coral farming questions

[morgan]

hey i have a couple questions about farming mass coral

the plan is to grow discs red and purple in sun tanks
there will be 2 tanks they will be 6foot long by 2 wide and 1 high
they will share a sump with a fuge
my questions are
1 should i put any fish in the systems
2 what is an algea turf scrubber
3 will it be okay to grow differnt speices in 2nd tank eg. acro, scayphton or a mix of everything and having slower growth rates
4 do i need live rock except for basing
so any fish species or algea species for the farm/fuge would be help full
thanx in advance
Morgs

 

[bighitrider45]

so i have no personal experience with coral farming but with my knowledge I know that coral eat fish poo so i would think having fish would be helpful but im not sure

 

[morgan]

coral dont eat fish poo and if they do it would be a minute amount coral would rather eat zoo or phyto plankton over detritus thanx for bumping this thread

 

[Planet Reef]

coral dont eat fish poo and if they do it would be a minute amount coral would rather eat zoo or phyto plankton over detritus thanx for bumping this thread

Actually, many of the larger polyped corals obtain quite a bit of nutrition indirectly from fish poo. Fish poo is immediately attack by bacteria (called bacterial floc). If you have good circulation in your tank, this fish poo will be transported to the polyps where the bacterioplankton is digested. In fact, bacteria is such an important food for many SPS corals that they literally "farm" it in mucus nets which they suck into their polyps when they need food.

Most species of corals do don't directly eat phyto either and a good many of the ones that do are azooxanthellate (they don't get any nutrition from photosynthesis).

 

[morgan]

well i didnt know that curt i have seen my acro sliming for food but only when i have added it i wouldnt count on fish poo for food though im a lps feeder and think its essential to feed them alot
i was under the impression or had seen on a doco that most soft coral sacrphytons where herbivourse corals and do best with live feedings of green water

cheers for the reply curt but u didnt answer any of my questions just a quip at my answer

 

[JasonD]

I might be starting a small scale coral farm in the near future. Buying a house that already has a greenhouse on the property. Nothing too fancy here. I plan on doing 6 150 gallon tanks (48"Lx30"wx24"D), 1 sps, 1 xenia/anthelia/leathers, 1 zoanthids, 1 LPS,1 mushroom, 1 open for quarantine. I plan on running separate pumps for each tank (no mixing water). This is to reduce chemical warfare. The water quality/feedings will be controlled for each tank. Lighting will be controlled be using shade cloths in the extreme summer months and supplement halides in the winter. Additional shading will be used for less light demanding tanks. I will probably have a few fish. Maybe some wrasses for pod and nudi control, lawnmower blenny for algae, few snails, might add some addition critters just for fun..... I might use some plant/algae growth and harvest for nutrient export. The tanks will be two feet deep to add additional water volume, to stabilize the parameters, temp, and for additional live rock under the frag racks. Not sure if I will use sand in the tanks. I have not done too much planning yet. Just starting to think about it.

Tagging along to get ideas…. and another free bump

 

[morgan]

cheers for the bump
u are going bigger then i can afford straight up im getting two 6'long 2' wide 1' deep tanks and only cause im paying 350 for them with plumbing im in australia and will probly have stronger sun light then u must of the year round its winter now and i have a few differnt things on trial out side and they are all doing well with not that much sun during the day
my main concern is heat
you say u are going to use shade cloth is this because u heard they do this on the barrier reef?? i dont know if i will do that as i dont think any coral that i will grow will need it unless this does drop temp then i will
i am having a pegola built for the tanks so they dont get rained on and then i can also have halides if need be and a chiller and enough room for extra tanks in the futer

im going for a shared sump i dont know if the current skimmer i have will do these 2 other tanks but i will have a fuge and an algea turf scrubber if i can find out what it is borenman talks about them but here and there but never elborates
have alos though about a drip filter after seeing the ones at my lfs they look pretty good when there 6 foot tall and made of 2foot square crates full of bio balls and padding and stuff
i will probly have alot of mushrooms i need about 500 red ones so they will have there own tank 2nd tank not sure want to grow sps and sum lps
mushrooms are my main farming subject only rare colours reds purples and metallic greens

as for fish i have a 2 spot tang and gsm clowns with their anenomes and they love the sunlight i would deffenitly consider a blenny for each tank and another tang or 2 and for sure a mandirn when my big ass fuge is kicking out hell pods

 

[returnofsid]

I would recommend against keeping Sarcophyton with SPS. Sarcophyton species are one of the most toxic soft corals in the ocean...besides Green Star Polyps. If you're goal is primarily to grow corals, keeping corals that will end up in chemical warfare will kind of defeat your purpose.

As for live rock, I'd recommend keeping as much as you have room for. Live rock is the largest natural form of filtration you will have.

 

[JasonD]

I have read bioballs are better suited for fish only systems. I plan on using live rock for biological filtration.

Running a chiller outside would be pretty pricey to run. I plan on using evaporation cooling (fans blowing air across the top of the tanks). The shade cloths will help too.

Check out Anthony Calfo book of propagation. He explains growing corals in natural light. The problem is the coral would be in several inches of water compared to maybe 60 feet in the reef. In the summer months the coral could get fried. I plan on getting a light meter to help me determine whether or not to filter the light.

 

[Planet Reef]

hey i have a couple questions about farming mass coral

the plan is to grow discs red and purple in sun tanks
there will be 2 tanks they will be 6foot long by 2 wide and 1 high
they will share a sump with a fuge
my questions are
1 should i put any fish in the systems
2 what is an algea turf scrubber
3 will it be okay to grow differnt speices in 2nd tank eg. acro, scayphton or a mix of everything and having slower growth rates
4 do i need live rock except for basing
so any fish species or algea species for the farm/fuge would be help full
thanx in advance
Morgs

1. Yes you should put fish in the system as it is cheaper to feed fish inexpensive food to obtain dissolved organics in the water than it is to try and feed the corals directly. Most corals obtain quite a bit of nutrition from their photosynthic algae (zooxanthellae). However, they have a daily Carbon budget and what isn't provided by the zoox has to come from other sources. These other sources include zooplankton, bacterioplankton, dissolved organics, particulate matter, mucous, etc.

2. Algae Turf Scrubbers were invented and patented by Walter Adey. Basically turf algaes like Derbesia sp are planted on a tray in a separate container. This container fills up with water pumped from the main system, gets filtered by the hair algae, then gets dumped (not pumped) back into the coral grow out tank. I'm not really of fan of them because you have to run so much Granular Activated Carbon to remove the gelbstoff (yellow/green substances from the algae) that it seems like it would get expensive over time to me. Here's an example where Adey's work failed miserably. Biosphere II.

 

[morgan]

i had heard that they were good for goniopora
u show pics of it failed but do u have any where they work
i dont like the idea of growing hair algea to eat nutrients

 

[Planet Reef]

i had heard that they were good for goniopora
u show pics of it failed but do u have any where they work
i dont like the idea of growing hair algea to eat nutrients

Not really. I have pictures of where it failed at the Smithsonian, the aquarium in Japan, yada, yada, yada.

However, if you PM Doug1 or Flatlander, they might have some pictures for you.