Artificial reef and corals?
 

Hi guys, lately I've been watching a show called "Tanked" about 2 guys in Las Vegas who install saltwater tanks throughout the U.S. They don't use LR or real corals but they use an artificial reef. So my question is, "Is they anyone out there who uses an artificial reef and coral system?" Do you prefer it over the lr etc..? Advantages /disadvantages?

That shows a joke and would be interesting to see if any of those tanks are stil up and running. Those fake corals end up looking dirty and fade out (if they're the same ones they sell in LFS). It always feels good to have people standing there looking at your tank and being able to say "No man. All that chit is real. There's no plastic at all in there. I grew it all." It's cheating bro.

The show is not a joke. Their business, ATM, did very well before the show for many years, and continues to do very well.

I have no idea how they keep the artificial reef structures clean, I would like to ask them. They do employ things such as bioballs and other biological filtration. Take breeders for example, they have very overstocked juvenile growout tanks (to reduce fighting), use no live rock, and have great success. Live rock is not needed, they are many ways to skin a cat. Look towards freshwater systems (like discus or cichlids) for filtration ideas.

Theres a 14 page thread about that show here: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...ht=show+tanked
and another 2 page thread here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...ht=tanked+show

I personally don't like the fake liverock and coral look. Most look about as real as those fake plastic plants people put in their freshwater tanks. But I suppose its better for clueless and unmotivated people to use those rather than killing real wild collected pieces.

I watch Tanked and Fish Tank Kings .....I went to living colors website and looked at their coral inserts would be cheaper to have live coral
http://www.livingcolor.com/store/?sl...roducts_id=164

I'm curious about the survival rate of the fish that they add to the tank immediately and also about the maintenance of the tanks afterwards

These artificial reefs are pretty common for large displays. There's lots of challenges to doing a large real reef tank, such as fish disease management, coral chemical warfare, coral health and lighting needs, reef compatible fish etc.

This is the way to go for large displays... you see these at Rainforest Cafe, casinos, hotels, public aquarium/zoos.

I spent some time volunteering at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa as a volunteer diver. Basically, scrubbing algae off these artificial reefs and cleaning windows in their 27 foot deep main reef tank and shark tank.

manual cleaning, and pieces are plug-n-play so they can be removed and clean ones swapped in... so you can bleach the dirty ones.

most public aquariums with large displays will have banks of fluidized sand filter towers for biological filtration, each one being able to take offline to clean while the others run. The key to disease control is ozone systems with off gasing towers.

I figure it is manual cleaning, but I worry about removing paint. I sent a message to the Tanked guys to see what they say.

Very well put. And Myka I'm going to strongly disagree IMO that those guys are a joke and am surprised you of all people think different. Maybe read in to their methods cuz it's pretty much everything you say not to do. They're all about the money. Never any mention at all about the health of the fish or survival rate.

I think the salient point to these fake reefs is that they are typically displays is that are built for people that aren't really hobbyists. These are folks or businesses that want a large display for the sake of having the display, and want a cost effective maintenance contract.

I have a hard time dealing with the script these guys blab out. I think they actually feel there funny and doing a good job but it is kind of amusing watching them turn there face before something is turned on or putting there heads in the spray when it misses them. Also im sorry but if I ever got my wife wet in a water fight at work looking like his wife does id be picking my stuff up off the lawn. Some of there ideas are rediculous as well but it is kind of neat to see some of the acrylic manufacturing. I also wonder how much some of these tanks cost when they talk about single panels of tanks being 10k$ and also with them flying to LA to hand pick the fish. I know they probably do multiple orders and dont fly as often as they portray but still that cant be a cheap buisness expense. Also I just watched an episode where they were flown in a private jet to visit a buisness to quote and plan a job. That must of been an expensive build. Itll be around simply because there really isnt anything better on tv. (only reason id watch it) Wow totally off topic there when I re-read the original post. Haha. I dont like the plastic look as well. I wouldnt be concerned of cleaning as all the paints and materials they use seem to be reef safe. Also if its only a little more for the real rock why not get the real thing and get the benifits from it. Coral on the other hand if I could find one that looked a little close to real I may be able to overlook it as they can be a real pain to upkeep and deal with nipping and pests.

