Experimenting with fake corals

[Cody Ray]

At first I thought that they would be extremely ugly and generally unrealistic. Well I gave them a shot, I picked out the 3 that looked the "best" to me. I have to say, if the base is properly covered, they look pretty nice. I will say that they are pretty bright, but I'm sure that is due to the metal halides they are under! (this system use to be reef, now it is FOWLR). Here are a couple pictures for you to enjoy/dislike, whichever you choose

 

[reefD]

wow looks nice. but nothings stopping algae from growing on them. youll have to clean them up every now and then to keep that kind of bright color.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I think that looks very good. Did you order them or get tham at a LFS?

 

[Cody Ray]

Yeah, me and one the LFS employs were talking about that. He suggested getting a toothbrush to clean them off. He also said to soak them in a viniger/hotwater solution before scrubing them with the toothbrush to help dissolve coralline algae. One of the few helpfull LFS, its a wonderful thing!

 

[Cody Ray]

Picked them up at the lfs.

 

[stevebydac]

Having owned some fake corals in the past, your challenge forever will be cleaning in the deep gaps between the branches. You really can't get anything in there. Get a soft pipe cleaner, which will be able to do a slightly better job than a toothbrush in those nooks. The flatter fake corals are FAR easier to clean.

Take them out on your deck and blast them with a hose once in a while. That saves a lot of scrubbing time, but isn't perfect.

 

[Cody Ray]

I would have to imagine cleaning them wouldn't be very easy, of course nothing is very easy in this hobby.

 

[raddogz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6588495#post6588495 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ChinChek787
I would have to imagine cleaning them wouldn't be very easy, of course nothing is very easy in this hobby.

Good for you dude! That is the right attitude. The corals look nice btw!

 

[shouldabenacowboy]

They do look nice.......are you going to get any real ones in the future?


SBC

 

[simple_joe]

I like them. Do you remember the brand? Thanks.

 

[sloshesv]

Just buy in bulk and throw away when they get too gunked up.

 

[piberoptikz]

Looks nice. Just keep it clean.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6589126#post6589126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sloshesv
Just buy in bulk and throw away when they get too gunked up.

I'm not sure about the ones in this thread, but the ones at my LFS are very expensive. Yours look really nice BTW. Wish they had these back when I had a FO tank. I used real dead coral skeletons Didn't know better back then.

I too would recommend some of the flatter "elkhorn" type fake corals. They look very impressive, and can add some quick height to the display.

 

[sloshesv]

They're cheaper when you buy a gross.

 

[otterpop510]

those corals look much better in your tank than in the store. but yeah, i guess just make cleaning them part of your normal routine..

 

[boyer]

I have a fake peice its red with a few holes for fish to swim through, i glued some GSP on it hopfully it will cover completley and still maintain the holes for the fish to swim through

 

[EmergencyDpt]

Looks nice. Put some real ones in there and make em jealous.

 

[flyhigh123]

i clean them by putting them in a bucket and filling the bucket with water and a few cups of bleach. I let it soak over night and the next morning, i spray it down and all the crud comes off no problem. I wash until there is no smell of bleach. Let dry and its good to go...

Bleach is the best bet. Scrubbing doesnt work in the cracks...

 

[stevebydac]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6589829#post6589829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyhigh123
i clean them by putting them in a bucket and filling the bucket with water and a few cups of bleach. I let it soak over night and the next morning, i spray it down and all the crud comes off no problem. I wash until there is no smell of bleach. Let dry and its good to go...

Bleach is the best bet. Scrubbing doesnt work in the cracks...

Interesting. The bleach doesn't fade the colors? Can you approximate how much bleach you use (ex. 1 cup bleach per gallon, or???)

Nice tip. I thought of that before, but was afraid of ruining the corals.

 

[Cody Ray]

They do look nice.......are you going to get any real ones in the future?

Actually I just finished swapping out my corals with these fake ones. Next year I will be starting college, so I was hoping to help simplify the system. Eventually I will have real coral again.

I like them. Do you remember the brand? Thanks.

Got the box right here, says Natural Image, created by Walt Smith.

Interesting. The bleach doesn't fade the colors? Can you approximate how much bleach you use

The back of my box says a 50/50 solution of bleach and water. These corals are colored the whole way through, so that they will not loose color over time (or as little as possible). It says they overcolor some of them to help compensate for color loss.