Living Color Artificial Reef Structures

Hi. I am wondering how does Licingcolor make their Artificial Coral Reef Structures? What are they made of, How do they attach the corals to the reef, What do they use to paint them? I want to give it a try and see if I can make something similar but I don't want to use toxic chemicals that will harm my fish. Does anybody know the names of the materials they use and where to buy them? If you don't know what I am talking about here are some pics of their reef structures.

 

Look on their site, I know that whatever they use is definitely safe.

 

Their site doesn't give away any secretes. And if you ask them they won't tell you. I was hoping some people on here might have some inside info to share with me. Those Livingcolor reefs are expensive. The are about $2000.00 each!!

 

do they not end up getting covered in algae and coralline just like anything else in the tank? seems like a really expensive fake rock if you ask my opinion... but to each their own. good luck with it!

 

They are very expensive but easy to take care of and look like a real reef.

 

At the local LFS they have some of those in various tanks and all i know is that there is allot of algae growth on them and i wish they would take them out and clean them. I know that they are made from some type of resin. They also claim that it can grow beneficial bacteria on it also.

 

I'm guessing they're a lightweight foam, (maybe epoxied at this point), painted, and coated with an epoxy resin type of sealing substance for strength.

I do have serious concerns about them being overgrown like anything else that would go in the tank, and the total lack of porous surfaces like you'd get with limestone (important for denitrification).

 

I know they are very heavy about 100lbs for the larger ones. I think they are made out of some kind of concrete.

 

Artificial Corals/Tank Inserts

They are made of so-called non-toxic urethanes, and/or castable epoxy resins.
The bases or backdrops (what they are attached to) are usually made of polyester resins (Fiberglass). The corals are made by pouring a mixture of castable urethane into a silicone mold of the coral with a base integral color mixed in. The resin hardens after a few minutes. The coral replica is removed from the mold and final coloring is applied usually with special paints or a thinned down colored mixture of the same polyurethane the coral was cast with. Once the coral piece is complete, it is usually attached to the fiberglass background using aquarium safe epoxy (sometimes a plastic pin is used for structural support along with epoxy).