Got a kick out of this add

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by G1GY

Are you insinuating that if you buy a dead coral that you're not "robbing" the natural reefs like the people who prefer to buy live coral?
Even if you harvest a dead coral..... you're stealing the home/building blocks of another.
Some might even argue that tank kept corals may be the key to re-introducing a given species once it's extinct.

No I'm not suggesting that, however dead coral doesn't die unlike live coral which has around 10% survival rate. Also removing dead coral from the reefs is much less harmful than removing live coral. It's a known fact that using dead coral in your tank over live coral has much less of an effect on the environment, it's published in almost every aquarium book I've seen.
I can assure you the this hobby doesn't help the natural reefs in anyway, to say otherwise is simply a way of absolving yourself. If you disagree show me anything that suggests otherwise, and no research facilities are not part of the hobby.

[Samw]

When I first got into marines 25 years ago, I bought a large dead coral for around $75 as the main center piece in my fish only tank. It was one of the smaller ones in the store even. I wanted to buy the bigger $100 one but I just didn't have enough money. I still have that coral. It is now sitting on the top of my living room shelf as room decoration.

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by sphelps

i can assure you the this hobby doesn't help the natural reefs in anyway, to say otherwise is simply a way of absolving yourself.

+1

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by sphelps

No I'm not suggesting that, however dead coral doesn't die unlike live coral which has around 10% survival rate. Also removing dead coral from the reefs is much less harmful than removing live coral. It's a known fact that using dead coral in your tank over live coral has much less of an effect on the environment, it's published in almost every aquarium book I've seen.
I can assure you the this hobby doesn't help the natural reefs in anyway, to say otherwise is simply a way of absolving yourself. If you disagree show me anything that suggests otherwise, and no research facilities are not part of the hobby.

I would have to disagree. Dead coral skeletons will give a good base for new corals to grow on and give animals shelter just like live ones would.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Im thinking about buying them.....how long do you have to cycle the tank before you add them? When things settle down I'll add a few of these http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-pets-acce...AdIdZ158804944 (by drip of course)......hopefully I can talk him down a bit.

Cmon ....I posted the add here thinking that the majority of us peeps who strive to keep our saltwater tanks full of life, would find the idea of paying $500 bones for dead coral to put in a saltwater tank , funny.....was I wrong?....unfortunately people have varying degrees of senses of humor

I personally see the hummor in it, I got a football sized piece of "real" dead coral in my tank that I got for free, so personally I can't imagine paying that much for dead coral. I guess there are people who think of them as being "art" and would pay good money to display it, but to me it still seems unlikely.

Originally Posted by lastlight

Doug my thoughts exactly. We're in the lounge to boot. I don't really care to debate about it and clearly you and I both got the same innocent enjoyment out of it without pondering the intense and complex issues behind a big pile of dead corals someone wants $500 for.

+1

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Ryan

I would have to disagree. Dead coral skeletons will give a good base for new corals to grow on and give animals shelter just like live ones would.

Disagree? So you're saying removing dead corals is worse than removing live corals ? I'm not saying either is good or perfect, I'm simply saying one is significantly better than the other.

[Ryan]

No I am saying removing one is just as bad as removing the other.

There's pros and cons of doing both and saying removing live corals from reefs is bad and shouldnt be done is pretty hyocritical for anyone with a reef tank.

[G1GY]

Originally Posted by sphelps

No I'm not suggesting that, however dead coral doesn't die unlike live coral which has around 10% survival rate. Also removing dead coral from the reefs is much less harmful than removing live coral. It's a known fact that using dead coral in your tank over live coral has much less of an effect on the environment, it's published in almost every aquarium book I've seen.
I can assure you the this hobby doesn't help the natural reefs in anyway, to say otherwise is simply a way of absolving yourself. If you disagree show me anything that suggests otherwise, and no research facilities are not part of the hobby.

Ohhhhhh!, okay I get it now.
If the reefs are only somewhat damaged or harmed........ it's not quite as much of an issue?

Also, I never said that this hobby helps reefs in any way. I said "Some might even argue". There is a difference.

Calling it "dead coral" is so harsh. Would you like to buy a bucket of my rare white environmentaly freindly recycled coral?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Ryan

No I am saying removing one is just as bad as removing the other.

There's pros and cons of doing both and saying removing live corals from reefs is bad and shouldnt be done is pretty hyocritical for anyone with a reef tank.

Interesting but I'm not sure I understand your logic, if I understand correctly, you're saying that removing one coral that's already dead has the same effect as removing 10 live corals (based on 10% survival rate)? Then on top of that the live corals can die later one from one of many typical causes, very rarely does a single coral live forever in an aquarium while a dead coral does.

You're reading between the lines, my point from the start is that some people will spend good money on fake/dead coral rather than cause more damage to living reefs and I don't think it's right to cut them down for that. I support the hobby just like everyone else here, I don't think its really a good thing but like the rest of us I'm not overly concerned, I'm just one of the few that will actually admit it.

Originally Posted by G1GY

Ohhhhhh!, okay I get it now.
If the reefs are only somewhat damaged or harmed........ it's not quite as much of an issue?

Also, I never said that this hobby helps reefs in any way. I said "Some might even argue". There is a difference.

Calling it "dead coral" is so harsh. Would you like to buy a bucket of my rare white environmentaly freindly recycled coral?

Exactly, it's not as much of an issue. Any improvement is better than no improvement, just like anything else, we call things green now as a way of saying it's better for the environment. It's not 100% better but anything less damaging would be an improvement, wouldn't you agree?
Maybe we should call it that, makes perfect sense to me. Hybrids and new electric cars are labeled environmentally friendly but they still produce harmful emissions.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I personally see the hummor in it, I got a football sized piece of "real" dead coral in my tank that I got for free, so personally I can't imagine paying that much for dead coral. I guess there are people who think of them as being "art" and would pay good money to display it, but to me it still seems unlikely.

Fair enough, I get things for free sometime too, one example are some very nice rare coral frags from good friends. The difference is I don't try and publicly humiliate and insult a guy that doesn't have the same advantage and has to buy the same corals for full retail price (and I'm not saving you did).

Finding something funny is one thing but when it results is harsh criticism and unnecessary comments I believe it crosses the line, which is the only reason I piped up in the first place.