Coral

Farms -  The How to Guide

Rich

King - a.k.a Phishmon

June

25, 2000 on #reefs

Rich King has

been in the hobby since 1987.  His

first reef (and first tank) was a dry food storage Tupperware container with hair curlers

for a filter and a powerfilter plumbed to a drain in the bottom which acted as

the skimmer box.

Rich started

working for an LFS in 1988, he asked them so many confusing questions they

offered him a job.  After one year there he started his own maintenance service. 

Since then Rich has set up coral farms for himself and others, acted as a

consultant to stores and anything that relates to the hobby. 

Rich has worked both marine and ponds.

Rich has always

loved reefs and when he figured out that he could make a living at it he was

hooked.

Over the past 9

months Rich has established an LFS with an actual store front. 

Rich used   to do this

all out of his house.  Rich can also

be found online at Marine Ecosystems

and as Phishmon on most bb's and chat rooms around the internet

Rich's ultimate

goal is to change the problems in many areas of this hobby with his first

priority as information and the sale being secondary.

I want to

basically make this an open talk via the  so

we can cover a lot of stuff fast.  Most

of you know me and know how I can get on a rant. 

Farming corals is easy fun and a great way to pay for a system

even a small

farm can pay for itself hence the coral farms we see popping up. 

It is the future of this industry farmed corals grow better and faster

than wild heads in my experience.  For

the main reason they grow into the system and do have to get used to new

currents and light like a wild head of coral. 

Granted they have to acclimate, but you know where the 

piece was located and you know  how

much light it gets.

I bounce corals

from tank to tank all day with little acclimation

the systems are

not plumbed together but set up from the same waste waters and sand is rotated

throughout the systems and rock to get them kind of "uniform". 

This helps you move corals about the systems faster

Basically if it

holds water and is an inert substance you can grow corals in it.

Anything can be

used Rubbermaid tubs with wooden frames to keep them from bowing (this is more

of a temporary system which can be used in outdoor farming like a temporary

greenhouse).  Cheap way to cure rock

and you can plumb all the tubs together and be able to pull all of them off or

just a few.  Its a lot easier to

pick a tub of water up and transport the rock then to expose it to air Etc A 55

gallon tank can pay for itself including the electrical bill in less than a year

after you start harvesting corals.

Soft corals Etc

are the best to start with and fastest growers.

SPS would be the

second and LPS the last, spawning is the next step for LPS. 

I wont touch that tonight cause I know little about it (for now)

I used to think

I needed tanks for the farm and realized that I could have done it bigger and cheaper

with vats.  Thankfully I have acquired

1. gallons of tanks over the past 9 years so it wasn't as expensive but the

reality of the cost (had I bought actual tanks) would have been wayyyyy too

expensive for motive.

A Dixie cup would

work just have to find a small enough powerhead;)

Point is its

easy to do it cheap.  If you can find a source of free vats that is the best. 

The plumbing is the biggest cost at that point since it is necessary that

it be new.  Lighting is a given

expensive cost if not using the sun and there is a cheap way to do that use MH

bulbs and nothing else use the best bulb for growth that you can get looks are

not important.  Since most bulbs

will grow them at the same rates (this is comparing same wattage bulbs) 

going for color is only important if you want to see them in the tanks.  You can grow them out in other tanks and they will color up. 

So using a 6500k bulb skip the actinics and your good to go. 

Depending on the size of the system you can use the largest you want to

burn. 400watt to 1000 watt.

Your going to

need a calcium reactor.  You can

build or buy one.  If you want to

"produce" corals and get growth your grow out tanks or main display

systems can be used to color up the frags or they can color up on their own in

other reefers systems.  I know it

sounds nuts but your going for speed growth Etc here not looks for the moment.  Besides its fun to watch the frags go from brown to tri and

quad colors.  This applies to all

the corals you are going to grow you just have to know the source of the

frag/cutting and what it looked like.  It

will go back to that look in no time.  Do

the same thing grow out for color in other systems if need be.  Your grow out system can be displays so you can photograph

the frags/cuttings  for trade or

sale.

If doing the LFS

trade in find one that gives cash not credit. 

Its annoying to have to spend the money where they want you too. 

Dump as much food into these systems as they can handle, don't over due

it but give them a lot of food.  Also

it is best to do separate systems, like soft only and SPS only, easier to farm

in them.  Its hard to grow xenia in

a SPS tank well not hard just hard to harvest and get off of other corals. 

Yes its a weed but it is also a money maker in some areas and if paying

for a system that is key.  A soft coral farm will pay for the next SPS farm, hence the

reason to start with soft corals first.  You

can do SPS first but the cost versus the payoff is lower in the long run

Mushrooms are a

good example too.  One shroom can produce 800-900 polyps a year with a little

incentive ;), like a razor blade and some surgical scissors. 

You can just feed them and they multiply but I find it faster to chop

them up.  The little pieces make

more shrooms and you just put them in a low flow area where they can attach to

sand then you drop these little anchored shrooms onto rocks and they attach. 

