Beautiful fake reef tanks!!!

**Ninong** · 01-29-2003, 10:38 AM

Yes, it's 20 feet long! And yes, it's a "fabricated" reef!

Check out this site: http://www.livingcolor.com/Gallery-full.htm

I couldn't find a single reef tank there that wasn't fake. But talk about gorgeous tanks and cabinetry!!! Obviously all of these are professionally maintained but are really nothing more than fish-only-with-faux-reefs. Wonder what the monthly maintenance charges are on some of these things? Not that it makes any difference to the people who had them installed as "architectural focal points" in their homes.

Oh, well...

**kevinpo** · 01-29-2003, 11:50 AM

The cost of the fake insert is as much as the real thing but it can't be fragged

It was $13,000 for a 2,500 gal insert (8'Wide x 7'Tall).

Regards,
Kevin

dattack · 01-29-2003, 11:54 AM

Where's the fish? Are they fake too?

**Ninong** · 01-29-2003, 12:17 PM

dattack,

Good question. I figured that either they were hiding in there somewhere and I couldn't find them or perhaps the installation had just been completed when the company took the pictures before any fish were added. Maybe they will add some plastic fish that don't require feeding.

ChrisIsBored · 01-29-2003, 12:21 PM

I'm all for fake reefs. The more realistic they make them the better.

If people weren't being innovative with fake corals, then the rich fatcats who toss their money around would be spending thousands on corals they can't keep alive since a lot of people would rather think of their aquarium as a painting rather than a living ecosystem.

If you think it's bad when people by 2 or 3 corals they don't know how to keep, imagine someone who buys 50 colonies and lets them all die.

blue · 01-30-2003, 12:05 AM

anyone know where i can get one of these i am in texas there websited doesnt list texas i want one of these things for my parents house the would love it.

Blue

**Ninong** · 01-30-2003, 07:41 AM

Blue,

You can contact them directly through their site. Here is the contact information: http://www.livingcolor.com/contact-full.htm

They do installations all over the country. All of their tanks are custom installations and I'm sure they can figure out how much to charge for travel expenses, etc., or maybe they can use local craftsmen for the actual installation. This type of setup is not going to be inexpensive. In fact, it is going to be very, very expensive.

Here is a typical residential installation. That is NOT a hotel. That is actually a residence:

***zhenya*** · 01-30-2003, 08:55 AM

LMAO.Ninong,I was sure I was looking at the lobby of the resort or some other hotel

You have to be drilling oil or something to have a residence like that.
Cool,nevertheless

and I'm sure people who own this "home" will not hesitate to roll up their sleeves and dive in their tank to scarape some algae and frag some of those seafans.Yea,right...

**Minh Nguyen** · 01-30-2003, 09:11 AM

The effort it take to keep this thing algae free would be staggering.
Minh Nguyen

dattack · 01-30-2003, 09:14 AM

What if they just use freshwater RO/DI? No nutrients supposedly considering I don't see any fish in there.

**Ninong** · 01-30-2003, 09:22 AM

I doubt if anyone in the household will actually get their hands wet unless they have a full-time "aquarium maintenance" butler on staff.

Most of the pictures that I have seen online at custom aquarium builders' websites seem to have been taken the day the installation was completed. This would explain the absence of fish. If you check out the website I gave for these guys, you will find fish in some of their other installations.

Like this tank, for example:

**Ninong** · 01-30-2003, 09:33 AM

Here is another manufacturer's website with some really beautiful custom aquariums: http://www.acrylicaquariums.com/gallery/index.html

If you are wondering why almost all of the really gorgeous custom tanks that are pictured on the various sites seem to be FOWDC (fish only with dead coral) or FOWFC (fish only with faux corals), it is because most of the people who can afford these very expensive setups are not actually hobbyists at all. It's just another status symbol and a way to get into Architectural Digest. Virtually all of them employ professional tank maintenance guys to come in every week to take care of things.

I once asked the owner of an LFS that does installations and provides tank maintenance service what percentage of his customers had actual reeftanks and he told me it was a very small percent. He said at least 80% of his customers had marine tanks with fish and fake decorations or dead coral skeletons.

almostdiva · 01-30-2003, 02:01 PM

I thought it was a hotel lobby, too!

I do kinda like the round one on the bar though.. faux corals or no...

And you're right about the status/Arch Digest thing Ninong. I forget where I saw pics and an article about Mariah Carey's 500G reef, one of the "decorator" mags definitely. I doubt if she has a CLUE what's in it.

Rebecca

Barry N. · 01-30-2003, 06:52 PM

It is called Reef Alternative not fake

Gene I know you have seen these before

It is amazing and not that hard to keep.

