week before use. After 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 comparison 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 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.
Mature pieces of CoraroC compared to new piece
Is CoraroC reefsafe?
Yes! We have used it in our tanks for several years now during development. Below is one example where you can read ICP-results however we think the best prof if something is reef safe is thriving corals and fish. We have never lost a fish in our CoraroC systems and we have clowns breeding on CoraroC regularly. We have kept sensitive corals in the scape like rare acroporas and gonioporas (bernardpora?) to give some examples.
1200 liter system with 800 liter display
This system was set up in june 2020. Display 800 liter, sump 150 liter and 250 liter frag tank attached.
Tests above was done at the 6-month mark of the reef. You can compare the ICP from the different companies. The only element elevated was silicium (Si) in two tests. Most likely this was because no silica filter was used on the RO system. The above comparison is also interesting in what regard you should trust your ICP-results.
Below is sample of the RO water and a later test done at the 12-month mark of the same system without water changes. As expected, some elements where a little bit on the low side due to the lack of dosing. But the system and corals were thriving.
Corals in the 1200 liter system
Acropora spathula
Acropora awi
Acropora microclados SSC hybrid
Acropora turaki
Acropora sp. "matchstick"
Acropora microclados SSC classic
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