I find letting mama mature help as much as possible is easier on me and

more fun.  Don't know how the

shrooms feel about it ;).  Shrooms

will grow under any light level.  The

brighter the faster and the cooler their colors are.

Sand beds become

real important for me in soft coral farming. 

I bury leather cuttings in it and all kinds of things to get them to

attach them to sand.  The hardest thing

to do is glue a soft coral to rock they usually detach from the "feel"

of the glue.  Feel is the best way I

can describe being stuck to a rock with glue for an invert.

DEEP SAND BEDS

are a must for farming.  The corals

need food half the food you dump in the systems is not for the corals but for

the critters to eat then reproduce to make larvae to feed the corals its a nice

neat little chain and its free cuts down on food needs. 

BTW the detritivores in these systems get in mad numbers and you can

harvest them so you can make kits for friends sale new systems whatever. 

I think we are one  of the few stores that sells det kits probably the only one

in the state.

Another little

money maker is algae's in the systems.  Refugiums

in the softie tanks are great for growing the algaes and keeping them on a

opposite light cycle helps you control the pH for the system. 

There are no fish in these systems you want every algae you can get to

pop out of the rocks they can be harvested for sale and nutrient export or for

food for other fish in systems you have.  Again

a free food source and helps you too boot.

Make the sand

bed as deep as you can in the grow out systems if they are not display systems

then you can put the corals in 5 inches of water

a deep sand bed

will be enough filtration for a frag grow out system, rock will not be

necessary, but if you want to grow things from the rocks themselves like algaes

Etc then you can put rock in them or do refugiums.

I let the

cuttings "base-up"  before

I remove them from the system they were chopped in. 

You just drop them in the sand so exposing the sand bed in these

"brood stock" systems is key.  You

can either leave space on one side that is accessible or use egg crate to make a

platform above rock and put a tray of sand on that on one side. 

The grow out

systems have to be established systems these are not temp holding or grow out

systems.  A grow out system is more

of a temp system since it has a "revolving" bioload. 

You are moving corals in and out they come in small and go out large that

is big time export of nutrients.  That

is the main reason a sand bed is all you need on the grow out system, as there

really is very little bioload.  You

need to be able to feed them big time and the bed will handle that load.

SPS grow out is

the same but you will have little rubble chunks in there In my experience it is

best to keep rubble in the grow out system to glue too. 

The rock is already used to the system I have had nice looking rocks have

problems being just dropped into a new system.

So you get a

great frag and a bleached rock for it to grow on which in a few months is fine

depending on the size of the rock but why kill it if you don't have too

Q&A 

Does

it look like large scale LPS propagation will be possible in the near future?

Yes if someone

manages to do it by spawning.  When

Dr Ron was here he talked to me about larval separation, that is the next step

for LPS.  You can induce budding but I don't like the technique cause

you have to kill the main colony to get it to happen.  Basically you can get "most" LPS to do this by

turning it upside down in the sand and literally killing it.  the skeleton will grow buds in a week to a few months.

If you want to

try this go to a bad LFS and get one that is dead/dying or ask for the already

dead skeletons they may still pop polyps and that is a way to do it plates can

be done but they have to be killed too.  All

LPS can be "cracked" or "chopped", but the growth time is a

lot longer than SPS or softies even sponges.

Any

Well actually if

you can plumb as many together as possible. 

If you have to spread the systems out in say a house or something the

largest volume of water you can keep together is the best especially on a large

scale its easier to add things for evaporation foods etc. 

Plumb the systems so you can feed easy too. 

The return line's current should circulate the tank. 

Then you feed the system via the pump intake gives a nice extra shredding

to the food.  Its going to wind up

in the sump eventually may as well start there.  Its fast way to feed, but you have to clean the pump impellor

every 2 months.  Its a good thing to

do anyway and the feeding forces you to do so

What

i.e.:

tank size, skimmer/filtration

Your wallet. 

Whatever you can afford go for it.  A

1. gallon tank can grow many species or you can do single species and use the $$

to do new tanks and single species.  LPS

will be done that way  to make it

easier for larval separation and ID we will know what the eggs and sperm will

look like and be able to pull them form the systems to grow them out

So

you advocate refugiums that are pumped into the system?

Drain into the

system.  Pump form the main system

to the refugium. You can do the sump refugium then I guess that would be a pump

the water from the refugium system.  Heh

need to tm that one ;)

In

your experience what accelerates

the growth of soft corals?

No skimmer at

all.  Maybe for the cycle of the

rock/system.  It takes the food out you need. 

Ever notice how xenia dissolve in SPS systems.   Richk being the exception to that rule ;). 

Heavy skimmed tanks I find xenia does not do well

Do

you add any supplements

to enhance the growth after cutting?

Food. 

Lots and lots of food.  And

more food

Do

u do this coral farming outdoors as well ?

Yes. 

We are starting a small "experimental" greenhouse in the

country near here.  Snailman in this

room is helping me with the store and he has 

the perfect place for a greenhouse. 

heh a 44 acre greenhouse ;)

Do

you farm using the sun or lights ?

We are going to

use the sun.  We will bury the vat

make a temporary removable cover for the vat so we can keep it cool but easy

access.  Hopefully the tornadoes are not to bad this year.