Barry

blue · 01-30-2003, 11:33 PM

i went to my lfs today and they to carry the plug and play system basically its a rock structure and then you buy all the diffrent corals togo on it and the just have little things on the bottom of them and they just plug rightin to holes on the rock structure. the rock strcutre for a 75 gallon tank ranges from 200 -400 dollars depends how big you want it and then each coral ranges from 20-50 dallars so i think it costs just the same amount as to set up a real reef but you dont have to clean real corals

i was to impressed by the set up didnt look very real to me some of the corals did but i guess it may look diffrent under water dont know the guy at the lfs said all of the custom tank he sets up and maintains are usually the plug and play system. he said hes working on a 600 gallon tank right now and he said the rock structure alone was around 1000 so anyways if i do set this type of system up for my parents ill let you know how it looks or better yet post pictures its up to them and what they like.

Blue

RhumbRunner · 01-31-2003, 12:32 PM

Need some info here. Are these tanks fake in the sense that they are just dioramas, lit to look like tanks or are they artificial coral/rock structures that are actually in SW tanks? If so, do they use any life in them (fish, sandbed, LR etc)? If it's the former, it's about as interesting as the Yule Log station on my cable TV during christmas. If it's the latter, I'm interested. Is there any reason that this couldn't be incorporated in a DSB tank with the addition of flora and fauna to jump start (at least visually) a functional reef tank. My first SW tank (c. 1970) consisted of CC bed, coral skeletons, U.G. filters and a variety of fish: Volitans, Panther Grouper, CBS, Ocellari, Tri-Spot etc. If they weren't happy they at least survived for about 18 months till a faulty 250 watt heater turned the tank into boulubaise. Been experimenting with Garf LR but have not been pleased with the results. Would like to know more about these 'fake' reefs.

Thanks. Steve

**Ninong** · 01-31-2003, 12:55 PM

Hi RhumbRunner, welcome to Reefland!

Check out their website; it has all the details on their products.

What you are looking at are fully functional saltwater marine aquariums with full filtration systems with protein skimmers, etc. The big difference is that the rockwork is artificial and the corals are artificial. So I guess that makes all of their aquariums fish-only-with-artificial decorations.

There are holes in the artificial rockwork where you can insert the artificial corals. If you change the color of the drapes in the room, you can easily change the color of the artificial corals to match.

They refer to that as "plug-and-play." You just plug in whatever artificial coral you fancy in that hole in the artificial rockwork. The fish, of course, are live. But since there are no living corals in any of their tanks, the lighting system need not be as powerful as it would have to be for an aquarium with living corals.

It looks like their business is aimed at department stores, restaurants, and people with more money than good taste who want what looks like a reef without the hassle of having to care for living corals.

I'm sure they could make a very nice aquarium with custom cabinet for someone who wanted to go with real live corals but their prices are probably geared to trendy restaurants owned by absentee rock stars and nouveau riche NBA players.

***zhenya*** · 01-31-2003, 01:17 PM

Barry,
Yes I've seen it before(on your site of all things

).FWIW, if you don't want the hassle of maintaining a real reef tank with all it's pleasures and failures and dissapointments, by all means buy it.Especially if you can afford it,the "alternative" and the service that comes with it

It does look pretty good if you never saw a real coral in your life and in time, with nice algae covering and a few drinks,it could look real

Barry N. · 01-31-2003, 01:34 PM

Gene,

There are people that would like to have a reef tank with fish but do not have the lighting nor the time to care for the animals the way they should so I think the "alternative" is ok.

Would rather they do that then to put LIVE animals in a tank with less than required lighting and care.

As far as cleaning these "fake" corals, from what I have been told by Debra Smith, Walt Smith's wife that caring for this product is not that hard and easy to do.

I personally like the real thing but then again I am glad that there are alternative for people.

Barry

PS This is not a commercal post, JMO.

***zhenya*** · 01-31-2003, 01:47 PM

Barry,
I'm convinced my friend

01-29-2003, 10:38 AM	#1
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	Beautiful fake reef tanks!!! Yes, it's 20 feet long! And yes, it's a "fabricated" reef! Check out this site: http://www.livingcolor.com/Gallery-full.htm I couldn't find a single reef tank there that wasn't fake. But talk about gorgeous tanks and cabinetry!!! Obviously all of these are professionally maintained but are really nothing more than fish-only-with-faux-reefs. Wonder what the monthly maintenance charges are on some of these things? Not that it makes any difference to the people who had them installed as "architectural focal points" in their homes. Oh, well... __________________ Ninong

