Ethical Dilemma: Artificial or Authentic reefkeeping

[JLAudio]

Oddly enough this cracked me up.. for this reason... most people that have freshwater tanks will put these types of things in their tanks and not think twice. Shipwrecks, sunken ruins etc. reality is naturally though most of those things would occur in saltwater more than freshwater. Not very many sunken pirate ships in lakes :lol:

It is a personal preference. There should be no reason to worry about insulting someone. They gave you a gift with good intentions. Doesn't mean that the expectation should go any further. If you use it, cool, if not should be cool as well.. otherwise the original premise of giving a gift is lost. I think everyone puts entirely too much emphasis on what others think when it comes to this time of year and gift giving and trying not to "insult" one another.

If you really don't want to use it, don't. If you want to see what it will look like covered in coraline, put it in your sump/fuge-- wait it out and then decide. Or just do what I know many do... plunk it in the tank when he is coming over... lol j/k.

Funny enough when I was opening it I felt like the kid for "A Christmas Story" wanting a red rider bb gun but getting the pink bunny outfit.

 

[QUESTIONMARC]

man throw that sh*t in there .. it would be cool once it is coered in corraline and pink and purple.. then you can glue frags to it and if you glue the right ones in the right spots you can make it look like sails.. worse case scenerio.. you throw it in there.. in two months if you dont like it.. tell him.. you read on a thread somewhere that they leak phosphates.. plastic does that.. so you loved it.. but it couldnt stay.. OR.. when your with him.. you tell him you are nervous about the ship leaking phosphates.. and he will offer for you to take it out.. but what is two months.. and it might end up cool..

in most situations like this in life.. there is ALWAYS as much positive as there is negative.. and as most would look at this like a negative situation beacuse who would want a ship in their tank.. the positive of it.. is.. it could look pretty cool and give you somthing to talk about everytime he is around.. a nice converstation starter..

man.. i always wanted to put liek a statue of liberty or atlantis.. or like carve a big city scap out of rocks.. but i meant fill the tank with buildings.. just like NY and then let the tank take over.. how cool would that be.. NY city in your tank with frags growing on buildings..

anyways.. i think stuff like bottles and ships and statues are cool.. i just get nervous with what damage they might cause..

 

[JLAudio]

man throw that sh*t in there .. it would be cool once it is coered in corraline and pink and purple.. then you can glue frags to it and if you glue the right ones in the right spots you can make it look like sails.. worse case scenerio.. you throw it in there.. in two months if you dont like it.. tell him.. you read on a thread somewhere that they leak phosphates.. plastic does that.. so you loved it.. but it couldnt stay.. OR.. when your with him.. you tell him you are nervous about the ship leaking phosphates.. and he will offer for you to take it out.. but what is two months.. and it might end up cool..

in most situations like this in life.. there is ALWAYS as much positive as there is negative.. and as most would look at this like a negative situation beacuse who would want a ship in their tank.. the positive of it.. is.. it could look pretty cool and give you somthing to talk about everytime he is around.. a nice converstation starter..

man.. i always wanted to put liek a statue of liberty or atlantis.. or like carve a big city scap out of rocks.. but i meant fill the tank with buildings.. just like NY and then let the tank take over.. how cool would that be.. NY city in your tank with frags growing on buildings..

anyways.. i think stuff like bottles and ships and statues are cool.. i just get nervous with what damage they might cause..

Hey Marc, I think that would make for some good art and photography; a statue of liberty in the mist of a reef tank, looking as the world flood and this beneath it. I think the artificial and authentic might work in an interesting way. I will insert the ship this week and try and keep some photo progress to see how it becomes part of the landscape

 

[QUESTIONMARC]

i would glue the ora scrips or green birds nest to the mast parts too and see if you can get them to look like sails on it..

and im telling you.. making the city look flooded and underwater would be SIckk.. well.. in my head it looks sickk

 

[JLAudio]

i would glue the ora scrips or green birds nest to the mast parts too and see if you can get them to look like sails on it..

and im telling you.. making the city look flooded and underwater would be SIckk.. well.. in my head it looks sickk

Get this project in motion. Just getting the model to be acurate, the way you want it as well safe for the tank would be a little challange but im sure it could be pulled off

 

[Josh]

I think you should use it. I have an Easter Island Moi in my tank that I covered with an encrusting Supergirl Montipora. I am going to put a fat pom pom xenia on his head someday.

 

[masterswimmer]

JL, I applaud your #1 reason for using it. Shows an incredible amount of posture and maturity on your part. Quite frankly, you can see he actually put some time and effort into his choice of gifts for you.

The problem I see, is if you make it look too good (which you really would like to do) and you comment, or others comment on how good and natural it looks, just imagine the next reef gift you're gonna get, plastic sea grass (plants).

2' is a big piece of real estate to devote to any one decoration, especially a plastic one. Don't compromise your reef vision because of the gift. Displaying on a shelf is actually a really good idea.

swimmer

 

[KathyC]

I think you should use it. I have an Easter Island Moi in my tank that I covered with an encrusting Supergirl Montipora. I am going to put a fat pom pom xenia on his head someday.

.That's right, I remember seeing him in there, the xenia will look good on him! lol


...and Awilda had a Buddah in her Fowlr and I have a rock shaped like a ...nevermind that doesn't count...point is, it was a gift and he was reaching out with it.
I also like the shelf idea and you can use that...if it turns out that it shouldn't be in a SW tank. I think it's best that you definitely check with Dr's F & S and ask if it is SW safe and then go from there.