Switching to Coral Inserts do I need a Filter?

[Paradiddle7]

I'm ditching my reef tank for a coral insert system. I don't have the time for all the testing and dosing anymore.

Am I better off with a filter or should I just put some live rock behind my inserts? If I need a filter, what can anyone recomment for a 90g tank with 40g sump and a total system volume of around 115g.

[shaka]

I have a 140 gallon FOWLR with a Euro Reef protein skimmer and sump as filtration along with my live rock. I use Natures Images artificial corals as decoration along with my live rock. The artificial corals are a bit of a pain to clean but I still think they look good.

[pumpdogs]

I'm ditching my reef tank for a coral insert system. I don't have the time for all the testing and dosing anymore.

Am I better off with a filter or should I just put some live rock behind my inserts? If I need a filter, what can anyone recomment for a 90g tank with 40g sump and a total system volume of around 115g.

I am doing the same thing.What type of inserts are you looking at.I am leaning toward the instanf reef for my 180.

[Paradiddle7]

I tore down my tank and cleaned and it and swapped out my old rock for some rock I had cooking for years in a dark tank. I just ordered 7 ocean aquaria corals and they should be here in 2 weeks. Then I'll give you my review and some photos.

[roenicknewf]

Been contemplating inserts for awhile ..I just have live rock now with no corals to speak of ..Look forward to some pictures ..

For filtration you may want to look into a scrubber..I have been running one for years and really love it

[Paradiddle7]

I got the corals, they are really nice. They have nice plastic threads coming out of them. I'll have to drill my rocks and then use waterproof epoxy to mold between the rocks and the corals because they pretty much have flat bases. I'm really not planning on using any corals that will require high levels of alk and ca because I don't want coralline growing on my artificial corals (I'm not even sure it would but I'm assuming it would because it grows on just about everything else). I might put back in a few soft corals and a gorgonian and see how it looks. I'm not sure if the motion of the soft corals would make the artificial corals look more fake or more real? The good thing about keeping the live rock is that the bases are $175 each and I would need 2 for my 90g tank. I only paid $157 for my corals and Andy gave me free shipping so adding more corals and two more bases gets expensive.

I'll post pics when I'm done.

[hkarmy25]

Been contemplating inserts for awhile, but everything I see always looks so fake. Curious to see what they look like in your tank.

[roenicknewf]

There are actually some real good looking ones ,,if your willing to spend the money ..
Can't wait to see some pics paradiddle

[MrTuskfish]

I remember the days before LR, when dead coral (coral skeletons were common. The work involved in keeping that stuff clean was a whole lot more work than the testing we now do for a reef tank. Just curious; could the fake coral be cleaned in a dishwasher. It didn't with skeletal coral.

[Paradiddle7]

I remember the days before LR, when dead coral (coral skeletons were common. The work involved in keeping that stuff clean was a whole lot more work than the testing we now do for a reef tank. Just curious; could the fake coral be cleaned in a dishwasher. It didn't with skeletal coral.

I'm sure you could put them in the dishwasher but I wouldn't use detergent. I think running an algae scrubber is probably the best way to prevent them from getting algae on them. I was told to use hydrogen peroxide or other organic based cleansers. I would assume that having some extra ones, so I could remove 3-4 at a time and replace them with clean ones, while rotating and cleaning might be wise if I have a problem.

I have set them in my tank, and yes they look fake, but they are very colorful and that's something I miss in my tank and why I got into reefing, but over the years, it's very hard to keep a reef tank from going to all purple, red and green. That's the reason my tank looked so ugly and my wife started to hate it. Keeping a tank very clean and custom corals is too time consuming with 2 infants, 2 dogs, and a demanding work schedule. Now I'll be able to add color with fish and normal people don't care if corals are real or fake. As a matter of fact, 90% of all people who would look at my tank were so surprised when I would tell them that everything they see is a living organism. They all figured that it was artificial!

[j tavares]

Ocean aquaria corals are GREAT replicas I have used them for years and they do not really get covered w algae IF YOU pay attention to H2O quality