Imitation Anemone???

For now, I am just starting out with a FOWLR tank, and was considering getting one of these "real live action movement bla bla bla" imitation anemones? Does anyone have any experience with them? Do they look and move even remotely life like? Where do you recommend getting them from? I only want maybe 2 or 3 pieces max.

Here are a few I was looking into...
White Anemone
Club Foot

 

Your links are a little wrong here lets help you out.
http://www.aquatichouse.com/scart/shopexd.asp?id=1651
http://www.aquatichouse.com/scart/shopexd.asp?id=2538



Oh and I like the first one looks cool. I wonder if it is soft so you can put a blower on it and it will sway.

 

Thanks for helping me with those links...I messed them up, fixed them now

Anyway, yeah, I was wondering the same thing, if it sways with the right flow. I guess these would have to be glued to LR to make it look like it was a plug? I dunno.

 

Yeah it would still be cool I have a FOWLR and I would not mind coral looking items in there.

 

These are fake corals? The prices were insane if thats the case. You can get the real thing much much cheaper. For the price of buying those 2 corals, you could probably get some lights to grow some low light corals.

 

im with mattheuw! those a super exp for FAKE corals!!!!

 

The genopora is 40 bucks and the fake condy nem is 60 bucks. Thats ridiculous. You can buy a real condy for 16 bucks at most fish stores. A genopora that size would run you about 40 bucks.....but being live coral, it would grow whereas your plastic would not. What size tank do you have? If I were you and looking to add color to the fowler, pickup some cheap lights and get some softies. A lot of local people are constantly giving away kenya trees, gsp, xenia, leathers, etc.

 

Yeah, the prices are a bit high. It was my understanding that you need a sump, skimmer, wave maker etc etc etc, right? I only have a canister filter, and a powerhead, would that work for 2 or 3 max live anemone? Believe me, I would MUCH rather have a few live ones over fake, but I was trying to avoid going super expensive.

 

the main thing you need is good lights, good T5 lights, a good skimmer. and a good amount of LR.

 

+1......the main thing you need is light. Most anemones require a lot of light and very clean water. Whether you NEED a skimmer or not depends on your bio load, water change schedules, etc. There are some very nice setups that do not have skimmers that grow everything but everyones tank is different. I would recommend at minimum, T5 lights for corals in general. You do not need a sump either, personal preference. It helps take down your nitrates, but like I said, people get by without them. Water changes will do the same thing a sump does. A sump allows people to slack on their topoffs and water changes because it compensates with the plant growth and the added water volume. There are a lot of "YOU NEED THIS"s out there that discourage people from even considering a reef. You can always start with the basic fowlr and work into a full reef with a sump and a nice skimmer. Once you get a couple corals, you will be addicted!

Considering you already have a fowlr.....your just lights away from a reef. Most corals are photosynthetic and require the intense lights like T5s instead of cheapo fluorescent tubes. Get some lights, then you can start with some easy corals. Anemones require pristine water...if your water change schedule is decent and you keep your nitrates under 20ppm, you would be fine. I do not recommend a nem until you are completely familiar with basic reef necessities. Start with some 5 dollar corals and work your way up to harder stuff. Trust me, when your ready to get an anemone, you are not going to want more than one in the same tank. They are overated and wreak horrible havoc while they find their sweet spot.

As for wavemakers....no you do not need them. You do however need to increase the flow in your tank. The water moves in the ocean, your tank must simulate that. Depending on tank size (which you have not specified), you should be looking at about 40x turnover. So if you have a 10 gallon (just an example), you want about 400gph water movement (40x turnover rate). Thats a combination of your return (the return from your canister) and powerheads within the tank. You could still get some easy corals in the meantime while you budget for your better powerheads.

As for using a canister on a reef. OK idea if you clean it weekly, bad idea if you clean it monthly or longer. In a reef setup, we rely on the beneficial bacteria on the liverock and sand to do most of the water filtration. Canister filters buildup nitrates on the pad and they just keep accumulating. A good idea would be to turn your canister filter into a media holder. You can run carbon, phosban, gfo, etc in there instead of filter pads.


We are here to turn that fowlr into a reef so keep asking questions!