01-29-2003, 11:50 AM	#2
kevinpo Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Spokane Valley WA Posts: 2,425	The cost of the fake insert is as much as the real thing but it can't be fragged It was $13,000 for a 2,500 gal insert (8'Wide x 7'Tall). Regards, Kevin __________________ SPSguy On - On

01-29-2003, 12:17 PM	#4
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	dattack, Good question. I figured that either they were hiding in there somewhere and I couldn't find them or perhaps the installation had just been completed when the company took the pictures before any fish were added. Maybe they will add some plastic fish that don't require feeding. __________________ Ninong

01-29-2003, 12:21 PM	#5
ChrisIsBored Reefland Lurker Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: San Antonio, Tx Posts: 47	I'm all for fake reefs. The more realistic they make them the better. If people weren't being innovative with fake corals, then the rich fatcats who toss their money around would be spending thousands on corals they can't keep alive since a lot of people would rather think of their aquarium as a painting rather than a living ecosystem. If you think it's bad when people by 2 or 3 corals they don't know how to keep, imagine someone who buys 50 colonies and lets them all die. __________________ Progress of my 200G tank Marine Aquarist's Association of South Texas

01-30-2003, 12:05 AM	#6
blue Mayor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Denton,TX,USA Posts: 597	anyone know where i can get one of these i am in texas there websited doesnt list texas i want one of these things for my parents house the would love it. Blue __________________ Think befor you speak or dont speak at all!!!

01-29-2003, 11:54 AM	#3
dattack Council Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: anaheim, CA Posts: 347	Where's the fish? Are they fake too?

01-30-2003, 07:41 AM	#7
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	Blue, You can contact them directly through their site. Here is the contact information: http://www.livingcolor.com/contact-full.htm They do installations all over the country. All of their tanks are custom installations and I'm sure they can figure out how much to charge for travel expenses, etc., or maybe they can use local craftsmen for the actual installation. This type of setup is not going to be inexpensive. In fact, it is going to be very, very expensive. Here is a typical residential installation. That is NOT a hotel. That is actually a residence: __________________ Ninong

01-30-2003, 08:55 AM	#8
*zhenya* Owner Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: new jersey,usa Posts: 7,722	LMAO.Ninong,I was sure I was looking at the lobby of the resort or some other hotel You have to be drilling oil or something to have a residence like that. Cool,nevertheless and I'm sure people who own this "home" will not hesitate to roll up their sleeves and dive in their tank to scarape some algae and frag some of those seafans.Yea,right... __________________ Kind regards, Gene. Last edited by zhenya; 01-30-2003 at 08:58 AM.

01-30-2003, 09:11 AM	#9
Minh Nguyen Contributing Member/Moderator Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Corpus Christi, TX Posts: 675	The effort it take to keep this thing algae free would be staggering. Minh Nguyen __________________ Minh Visit my tank at: http://berlinmethod.com/minhn/ http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2/aquarium.htm

01-30-2003, 09:14 AM	#10
dattack Council Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: anaheim, CA Posts: 347	What if they just use freshwater RO/DI? No nutrients supposedly considering I don't see any fish in there.

01-30-2003, 09:22 AM	#11
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	I doubt if anyone in the household will actually get their hands wet unless they have a full-time "aquarium maintenance" butler on staff. Most of the pictures that I have seen online at custom aquarium builders' websites seem to have been taken the day the installation was completed. This would explain the absence of fish. If you check out the website I gave for these guys, you will find fish in some of their other installations. Like this tank, for example: __________________ Ninong

01-30-2003, 09:33 AM	#12
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	Here is another manufacturer's website with some really beautiful custom aquariums: http://www.acrylicaquariums.com/gallery/index.html If you are wondering why almost all of the really gorgeous custom tanks that are pictured on the various sites seem to be FOWDC (fish only with dead coral) or FOWFC (fish only with faux corals), it is because most of the people who can afford these very expensive setups are not actually hobbyists at all. It's just another status symbol and a way to get into Architectural Digest. Virtually all of them employ professional tank maintenance guys to come in every week to take care of things. I once asked the owner of an LFS that does installations and provides tank maintenance service what percentage of his customers had actual reeftanks and he told me it was a very small percent. He said at least 80% of his customers had marine tanks with fish and fake decorations or dead coral skeletons. __________________ Ninong

01-30-2003, 02:01 PM	#13
almostdiva Mayor Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 963	Heee- HEEE I thought it was a hotel lobby, too! I do kinda like the round one on the bar though.. faux corals or no... And you're right about the status/Arch Digest thing Ninong. I forget where I saw pics and an article about Mariah Carey's 500G reef, one of the "decorator" mags definitely. I doubt if she has a CLUE what's in it. Rebecca

