fake corals -----good or bad in a fowlr tank?

[ddc0715]

i love the look that these fake corals bring into a fowler. you know the ones that they show on the tv shows like tanked and so on..... but i have always wondered if say 3years later do these fake corals turn purple or brown maybe green from normal algae growth? if so that seems like a waste of money, but if not then how is that possible.

 

[LOVEROCK]

I think ppl use bleach to kill gha or algae on it

 

[Coralsdaily]

As long as you are not talking about those made with plastic.

 

[Grumblez]

They have to be regularly cleaned. I'm not sure if like a normal reef tank this eventually balances out And you don't have to as often.

 

[Coralsdaily]

I think ppl use bleach to kill gha or algae on it

I used to work for lfs and did tank maintenance for people around town (like restaurants and hospitals with Fowler tanks). What we did was collect all the algae covered fake corals/decors and swap in clean ones. We then take the algae covered ones back to the shop and soak them in a stock tub of diluted chlorine solution overnight (A cap of bleach is enough for a whole tub of hot water). next morning all decor will be shipshape and we just rinse them clean, dry them and swap them back into those tanks being serviced. Never had any problem with any of the fishes.

 

[fish farmer]

I think ppl use bleach to kill gha or algae on it

I bleached a silicone one and it messed up the paint job.

 

[Hermie]

IMO rocks look better than fake corals, and inverts probably like carbonate rocks better than plastic but that's just a theory. You can always put in GSP or some other softies in a FOWLR and create an aquascape that way...

 

[UK softy bloke]

i love the look that these fake corals bring into a fowler. you know the ones that they show on the tv shows like tanked and so on..... but i have always wondered if say 3years later do these fake corals turn purple or brown maybe green from normal algae growth? if so that seems like a waste of money, but if not then how is that possible.

Very colourful but rather vulgar.

 

[joeyrm7]

Years ago skeleton corals were used as decorations. The came in white; blue, red, pink and the rare purple. Looked absolutely fabulous for about 3 weeks and then you needed to bleach them clean. Only problem was once I didn’t clean all the bleach off well enough and nuked the tank. After years of the real thing i went with the latest and greatest silicone. Same story, after a few months they had to be cleaned but this time with peroxide. Another pain. I now have only live rock and it looks way more natural

 

[Chrisss]

Fake corals are significantly cheaper and more cost effective then buying corals and all the additives to keep them running. I always wonder if is really worth it to keep real corals going. But the movement and real growth is always exciting which is why I keep getting them.



Buying new corals inserts every 3 years also seems like a steal. For a 120g which I run to buy all new coral inserts would be around ~$300 which is cheap in my opinion.

 

[Waters]

Being a FOWLR, you can control how much algae growth you get by keeping the lights low, or doing routine blackouts. Other option is to take them out and scrub as stated.