Artificial Reef!

[kennydoll]

Hello everybody. So, it had been a really REALLY crazy terrible week for me and all my fish because well... they all got velvet.
but i was thinking.. while i have only a few fish left (3 clowns and 2 damsels) and my tank is empty, why don’t i work on my aquascape and try some new stuff? that being said, i was watching Tanked and was completely inspired by the idea of ARTIFICAL CORAL.
how many times have i seen this show? uhhh why have i never thought of this before??? who knows but i’m going to do it next paycheck.

i picked out all the colors and corals that i want, and i’m getting them from Living Color and RocksNReef. they have a HUGE selection of artifical corals, in any color, and pre-made reefs! and, the best part, it’s not harming the ocean.

now, will it look fake? possibly to an experienced reefer who knows that a xenia pulses or a mushroom doesn’t come in that color but... it’s not harming the ocean. it doesn’t loose color. it’s safe for the fish. no feeding the corals. no having specific lighting. you can have any non-reef safe fish you want because it will have no coral to munch on. it’ll be beautiful. no being impatient waiting for tiny frags to grow... sounds perfect. right?

i’m starting with my 125 gallon, and then i’ll do my 40 gallon predator (soon to be... currently has the remaining fish in it), my 20, and my 5 all with fake corals!

once i actually order the corals and start building, i’ll post all the photos on here. just thought i’d start by explaining.

anybody else done this? also, i’m thinking of specific. color themes in each tank?

 

[Waters]

Fortunately now a days keeping live coral doesn't necessarily harm the ocean due to more and more tanks being set up with frags. That being said, I think some of what Tanked does looks good....the problem is going to be keeping it looking good. All those fake pieces will quickly be covered with algae and other growths. As long as you keep up with keeping those scrubbed clean, it should look ok. Good luck and post pics

 

[JRAD]

Please take pictures of your build. Ocean Aquaria makes some very realistic looking corals. I bought some for a fish only tank that I am going to build in the future. I think I may have a few from living color as well. Oh well good luck! I plan to do tank build Thread . Waiting for a tank to be custom built !

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

How is your build going? I think I’m ready to give up on real corals and invest in some good looking artificial ones. I can’t even keep xenia or green star polyps alive, but have a few that are doing well...despite the fact that I can’t really care for them due to a horse wreck.

 

[JRAD]

Here are some of mine. These are almost all from ocean aquarium except for the blue sponge to the left of the picture. The rocks are from Ocean aquaria as well. The big one has a nice cave in it. The blue sponge is from living color I have a lot jammed on these rocks and will probably end up not using all of them at once but interchanging them as I see fit for cleaning etc.

 

[lagatbezan]

Question: How do you keep them clean once they are in the tank and keep algae from growing on them? Do you have to take them out and scrub them routinely?

 

[JRAD]

This is my first time using them. Good thing is don’t need to use high intensity lighting which should help with algae growth. Also I am going to use an algae reactor so hopefully algae growth in the tank will be minimized. The corals should clean up with water and a scrub brush. They came with a warning to not use bleach to clean.

 

[kennydoll]

hey guys, so i got the first few pieces for my artificial tank. these pieces are just from petco and i’ve had them about three weeks??? not a single bit of algae has grown on them which is really cool. i love the bright colors and can’t wait for my shipment to arrive from RocknReefs.

i ordered about 12 pieces from them, which are currently being customed made. everything is going in my 55 until i get my 125 moved and running again. when i get the pieces, i will show you pictures of them.

i really love the artificial pink brain coral i have picture below, it’s about 7 inches across and it’s just beautiful, especially under the blue moonlight setting.

when i get the other pieces, and my 125 up and running, i will be gluing all the pieces of rock and coral together to make a permanent piece that i like. of course, i will be assembling and reassembling first. i can’t wait to show you guys how it goes but so far, i love artificial reefing

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I really like those! My husband finally helped me put my 125 on the stand so I’ll get some pictures of a few pieces I got. I am actually pretty impressed with a couple Chinese ebay pieces.

 

[Joshua2598]

I'm not the biggest fan but looks better than expected

 

[falconut]

Last year I switched from a 90 gallon reef over to a 180 gallon FOWLR. I put in some of the artificial corals & while I can definitely tell the difference, i still like the look. They do require some clearing periodically. Yes, out of the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I once used pieces like this for a fish only system Many years ago. The drawback was algae and diatoms making the pieces look gloomy, however, they were Easy to clean and move around. No dosing required but clearly made a message - " Saltwater System".

 

[bassn99]

I will chime n. When I upgraded my 75 to a custom 150, I went totally artificial with the good custom pieces. Almost $1200 worth. Looked awesome for about 6 weeks then it all went downhill. Water seeps into the slots where the branches (coral) connected. Spoiling inside, removed cleaned and even drilled holes to help. Ended up removing, and replacing with live rock. I think maybe if I had used live rock and integrated a few solid pieces of artificial, it may have worked. Lesson learned. I ended up loosing all my fish a few times. Spent money buying a large UV and even tried Ozone with no success.

 

[falconut]

Yeah, I didn't go with the resin rocks. I just drilled holes in some of the LR. I wanted as much to be natural as possible. But it looked kind of plain until I added the artificial corals.

 

[DHill6]

I had to read the based on the title...
Everyone has their own opinions, with that being said the challenge in a reef tank is keeping the live corals thriving. That's the pull in this hobby. I imagine the fake ones will get dirty on the plus side you won't need to upgrade any equipment, dose as you stated earlier. Should be interesting for you.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

As promised. I really like the candy cane corals. I have some green ones coming too...I actually have some real green ones that are still mad about the move to this tank. And whtever the branch coral is. I have a lot of that but only put two pieces in for now. I am so pleased with it, it was $1.25 on eBay from China It looks different from the photo the seller used, but in this case, it looks even better.

The anemones...they look kind of silly right from the seller, but my clownfish are little turds and loved my real one to death. I discovered by mistake that if you soak them in your tank for a while and then take them out and put them in a plastic bag, the silicone will get sticky and warp as it dries and it will look more realistic when you get it wet again and carefully pull the tentacles apart.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I have a few more things coming but here is a shot of my whole tank

 

[kennydoll]

so, my order from rocknreef’s came in with my hand made coral pieces and i am O B S S E S S E D. they are utterly beautiful. i thought about, for my next order, asking them about mixing different colors on brain corals and stuff to make them look more realistic. plus, my fish are seeming to really enjoy the fake coral. my scissortail dartfish really likes going underneath the edge of the ruffled coral at night, and swimming in and out of the sea squirts and tube sponges that i ordered!
next step is to fill up my 20 gallon completely with corals from rocknreefs, and then finish my 55 and then my 125, and then my mantis tank. i am not doing fake anemones, and i’m actually gonna buy some REAL torch and hammer corals because i like the flowy-ness of them. but for now, this is what i got.

 

[kennydoll]

here’s all the pieces so far. the “star coral” is a bit ugly, i will probably attach that to the back when i stick all my corals and rocks together when everything gets transferred to the 125.

 

[kennydoll]

also, here’s the tank with all the pieces. ifbyou guys want to see more updates on the tanks, you can follow my instagram?? @kennysreeftank
it gets updated daily of my reefs sooooo