Quote:
Originally Posted by daniella3d
The problem is that not all artificial corals are created equal. Some lose their colors after a few cleaups. And they are really really expensive for the most part.
Sponges are not so bad but I have seen some of the artificial corals go for 500$ and more for a not so big display. There are quite a bit of them on ebay.
Those used in the Tanked program are really expensive so they must be of good quality. I still think they look fake though.
Can't help to think that I would rather pay for a few frags and watch them grow,
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Oh, I agree not all fake coral is created equal. I guess it would have to be decided before hand for a long term public display which would cost the most (up front cost versus on going maintenance cost to keep the tank at reef levels) long term. As a hobbiest I would get no satisfaction from an artificial reef but maybe for a public display were I could use cheap low-power lighting (to prevent algae), cheap salt, no dosing, able to use chemicals for treatment and algae control, etc., it may be a worthwhile option to explore. That being said AI has a few public reef tanks around town that use real coral that is easy to take care of and the they look just fine as well. The vast majority of the people who will be seeing the tank probably aren't hobbiests and won't care if the coral is real or not as long as it is a colorful display with lots of bright marine fish swimming around. I would recommend using the fish species from "Finding Nemo" in the tank as the kids would love it and be more able to relate to it.