Shoot me now.......a Q about plastic corals

[swordfish]

Yeah, so I have my 7 bow AGA up and running fro several months now, looking good with outstanding water parameters all around, one damn happy damsel doing his damsel thing in there and assorteed snails and hermits dwelling happily as well.

 

I do not have anything lighting this tank aside from what it came with because I do not have the money to make the leap into getting corals yet. I would need to upgrade the lighting, probably buy a small chiller and then manage to afford the corals themselves which they aren't exactly giving away at the pet stores last time I checked. So it hit me that until that day arrives, maybe putting a few examples of today's very realistic looking plastic corals in there woudln't be a bad way to beautify the tank. I have one or two on order just to get started and I think they are going to add a lot to the environment.

 

Here's my question: I am having a hard time finding the exact plastic versions of the staghorn, elkhorn and cat's paw in the colors I want. I can get them in white, but can they safely be painted with a non-toxic paint and then put in the tank after I get them? I see no reason why not since the paints I am going to be using meet strict guidelines for being non-toxic craft items which are safe for children to use, but there's always something you don't know so I thought better to ask.

 

The other thing I wanted to do was use something like Fimo or Sculpey non-toxic polymer clay to try making just the sizes and shapes of coral I wanted. I have quite a stock in the stuff and it comes already colored. It may be a lot of fun to make my own "corals" that way. Has anyone tried this? Again, it's just poly clay and certified non-toxic.

 

And what kinds of plants will thrive in my tank? I already have some geen hair algae growing well in there which I leave alone just because I liek to watch it swinging in the current. Will other green plants grow as well without having to upgrade the lighting?

 

Thanks!

 

Jeff

[Christopher Marks]

These are as good as you can get, http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/artificialcorals/ but no matter what you do, you're going to spend more money making fake corals than it would cost for you to get new lights.

[Crakeur]

CM is right. You'd be better off waiting until you have the lights and then adding corals as you can afford them. Besides, there are plenty of shrooms and soft corals that require less light and can be kept with the stock lighting.

[Gilman]

Plastic corals = Minibow abuse.

 

Gil

[chvynva916]

Even if you never wanted corals, I think some nice LR would look better than fake corals and would be a lot better for the tank.

[Chamkeeper]

Swordfish,

 

I have a total of ~$25 in lighting upgrades on my 7g MB. I bought two Wal-mart 13w Reading lamps and retroed them into the hood. I had to find a box to remote mount the ballasts and wire to lengthen the connections, but that was straight forward. I have Ricordia, Mushrooms, Capenela, Green Star Polyps and Xenia all doing fine under my 26w DIY.

 

I just bought 3 more of these hackable lights at Wally World yesterday, on sale for $5 (cheaper than I can buy a ballast and lamp socket). They sell a 6400K bulb in the lamp dept. for $4, this is what I am using.

[BlackSumbel]

Man! Those are as expensive as -real- corals.

 

Just go to Walmart (if you have one near) and pick up a couple flourescent "shop lamps" I saw them there for $9.

 

Two over a small tank would work for a good range. Three, well... that'd be even better.

 

-Sumbel.

Who only has a NO 15w over her seahorse tank... but has -plans- for her new ten gallon.