They are bringing attention to the hobby, and that is a good thing. They are bringing in new people, and new money. The bigger and stronger the marine economy is the better for us hobbyists. I met them briefly at MACNA, and know several people that have spent some time with them (dinners and such) and I think they are quite humble people. They are certainly very friendly, and willing to talk about their business and show. I don't think they are "all about the money". They have families, they are real people too.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, and what they do works or they wouldn't be in business. If all their fish died and the setups failed they wouldn't be in business. People pay a small fortune for the tanks ATM sets up, and the owners would not put up with a bunch of dead fish. Think about it.

Is it my taste? If money wasn't a factor, I would LOVE an ATM FO tank! I wouldn't put so many fish in though simply because I wouldn't want to do the maintenance involved with such high bioload. I think the artificial reef structures are often distracting from the fish because the structures are so colorful and busy, but something simpler would look quite nice I think. FOWLR tanks with bare live rock aren't overly attractive imo.

I do have a few artificial sponges because it is nearly impossible to keep those alive in the aquarium, so I get them fake.

They will need regular cleaning and brushing, like once a month or more if your system does not generate too much algae and if they are in a shaded area.

I think that fake corals look very fake, but artificial sponges look quite convincing. Everybody who come to my place, every single person, have always thought they were real.

Both orange sponges here are artificial. It is easy to get them for quite cheap on ebay, just do a search for artificial sponge coral.


http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/_MG_0507.jpg

As I'm sure mrhasan can tell you, those real miniature ruins are pretty near impossible to grow as well, that's why he goes with a fake one :lol:

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...-11-131430.jpg

One of my main concerns with watching these shows is it gives the unrealistic expecation to people that watch the show that you can set up a tank and put in 20 large fish or more and they will survive and be healthy. Also the types of fish they add in the tanks is ridiculous!! I'd say they are a joke aswell as they don't seem to care about the health of their livestock after the fact. My favorite part was when they were building the large reef tank and trying to convince the guy to go fish only because it was going to be soooo difficult to maintain!! The guy lived in Miami and already had a 150gal full reef tank and they thought he didn't know anything. I guarantee he knew more about coral and reefs then the guys on the show!! It was pretty pathetic to be honest. These guys just want to build big fish only tanks and have no idea what a full reef tank should look like!! Also them trying to place corals on top of the rocks with tongs was really funny to watch. We all know how well corals just stay once placed somewhere without using putty or something like that!!

I like to grow Easter island heads and fabric plants

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...84842888_n.jpg

I have lots of bright fake corals in my son's fresh water tank. He absolutely loves them because they look cool to him and in the end that's all that really matters. :biggrin:

There are people who have way too much money and want something which looks awesome but with least maintenance. And for them, FOWLR with fake corals exists along with ATM. And if they ripoffs and have bad reputation (like overstocking leading to dead fishes), people wouldn't be going back to them for business; as simple as that. These are millionaires and billionaires and if ATM messed with them, they would have more lawsuits than apple-samsung patent war.

There's also what's feasible.

This is a photo of the 27 foot deep main display at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, where I used to volunteer as a diver/algae scrubber.

http://www.visitflorida.com/images/p...2_aquarium.jpg

There's no feasible way to have a real reef. Think of the lighting, skimming, and labour intensity required, as well as fish disease management... if it were real corals. Just not feasible. Public zoo and aquarium standard practices is to use fabricated displays. There are a few large live coral reefs as well, but those are very ambitious and rare exceptions. I saw this one at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta (the one with whale sharks), kudos for accomplishing this display, but it's rare to see the really big tanks go with live corals.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-0...age037_jpg.jpg

more details on what's involved in this live reef display: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-03/feature/index.php

I would die to see what the mark up on that fake aquarium coral is. REALLY, 1.5 grand for a piece that's 30" across?!!!

