Reefs.org Forums

[Katfsh]

The past week I have been kicking around the idea about starting a Frag Farm. My father and I own and operate a 1000 acre catfish farm and hatch around 80 Million catfish anually. So I am no stranger to aquaculture. I have had salt water tanks for the past seven years and got into reef tanks a little over a year ago. We are currently adding onto our hatching operation and have some extra tanks that will not be using and this got me to thinking. The largest tanks are 15' long x 3' Wide x 4' tall,
these tanks are concrete covered in fiberglass that is covered in gelcoat. I have several other tanks that vary in size from 250 - 500 gallons, that are fiberglass and poly.

I have several Question.

1) is this even a feasible idea of is it just a daydream. Could I make money raising frags and possibly fish.

2) Equipment and System design. We also own an aquaculture supply store so I can get some equipment cheap. I would have the big vat as the growout tank and then pump into another tank that would house the skimmer and live rock, then go into the very large fuge. I would have a manifold for the various reactors and probes. I would like to have this thing automated as possible. is there any computer software available to monitor everything?

3) Lighting? VHO or MH how much?

Please give me some advice.

Thanks.

[Raskal311]

Does anyone make VHO anymore? Look in to HOT5 or Natural sunlight. You may also want to head over to the coral propagation forum on RC.

[swsaltwater]

I would not fill 4' deep unless you are using natural light in a greenhouse. Have to spend a ton on lighting at that depth, mayb 3' deep with 1000 W MH spaced out or 30" deep with 400W MH. For flow I would get some tunze powerheads or plumb for close loops.

[Raskal311]

I would think he would have some type of rack that would hold the corals 6-12â€

[Katfsh]

I would place the coral on rack about ten inches below the surface, but filling the tank for system stability. I would plumb it for a closed loop.

Is there any advantages or disadvantages to a green house

[joetbs]

your biggest expense is going to be energy - so if you can use the sun and use artificial lighting for supplementation you are much better off. starting up is going to be more expensive going the greenhouse route, but over time you are going to have to pay for electricity, bulbs, ballasts, etc. and those will add up over time. you could look into light movers, but unless you have a couple of long raceways i think the greenhouse would be a better idea.

[Reef Goddess]

Most people have "big" ideas when it comes to propagation, but can never get them off the ground. You don't need a large/expensive setup in order to grow lots of frags efficiently.
I have at least 600 frags growing out in our 2.5x6' prop tank. When we convert our 3x3' tank I'll be able to double or triple it. Most people I know that have gone to the trouble to make a green house to grow corals, never get it off the ground and just end up puttering/wasting money or growing lots of algae.

So my advice is to start off small and learn to use that space efficiently before investing a lot of time/money on a large setup. Find out whether you have the dedication to farm frags because there is a lot of labor involved, but its worth while if you love it. Several of the reef forums have propagation threads and you can learn a lot about what works for other people.



My setup.

[naesco]

Outstanding pictures. Worth there weight in gold.

Speaking of gold, did you'll hear that Canada won the International Junior Hockey Tournament. It is the 5th consecutive gold medal for Canada.
US came in a decent 5th place.

[Veng68]

Wow........ nice frag tank Reef Goddess.

Could you explain what your set up is like? (ie. lighting, water movement and filtration)

Thanks.

Cheers,
Vic

[dizzy]

Nice job Reef Goddess

[swsaltwater]

are the ric 100% captive grown of part wild. Very nice setup. What are you feeding the rics if they are all 100% captive.

[Raskal311]

If they are I’m very impressed; I’ve tried my hands and ric cultured and those things grow too dang slow.