Live Rock, Decorative, or Both?

[cadbury]

Need some advice, I have about 100 lbs of Live rock and I have alot of show piece like coral, in most of the reef tanks I've seen I never seen decorative coral placed together. Would it look good to mix both? I have about $600.00 worth,
Barnacle,Cauliflower,Catspaw,Pipe Organ. Should I combine both?

 

[jim672]

If you're asking if it's safe to place corals right next to eachother, the answer is "not most of the time". Many corals don't like coral neighbors and will attempt to sting the other coral. You should thoroughly investigate compatibilities of your corals before you move them near eachother.
If you're asking if it's okay to put coral on, or near LR, the answer is "yes", that's a good thing.
Jim

 

[m1rodrig]

Are you talking about the dead coral that is ornamental.Because if you are it is a matter of taste and how you want to set up your tank.I think it is a matter of personal preference.I prefer to keep my reef as natural looking as possible,therefore I would not mix the dead ornamental coral with live coral.If it was a fish only I would place ornamental coral.There are many beautiful pieces out there

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Just double-checking, but are those showpiece corals dead or alive? I got the impression you were talking about the large decorative pieces you can buy that are bleached/or colored and dead. If so, i placed a medium sized bleached piece in my tank, just to complement the live rock. Just keep in mind; they tend to accumulate algae and other things, just like live rock. As a bonus though, it will serve a similar purpose as crushed coral does in your sand/tank base.......the calcium carbonate that composes the coral skeleton will add beneficial Calcium ions and buffering capability to the water.

 

[krusk]

I agree with Baren
and no matter how clear your water is
the coral skeletons (dry corals) will turn green, brown, black in no time then it turn your tank look like crab ...

 

[krusk]

oh, to answer your question
Live Rock all the way

 

[m1rodrig]

Baron you made a good point made me think twice about ever buying dead coral.These corals are killed on purpose as compared to the ones that die at aquarists hands unintentionally.I know i've had a few corals die and i really hate when that happens.All we can do is try to learn from our mistakes and continue to learn as this wonderful hobby continues to grow and new reef keeping methods continue to make it easier and possible to keep these
magnificent creatures alive.

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Good point Baron. I guess the only way i would advocate using a decorative coral piece would be a piece properly harvested. Using only pieces that have been broken off the reef by natural processes, just like a lot live rock. As it happens, I found my small piece among my dad's old aquarium stuff....so I cant say much about its origins.

 

[jakob4001]

I would think that there would be a conquorable synthetic fake decorative corals by now to use instead, but those too would probably need cleaning at some point...
thin line there between obtaining something that has died once to something that was tried, died, bought again, & died again...or cycling tanks w/ fish, but that's another issue

 

[cadbury]

It is the Decorative dead coral, I had just collected peices here and there over the years and there is some pieces that are absolutely gorgeous. I just hate to waste them and not use them, in the same sense I dont want to set them up in a reef tank and make it look kinda corny? I guess I was wondering if they would compliment eachother? I agree with Baron and I promise never to purchase or add to the killing of our oceans corals!!!!

 

[susiepan]

I agree with Brian and Krusk, they get slimey, yucky and will need to be cleaned alot, if they are just skeletons, if they are alive,,,watch your spacing,,
GL
~Sue

 

[cadbury]

I guess I'm just going to have to try it out and see how iut looks, like I said, I just hate to waste all that? I was just wondering if anyone else has experimented with this?

 

[m1rodrig]

Why not try putting it on your canopy or around the tank to compliment it.It will become a pain with the algae growing on it and will have to be cleaned continuously if put in water

 

[krusk]

if you don't want to waste the skeleton, you can return to the LFS hopefully that is where you get them from.

 

[cadbury]

Unfortunately I can't do that, I've had them for awhile, I guess I'll just have to experiment a little and see how it looks?