01-30-2003, 06:52 PM	#14
Barry N. Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: San Diego Posts: 1,034	It is called Reef Alternative not fake Gene I know you have seen these before It is amazing and not that hard to keep. Barry __________________ Barry ClamsDirect.Com

01-30-2003, 11:33 PM	#15
blue Mayor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Denton,TX,USA Posts: 597	i went to my lfs today and they to carry the plug and play system basically its a rock structure and then you buy all the diffrent corals togo on it and the just have little things on the bottom of them and they just plug rightin to holes on the rock structure. the rock strcutre for a 75 gallon tank ranges from 200 -400 dollars depends how big you want it and then each coral ranges from 20-50 dallars so i think it costs just the same amount as to set up a real reef but you dont have to clean real corals i was to impressed by the set up didnt look very real to me some of the corals did but i guess it may look diffrent under water dont know the guy at the lfs said all of the custom tank he sets up and maintains are usually the plug and play system. he said hes working on a 600 gallon tank right now and he said the rock structure alone was around 1000 so anyways if i do set this type of system up for my parents ill let you know how it looks or better yet post pictures its up to them and what they like. Blue __________________ Think befor you speak or dont speak at all!!!

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

01-31-2003, 12:32 PM	#16
RhumbRunner New in Town Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 1	Need some info here. Are these tanks fake in the sense that they are just dioramas, lit to look like tanks or are they artificial coral/rock structures that are actually in SW tanks? If so, do they use any life in them (fish, sandbed, LR etc)? If it's the former, it's about as interesting as the Yule Log station on my cable TV during christmas. If it's the latter, I'm interested. Is there any reason that this couldn't be incorporated in a DSB tank with the addition of flora and fauna to jump start (at least visually) a functional reef tank. My first SW tank (c. 1970) consisted of CC bed, coral skeletons, U.G. filters and a variety of fish: Volitans, Panther Grouper, CBS, Ocellari, Tri-Spot etc. If they weren't happy they at least survived for about 18 months till a faulty 250 watt heater turned the tank into boulubaise. Been experimenting with Garf LR but have not been pleased with the results. Would like to know more about these 'fake' reefs. Thanks. Steve

01-31-2003, 12:55 PM	#17
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 19,724	Hi RhumbRunner, welcome to Reefland! Check out their website; it has all the details on their products. What you are looking at are fully functional saltwater marine aquariums with full filtration systems with protein skimmers, etc. The big difference is that the rockwork is artificial and the corals are artificial. So I guess that makes all of their aquariums fish-only-with-artificial decorations. There are holes in the artificial rockwork where you can insert the artificial corals. If you change the color of the drapes in the room, you can easily change the color of the artificial corals to match. They refer to that as "plug-and-play." You just plug in whatever artificial coral you fancy in that hole in the artificial rockwork. The fish, of course, are live. But since there are no living corals in any of their tanks, the lighting system need not be as powerful as it would have to be for an aquarium with living corals. It looks like their business is aimed at department stores, restaurants, and people with more money than good taste who want what looks like a reef without the hassle of having to care for living corals. I'm sure they could make a very nice aquarium with custom cabinet for someone who wanted to go with real live corals but their prices are probably geared to trendy restaurants owned by absentee rock stars and nouveau riche NBA players. __________________ Ninong

01-31-2003, 01:17 PM	#18
*zhenya* Owner Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: new jersey,usa Posts: 7,722	Barry, Yes I've seen it before(on your site of all things ).FWIW, if you don't want the hassle of maintaining a real reef tank with all it's pleasures and failures and dissapointments, by all means buy it.Especially if you can afford it,the "alternative" and the service that comes with it It does look pretty good if you never saw a real coral in your life and in time, with nice algae covering and a few drinks,it could look real __________________ Kind regards, Gene.

01-31-2003, 01:34 PM	#19
Barry N. Sponsor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: San Diego Posts: 1,034	Gene, There are people that would like to have a reef tank with fish but do not have the lighting nor the time to care for the animals the way they should so I think the "alternative" is ok. Would rather they do that then to put LIVE animals in a tank with less than required lighting and care. As far as cleaning these "fake" corals, from what I have been told by Debra Smith, Walt Smith's wife that caring for this product is not that hard and easy to do. I personally like the real thing but then again I am glad that there are alternative for people. Barry PS This is not a commercal post, JMO. __________________ Barry ClamsDirect.Com

01-31-2003, 01:47 PM	#20
*zhenya* Owner Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: new jersey,usa Posts: 7,722	Barry, I'm convinced my friend __________________ Kind regards, Gene.

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