Thoughts on fake coral?

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aquatix

Guest
I've always loved the look of the hand crafted fake coral in tanks like the Mirage at Vegas and many others. The other cool feature is that you can build in jets and overflows into them:

I am thinking of doing this in a 170 gallon tall, FISH ONLY tank I'm doing. What are the downsides?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I had one, and it collected a lot of debris in the nooks and crannies, and the way it reacted was it STUNK....worse than if something had died....I have read that if you use something fake...make sure you know what it is made out of, and that it is SW safe
 
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aquatix

Guest
These would be hand crafted and made out of fish safe polymers. They design each one custom to the specific tank... I'd link to it but I don't think I'm supposed to.
 
pezenfuego

pezenfuego

Active Member
The ones at Sheds are pretty neat...but I've seen someone who had them in a fish only...and quite frankly they were terribly tacky and the tank looked stupid because of them...imo. This is YOUR tank, take our advice and ponder it, but ultimately do what you want.
 
jimvette1

jimvette1

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3015689
I had one, and it collected a lot of debris in the nooks and crannies, and the way it reacted was it STUNK....worse than if something had died....I have read that if you use something fake...make sure you know what it is made out of, and that it is SW safe
+1
All fake coral is a pain in the rear to keep clean, unless you like spending all your time cleaning.
 
kmart189

kmart189

Member
from what I hear Tenecor is quality. But why not go with the real thing it will look better you will eventually do it anyway if you are already trying to immitate it. If it is fake it will look fake IMO. I have a ship in my tank, but am hopeful it will be covered in coraline someday it already has pineapple sponges all over.
 
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aquatix

Guest
Well, one reason is that real corals are so damn expensive. But the main reason is that I don't want to be limited to certain fish. I love angels, puffers, etc...
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
One thing that may help with keeping them clean is to treat them like real coral as far as flow is concerned, real coral needs lots of flow to carry waste away from the coral and to bring them food. In your case you just need to keep waste from accumulating in all of the nooks and crannies so using powerheads or a closed loops system to create a high flow enviroment will help keep them clean and the fish won't mind the extra flow.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by aquatix
http:///forum/post/3015713
Well, one reason is that real corals are so damn expensive. But the main reason is that I don't want to be limited to certain fish. I love angels, puffers, etc...
Yes...expensive they are.....that's a choice you have to make when planning your aquarium....
hey some people do fake...you do what you want...just be sure they are SW safe, and find out how they get cleaned...
 
cleve_seahorse

cleve_seahorse

Member
I have a few fakey's in my 30g qt , and quite frankly , they look like fakey's....maybe get some some softies , or leathers ? There not that expensive from this site
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Since your in Cali, join your local reef club and generally they should be able to hook you up with some inexpensive corals but you'll have to invest in lighting for whatever corals you decide to keep.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Fake coral looks nice and very colorful. You can get a CUC and they will keep it clean just like rock. If you add some live rock it will even seed it.
The flow will keep it from getting nasty, but it will not keep its colors. Algae always wins. Saltwater algae does not wash off like the green slime of freshwater algae.
What makes you think fake coral is cheap? I have one piece in my tank and I paid nearly $60.00 for it. Coraline gets on it like everything else.
It is your tank, you do what you want. whatever you chose enjoy it.
 
ahren

ahren

Member
i personally think it sucks sorta like getting fake house plants or a fake lawn if you want coral suck it save money & buy the real thing theres way more satisfaction in keeping something alive & watching it grow sorry if that was mean just my thoughts
 
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eric b 125

Guest
the OP said that they dont want the real deal b/c of fish limitations. honestly, i would just take all the cheddar youre going to throw at the fake coral and get some nice pieces of LR and build a boss aquascape.
 
A

aquatix

Guest
Originally Posted by Eric B 125
http:///forum/post/3016121
the OP said that they dont want the real deal b/c of fish limitations. honestly, i would just take all the cheddar youre going to throw at the fake coral and get some nice pieces of LR and build a boss aquascape.
what is a boss aquascape?
 
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