What

are the normal temp ranges where you live? outdoors??

40-90 deg F

How

would the water temp be controlled

by a tank exposed to the sun? air conditioning?

The vat will be

buried in the ground 3 feet deep we are doing this now to see what we will need

for the depth of cement pools in the future.

This removable

cover will be open on the sides with the material they use at tennis courts it

breathes but rain stays out.  It

will just be a cover for now no human access at all it will have to be picked up

and moved for access.  The

greenhouse for the future will definitely have some air temp control for the

farmers the water is a non-issue.

When

using a sand bed for the softies: is it cut side down? an how deeply placed?

Yes cut side

down.  You put it in just enough to

keep it from moving around reason for a low flow area. 

I like to make a circle of rubble rock the pieces are in a rock garden

looking area what little current gets to them pushes them against the rubble and

they attach.  Its easier in the long

run.  I don't put them

"in" the sand but more or less let them just sit there they will do

this mostly on their own.  A colt

coral cutting will need more support than say a finger leather. 

Soft corals are harder to "pinch" in to areas cause they give

more with pressure.

What

type of sandbed do you use or suggest ? oolite, crushed corals etc?

Wallet is in

charge of that.  Oolite is the best deep sand bed and if can get the home

depot sand major cheap.  Either way

a really deep bed is the best for a grow out system not as important for the

main brood systems but is good for a food source for the main brood systems so

it has an need but a really deep sand bed in the brood system takes space away

from brood corals.

Couldn't

cool the vats? and

the vat will be underground as well?

The vat will be

a foot above ground and at the highest point on the property to protect it from

runoff but will expose it to electrical storms and we get a lot of those. 

Running pipes just in the ground will do, as will using an old well and

putting a sealed vat in that and pumping water through it 

but that will require an environmental impact study and they are not

cheap.  So the pipes in the ground

could cool the system but is something that would have to go offline in the winter, unless

the greenhouse is going to be hot in the winter or your using massive amounts of

halides.  But you can push to 82

degrees with no worries and they grow a little faster seen as it is more natural

and all.

You

turn out will he be posting the results?

Definitely. 

You're

saying you have snails, hermits, brittle stars

etc in the prop tanks also ?

Just snails and

the best is to use a fast breeding snail they make money. 

There are a lot of snails out there. 

Stomatellas are great since you wont need cleaners but you may need

peppermints for aip control and they may cut down on the stomatella population.

Aren't

some fish a good idea to supply an ammonia and different food source for the detritivores?

Sure just use

non algae eating fish if harvesting algae for $$$$ or foods in other systems.

How

Umm its a custom

reef concepts don't know size and its not up yet till we get settled in at the

store.

How

many cuts to say a 3"dia shroom?

Depend on how

you cut it.  Cut the base from the

top only 2 cut the top off the base then cut a ring off the top and chop that up

the number is up to you

Do

u cut through the center?

A 1/4" x

1/4" piece is the smallest I have seen survive mainly cause they disappear. 

If you have peppermints too btw they may eat the cuttings. 

The top is chopped from the base so you have the top of the shroom then

you cut in from the rim of the top a 1/4" - 1/2" and cut a ring off

the top.  Cut that into pieces.

Not

like a pizza cut?

You can do a

pizza cut I found that some pieces of the ring cut will survive. 

The problem I had was keeping these little tiny pieces in one spot the

pizza cut will grow out faster but you get more the other way 

its give and take.

Any

I've read the mother often doesn't

survive.

Get a lot of

frags in case the main colony decides to die. 

Right up there with LPS.  btw

the LPS deal of killing them to get more that, is an extreme way to do it and I

only do it to ones I know are going to die you can "stress" an LPS and

it will do the same thing.

How

much food is lots? i.e.

a suggested weight per day for a 100g tank heavily stocked.

4-5 ounces.

Do

you find that foods such as DT's help the growth of SPS

significantly enough to be bothered with?

Yes. 

Definitely and sponges especially.

Any

suggestions

for fragging bubbles and anchors?

Find a weak spot

in the skeleton where the polyp can be split in half and crack it you can use a

dremel to make a line I usually just snap them in half.

So

is an ailing elegance able to be saved like other LPS

by placing it upside-down in the sand?

Nope.

Did

then gluing to the rock?

I have never

gotten one too and I wont order them so....

shrooms

that is?

Yes I use the

aragonite though its just as heavy in water. 

As an anchor is all it is needed for wonder where they got that idea from

;)

How

are the Mark Weiss bulbs (spotlight style) for prop tanks?

Never used them,

he says they are great, and they may very well be

Is

explaining and post it on your web page ?

Sure in the

future we are doing a whole thing on farming we do if we ever get a camera

inhere :).  On the web cam we may do

some live deals you will be able to se us in the store all day anyway except

when I use the shower I have to cross the store for that ;).

What

about water changes?

Depends on the

system a prop grow out system with just a sand bed will need little changes

since you are taking out water a lot moving corals around. 

Water changes are always good, in the main systems they are necessary you

are going for a well balanced stable system.

Thank you Rich

for the inspiring talk!

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