Anyone has experience of buying coral from GARF?

[fengzhu]

I heard from internet that they sold small frags, 7 for 100$. But they don't have good and clear page for saling stuff. Anyone has experience with that? For example, how much should I pay for shipping, quality of their stuff?

 

[iamjosh]

They have a special running right now 10 for $100, Plus 2lbs of Grunge Plustm.

I need to get the bigger tank so I can start trying out these random things, need better lighting too.

More Info @ www.garf.org.

I think I might try ordering some of the Grunge, anyone tried that stuff?

-j

 

[Ray Pollett]

They have a special running right now 10 for $100, Plus 2lbs of Grunge Plustm.

I need to get the bigger tank so I can start trying out these random things, need better lighting too.

More Info @ www.garf.org.

I think I might try ordering some of the Grunge, anyone tried that stuff?

-j

I've used the Grunge in a number of tanks. It does add some diversity.

Ray

 

[Thefishcouple]

I bought some frags from Garf once and I can't say that I would buy from them again. You can send me 100.00 and I'll send you 15 of my coral tips if you get what I mean.

 

[fengzhu]

You mean they give you very small frags? But if they can grow up in 3 months, maybe they worth the money? I mean it may cost me 330 or more to buy 10 2" frags from LFS, that's way too expensive.
Could you share us your experience, like how small are those tips, how did they grow, what kinds did you get, shipping fee and conditions, etc.?

Thanks.

 

[reedman]

If you are looking to get frags, might I suggest watching for fellow reefers and asking around. Also, in the sprin/summer the club has a frag swap that is a great place to buy/trade frags and meet some great people.

 

[mattseattle]

i don't think any frag is going to grow up in only 3 months. some of my frags are 6 - 8 months old and just now are getting to the point where they are 'full' looking. most hard corals grow about an inch a month depending on conditions.

Blue Sierra is about to have a big sale on corals so I would check them out.

I've heard good things about GARF and I've heard quite a bit of bad things. Do a search on ReefCentral about them and you'll see. The corals they send you are quite small and I don't think really worth the money. Honestly all my corals have come from exchanges with other club members on here.

PM Fragman as well....he has quite a few frags that he sells relatively cheap.

also if you just started your tank on 3/1 i wouldn't even begin to think about adding corals to my tank. you should wait about 6 months before adding corals to let your tank cycle.

Hope this info helps.

 

[cdeakle]

Plus 2lbs of Grunge Plustm.

Never heard this term before, can someone please elaborate for me?

Thanks!
-Chris

 

[mattseattle]

I think it's Garf Grunge Plus and tm for trademark. I think he just copied/pasted it and took the tm with it.

GARF Grunge plusTM

something like that.

 

[MCSInc]

Grunge

Chris,

Grunge is the rubble that I brought down with the pods when we did the trade. It is good for the pods to grow in. We like ours.

 

[Gordo]

I've used the grunge. It seemed to have several different type of coralline algae in it and that's about it. I haven't ordered any frags from them.

~Gordo~

 

[fengzhu]

It's very discouraging to wait 4 more months to start adding coral. I have set up sand bed, live rock, canister filter and fluidized bed filter, all NH4, NO2 and NO3 are zero with 2 damsels. Can I just add some hardy soft corals now, since I have so low bio-load? I won't add SPS since I have only 220W PC lighting.

 

[reedman]

Was your rock cured? if so, I would think you could SLOWLY add some easier to keep soft corals. The key is solid & consistent water parameters...not just zero when you checked it last. If the parameters are still varying with each check then your tank isn't ready for inhabitants.

I wouldn't be too discouraged. Most people will encourage patience and it is a good thing to practice. Nothing good will happen fast in a reef tank. But catastrophes can happen in the wink of an eye.

Just move very slowly until you can get a feel for when things are good and bad in your system. This takes a while to figure out.

 

[mattseattle]

i'd also get rid of the damsels.....because later on you will wish you had. they are very aggressive to other fish and other inhabitants. they are also very hard to get out later on.

only suggestions though......we all want you to have a successful reef tank.

 

[fengzhu]

Yes, I heard about the stories of damsels. My plan was to get a pair of crownfish and a very small Tang, that's it, no more fish, because I want a mostly reef tank. Since crownfish is also damsel fish, I guessed it was OK to keep those damsels.
Maybe I should just wait a moment before getting coral, but get crownfish first, so that if it does not work out, I still can move rock around and get rid of damsels.
Oh, yes, my water parameters are quite stable. I did not check them every day, but usually every week. I guess the fluidized sand bed filter is working on it.

 

[jazznreef]

green chromis are good. they are very popular in schools.

 

[Elmo18]

First, yeah their frags are small. Second, I have heard rumors that they do some really nice "photoshop'ping" on their pictures of their tanks. Seems like they are doing us a favor by doing 'research', but I don't know if i want to fall for the high priced frags.

Maybe instead of GARF, just BARF.

- Ilham