Coral Farming

[FreshFish]

I have made a decision to start my own coral farm. I have found a 6'l X 6'w X 2'h plastic bin. I have 2 1000w Mh lamps and ballasts. Im looking for help on pump and sump sizes. What else am I missing? Floral tubes, eggcrate and Frags!!! Who's got the best coral for sale? Psuedo or anyone else want to take a youngster under his or her wing? Any help is greatly appreciated!

[ June 10, 2005, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: FreshFish ]

 

[spykes]

LOL you aint young, younger then kasei, but hell not young as kris LOL, im only 21 and i feel old.

 

[FreshFish]

Young in reef years I meant.

 

[nanoreefer22]

hey hey hey !!!!! Dave I turn 18 this year lol...well i can see how it makes you feel old. No ones as young as this youngster!! hehehe

Fresh....when you get set up I could hook you up with some of my doubles...if you want.

 

[FreshFish]

Thank you for your offer! Can I see pics of anything anyone will want to frag or has frags of. Even whole corals. I will pay in advance until Im set up and can take them from you. Anyone know where to get 1000w mh 14k or 20k bulbs.

 

[Deanos]

Radium 20k

Helios 20K

 

[jhale]

that's about 538 gallons.
you'll need a lot of salt

a good refractometer.
a digital thermometer.
a good size chiller.
a lot of flow. if your not going for aesthetics I would use a bunch of powerheads. or a couple of sequence pumps on some large closed loops.
a good calcium reactor. if you pack that with coral your ca requirements are going to be high.
a few hundred or more snails to eat all the algae that's going to grow from the 1000w bulbs.
there are a few others here who started something like this maybe they will have more to add.

 

[bad coffee]

And if you're in it to make money, 6500K bulbs will grow coral much faster than 14 or 20.

Grow them fast, then switch over the bulbs to color them up later.

So, from a 10 gal nano to a coral farm!

BC

 

[spykes]

i think for 500 gallons sequence pumps would be nice, especially with SPS, nice skimmer, like john said a good calcium reactor..

 

[jackson6745]

Freshfish are you setting up the system to make a profit? If so it is very difficult to do so. I would suggest that you upgrade to a larger tank and gain more experience before making such a huge leap.

 

[jhale]

Rich brings up a good point. raising coral for a profit is tough.
If that's what you want to do, you did not say. If it is for profit it will be a long time before you get your money back. If it's not for profit that's a whole lot of money to spend. for the same amount you could have a decent size display tank.
We also forgot to mention to be extremely diligent with your husbandry. red bugs, nudi's, and other nasties are all things you will have to keep out of your large tank. you may want to set up a smaller tank to qt the new arrivals. getting an sps nudi out of 500+ gallons would be no fun.

 

[scotty]

i would have to agree with jackson6745. the initial set up is going to run atleast a grand. the return will take a long time. this is one of those things where it takes money to make money. and since its live stuff there is no garuntee.

 

[Reef Guy]

Would it really cost that much to setup? Wouldnt you just need a closed loop system,sump,heater, shelves and lighting? and maybe 4 x 250 mh and most importantly salt and water. Which would proly run about 70$ a month on the electric bill

 

[bad coffee]

Setup cost would be cheap, compared to maintenance and stocking costs.

Bulbs every 6 months, salt, RODI water (or filters), corals, calcium reactor media, co2, salt, ect.

I'd say set up a sweet tank and use it as a 'prop tank'

 

[FreshFish]

I figure I might as well try and make some cash from my hobby. I would also be helping the hobby by not raping the ocean of more corals. I would like to sell only frags or whole corals of rare species. So 6500k to grow them fast huh? Don't I need some blue to promote good growth? Can someone give me a color break down for when corals need certain light. Some plants need alot of blue green for vegetative state but need red to flower. Would some red make the colors pop better?

 

[bad coffee]

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

 

[DRZL]

Not too sound like a total prick, but IMO if you have as many questions as you do, your not fit to undertake such a step. I understand your intentions are well meaning but it seems very naive. There is alot of competition and you will get eaten alive. I rather be brash now than encourage you and couple months from now you be out a couple thousand $$ and close to tears due to this escapade. When you go for profit, you become part of a competitive race,do you have a business plan? human resource? capital? secure producers? how are you going to market?
There are many established businesses, that have much more to offer than someone who grows out monti digitata, ever heard of ORA?

Im sorry to be so blunt but......What are you thinking?

 

[glipper69]

dude,

enjoy a nice display tank for a couple of years, then after you have made about 50 mistakes and got most of the tough stuff worked out, then start thinking about what your planning. Right now you are setting yourself up for a disaster.

Frank

 

[FreshFish]

DRZL Thank you for your blunt opinion. Here are my ideas. I am very interested still in this project. I am not looking to make a living with this. Even after all is said and done, if I break even every month I am happy. Yes I can set up and run this for a year without making a penny and not be to worried. I am now in the process of knowledge building, it could be a year before I actually setup. May I ask why me asking so many questions is a downfall? Its all about knowledge gathering and putting it to use. I may not have a college degree but, I have been working many years in hydroponic vegetable and fish farming. I am just looking to help Mother Earth the best I can.

 

[spykes]

freshfish, i dont know about you, but after 9 months in this hobby im still a big newb, so in a year skills are not much diffrent, the husbandry cannot be taught in a year IMO. so i think you should setup a tank and get a feel for the hobby before you setup for big time.