Daniella, that orange sponge looks great! You have me thinking...I have always liked sponges. :D

yeah, but those ruins are ugly, sponges are still pretty.

I surely would not put that in my tank. yuck :) but hey...it's only a matter of personnal taste.

I love sponges, real or artificial.

Wow, who knew that I would have gotten so many respones from this thread that I started..What I would like to know is the cost of this tanks these guys do after their installations and also I was also curious about their "pre-boxed" saltwater that they use. How you guys ever seen that or even heard about that?

wow!! And people say i'm ignorant. Maybe he likes those ruins. It's a good thing your on my ignore list as I only see your posts when i'm logged off.

lol!

Those ruins aren't mine, but I do like them. What I like most is that he has them in a reef tank which is not very common, and then he posts the pic in his signature which shows up on every one of his posts. I like it. I'm sure he likes it, and I'm sure he doesn't care what others think about it.

I kept it for two reasons:

1. My sister gave it to me on my birthday and that's more important than getting a "yuck" from someone for keeping it.
2. And its gonna look good when it blends in coralines, zoas and monti caps take over it like those artificial reefs in the ocean :)

I don't think anyone ever said that. Other things, sure, but not that :mrgreen:

Well yea you know what I mean. I've been trying to behave

Like I said, matter of personnal taste. I say yuck to coffee, can't stand that smell of it, hate the taste of it with a passion, yet so many people are addicted to it and can't start their day without it.

I never liked anything that looked "human" made in a tank. No matter what it is. I think it just look out of place and unatural spoiling the scenery. Yet it does have a point, it make the scene in your tank look larger in scale.

You could have a chalice grow on it, or a turbinaria.

When i post something, I always make sure to be "politically" correct, not to offend anybody. Some people just don't know how to play this.

Except "political correctness" can also be offensive to some people. What you meant, I think, is tact.

I've had my run-ins with Daniella in the past, but have learned to respect her opinion. If anything, she might not be as articulate (another word for long winded) in English and come across as too blunt at times.

And there is no tone in a post. A bunch of people sitting around chatting can get away with saying the same thing because tone changes the words. Can't do that here.

Either way, I like the large fake displays at Rainforest Cafe, etc and I would honestly hate to come in and see a real display that wasn't being taken care of, with everything dying, which is what would happen at most of these franchises and businesses if they had a real living reef.

Very true. More spats happen on the internet that would never happen in person. People read too much into posts sometimes.

As for artificial reefs, don't like them myself. I have been downright appalled (sorry if I offend anyone:sad:) by some of the displays in the Vancouver Aquarium, although totally understand their limitations and challenges. It just makes our hobby all the more rewarding, though.

I went to Vegas in November and wanted to check out the gumball machine tank that they built at Serendipity3. When I went, they said that it was only there temporarily. What does that mean? I was disappointed not to see the spherical tank.

Hmmmm all the fish died within 4 days

Read on

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2167302

http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.ca/20...racked-up.html

People are offended way too easily. Seem that it's easier to see a bad side to a post then the other way around.

So what if I don't like artificial display in a tank? why should that offend anyone? it's my taste. who cares what I think if they like it then they should put it in their tank.

Often when people learn that my artificial sponges are artificial they reply that I am ruining my tank with fake sponges. Do I care? not one bit :)

I simply put them in my tank because I like them. I do not need anyone to agree with me on that one, it's my tank and mine alone. I have done it for myself, not for anyone else, and of course for the comfort of my reef inhabitants.

Anyone putting such thread can expect to read various opinions, good or bad about arficial display. :)

Nobody cares that you like or dislike artificial reefs. People including myself were offended that you insulted a members tank as explained in the PM I sent you. You always have to have the last word and hopefully this time it'll be sorry to Mr Hassan:wink:

So what was the good side about your post?

Perhaps that she likes artificial sponges :)

(sorry but couldn't resist commenting).

Feeling a little embarrassed since the whole artificial reef has turned to me :redface: