Reef Farm Operations Pt. 3
- Thread starter Puffyluv
- Start date
Oh, yeah, no doubt, I know better than to post coral pictures without permission, I stay WAY on the safe side of this line. =D No worries, though, you can't really see the corals well in farm pictures even when you are right up on them - a vat shot and it would be hard to tell even if it was hard or soft coral sometimes, lol - water turbulence, sunshine, you know. 
The boss is working on getting the info from the build out back online - a few more days and I should have a link to post for you. =D We have been meaning to do it, but a demand for something can help nudge things along sometimes.
For now, you could look over my shoulder in this video and see some stuff the way it is now. =D
Acro Fragging
The boss is working on getting the info from the build out back online - a few more days and I should have a link to post for you. =D We have been meaning to do it, but a demand for something can help nudge things along sometimes.
For now, you could look over my shoulder in this video and see some stuff the way it is now. =D
Acro Fragging
GARF and so on,
GARF and so on,
Hi PuffyLuv
I have lost contact with the folks at GARF too, and even the site, most of the time since then I have been in Israel with a couple visits back here to family, I am back now and looking for a place to gear up beyond what I have going now.
I am in Northern MI, not really a tropical paradise, otoh the sport fishing is great! :fish1:
I am really glad he is in operation and going strong, he asked the best questions of all those we got them from. I'd like to run across some of the others, but only know where one is for sure, Tom Miller, he is still about 80 miles from Salt Lake City.
Enjoy,
Jake
GARF and so on,
Hi PuffyLuv
I have lost contact with the folks at GARF too, and even the site, most of the time since then I have been in Israel with a couple visits back here to family, I am back now and looking for a place to gear up beyond what I have going now.
I am in Northern MI, not really a tropical paradise, otoh the sport fishing is great! :fish1:
I am really glad he is in operation and going strong, he asked the best questions of all those we got them from. I'd like to run across some of the others, but only know where one is for sure, Tom Miller, he is still about 80 miles from Salt Lake City.
Enjoy,
Jake
Cool, Jake, I will let the boss know - but I am so telling him you took a break to go fishing! I ALMOST missed this -
Ooooooo! What's up? Spill! =D
The boss is pretty smart, and way determined - I have never seen a person shake something like a pit bull the way the boss does - surface scratching will never do for good ol' boss, lol...
Actually just this year looked at the boss and said "We did it, we are going to make it - see, it is for sure now!" Think he saw it coming for awhile, but he is a great businessman, much better than I was at being a business owner. We make an amazing team, though we are very different (besides he is not a pretty girl, lol) we just happen to believe in the same things - AC and TRF! For a minute there things were touchy, but we fought the good fight, stayed true to aquaculture, and sure enough came out on the other side of the rainbow! =D Thank you so much for your support and well wishing, I will tell boss you are happy for us/him - and I can already tell you his response - big grin, and "Thanks, buddy, appreciate that - so are we!"
Do you remember ASRA, Jake? Boss ever talk to you about it? I want to get it going again - but different this time - you know - better, faster, stronger! =D
Feel free to ask questions, guys - I am just not sure what you want to know - happy to send you links, but I can tell you more about what worked out in the end than pics or old threads ever could!
I ALMOST missed this -Ooooooo! What's up? Spill! =D
The boss is pretty smart, and way determined - I have never seen a person shake something like a pit bull the way the boss does - surface scratching will never do for good ol' boss, lol...
Actually just this year looked at the boss and said "We did it, we are going to make it - see, it is for sure now!" Think he saw it coming for awhile, but he is a great businessman, much better than I was at being a business owner. We make an amazing team, though we are very different (besides he is not a pretty girl, lol) we just happen to believe in the same things - AC and TRF! For a minute there things were touchy, but we fought the good fight, stayed true to aquaculture, and sure enough came out on the other side of the rainbow! =D Thank you so much for your support and well wishing, I will tell boss you are happy for us/him - and I can already tell you his response - big grin, and "Thanks, buddy, appreciate that - so are we!"
Do you remember ASRA, Jake? Boss ever talk to you about it? I want to get it going again - but different this time - you know - better, faster, stronger! =D
Feel free to ask questions, guys - I am just not sure what you want to know - happy to send you links, but I can tell you more about what worked out in the end than pics or old threads ever could!
Yeah, that's me, farmergirl, lol. =D
Well, updates....I think I already had mentioned, we began exclusively wholesale - I guess the biggest update is we started allowing retail customers - different pricing, of course. I sort of talked the boss into it - (well, okay, not sort of, I bugged him relentlessly) he had his foot firmly planted on that one, and it took every bit of my negotiating powers, (which can be considerable if I want something, hey, told you I was a girl, lol) plus hanging out for a year helping him with wholesale to get him to change his mind.
And...I was right. At first we just had a few events - and then started opening for retail a few days a week. I am not sure why it is still such a widespread belief that wholesale and retail is not possible for the same company - at first it was certainly that way - but in the past few years a lot of things have changed. I could give examples of several companies that do both very successfully nowadays. =D And I did, lol, over and over, until the boss was probably just sick of hearing it.
There are a lot of considerations that must be made, however, by no means am I saying there isn't a way you could really mess it up - there are a lot of ways you could, I'm sure!
Other updates....um...lol, this gets hard, because I wasn't around for the very start of it...well, as of now, we have SPS, LPS, Softies, even a few gorgonians - in production and thriving, many are several generations out by now. We get in new stock to grow out every now and then, just so we can always have something new and exciting coming out - and of course this takes oodles of forethought - for a farmer, you have to be at least three months ahead of any trend - preferably more like six. Any psychics out there want to lend yer pal puffy a hand?
Was that the type of updates you were looking for? Happy to share, just tell me what, lol! And really, boss is working on getting the build out stuff back online, should have something for you on that any day now...not much has changed on that I don't think - except once the skimmers broke I pushed them into the back of the building next to the farm, lol, and never dragged them out again! ROTFL! I am considering using my McGyver skills to get one going just for the hard coral system, though...
Well, updates....I think I already had mentioned, we began exclusively wholesale - I guess the biggest update is we started allowing retail customers - different pricing, of course. I sort of talked the boss into it - (well, okay, not sort of, I bugged him relentlessly) he had his foot firmly planted on that one, and it took every bit of my negotiating powers, (which can be considerable if I want something, hey, told you I was a girl, lol) plus hanging out for a year helping him with wholesale to get him to change his mind.
And...I was right.
At first we just had a few events - and then started opening for retail a few days a week. I am not sure why it is still such a widespread belief that wholesale and retail is not possible for the same company - at first it was certainly that way - but in the past few years a lot of things have changed. I could give examples of several companies that do both very successfully nowadays. =D And I did, lol, over and over, until the boss was probably just sick of hearing it. There are a lot of considerations that must be made, however, by no means am I saying there isn't a way you could really mess it up - there are a lot of ways you could, I'm sure!
Other updates....um...lol, this gets hard, because I wasn't around for the very start of it...well, as of now, we have SPS, LPS, Softies, even a few gorgonians - in production and thriving, many are several generations out by now. We get in new stock to grow out every now and then, just so we can always have something new and exciting coming out - and of course this takes oodles of forethought - for a farmer, you have to be at least three months ahead of any trend - preferably more like six. Any psychics out there want to lend yer pal puffy a hand?
Was that the type of updates you were looking for? Happy to share, just tell me what, lol!
And really, boss is working on getting the build out stuff back online, should have something for you on that any day now...not much has changed on that I don't think - except once the skimmers broke I pushed them into the back of the building next to the farm, lol, and never dragged them out again! ROTFL! I am considering using my McGyver skills to get one going just for the hard coral system, though...my plans
my plans
Hi Puffyluv
No big secrets, I am retired and now putting in one small system(300gals) for CB, making most of my own live rocks so will be making a lot and curing them this spring and summer, wanting to raise some fish, some softies, ricordea, zos, and shrooms, all for fun and sell enough to break even, going to be culturing a lot of plankton that I have before and getting used to again some I used to fiddle with, so its old tech and what i can glean of the new, hopefully I'll have a few pics to post this spring, one thing that is new for me is an AST, simplifys things, most tanks will be BB, but all tanks will have liverock plus some in sump, will have one tank dedicated to a deep gravel bed for buffering.
Thats about it in a thumbnail sketch. I am surprised how many folks I run into now who were around back in the garf days and way earlier. Like old home week.
Enjoy,:beer:
Jake
my plans
Hi Puffyluv
No big secrets, I am retired and now putting in one small system(300gals) for CB, making most of my own live rocks so will be making a lot and curing them this spring and summer, wanting to raise some fish, some softies, ricordea, zos, and shrooms, all for fun and sell enough to break even, going to be culturing a lot of plankton that I have before and getting used to again some I used to fiddle with, so its old tech and what i can glean of the new, hopefully I'll have a few pics to post this spring, one thing that is new for me is an AST, simplifys things, most tanks will be BB, but all tanks will have liverock plus some in sump, will have one tank dedicated to a deep gravel bed for buffering.
Thats about it in a thumbnail sketch. I am surprised how many folks I run into now who were around back in the garf days and way earlier. Like old home week.
Enjoy,:beer:
Jake
Yay, I am so glad you aren't going to stop playing in your retirement!
Very glad to be in contact with you Jake! Please let me know how everything is going from time to time - especially interested in how the plankton culturing goes - I can't seem to find a supplier that can get these to me with any kind of shelf life at a price point that would satisfy my customer base. =/ I don't know that I have time to do this myself along with everything else...
Very glad to be in contact with you Jake! Please let me know how everything is going from time to time - especially interested in how the plankton culturing goes - I can't seem to find a supplier that can get these to me with any kind of shelf life at a price point that would satisfy my customer base. =/ I don't know that I have time to do this myself along with everything else...
culture shelf lives
culture shelf lives
I think that this is going to be a major niche for someone to get into, and one that will require a lot of cultures continually starting up, would also I think be a chance for an operation to have constant cultures to feed their own stock, seems it would be worth the while of a sizeable fish and invert seller to have someone only growing cultures and selling from their ongoing work. Could easily more then pay for the lab worker doing it.
culture shelf lives
I think that this is going to be a major niche for someone to get into, and one that will require a lot of cultures continually starting up, would also I think be a chance for an operation to have constant cultures to feed their own stock, seems it would be worth the while of a sizeable fish and invert seller to have someone only growing cultures and selling from their ongoing work. Could easily more then pay for the lab worker doing it.
I agree...I have thought about it for a long time - actually the boss did it for awhile, and stopped before I joined him - I don't think the retail stores cared much. =/ We even have copywrite/trademark on the name Reef Juice for phyto, I think!
I can't count the times hobbyists have asked me where to get cultures from. There is a guy close that is doing it - however I think he got his cultures mixed, because now he is selling % of rotifers and % of pods in the same culture, and does not offer them by the species. Besides the fact the pods would eat the rotifers during storage, he says his cultures do not last longer than a week - this is hardly enough time to distribute an order of them. =/
It may be the only solution is to do it myself or hire another person - lol, I guess I am just looking for an easy solution that requires no more than me getting the boss to write a check and making sure I sell 'em! (Two things that are very easy for me, lol!) I am starting to come to the conclusion that this is just a nice dream I have, though, lol!
I can't count the times hobbyists have asked me where to get cultures from. There is a guy close that is doing it - however I think he got his cultures mixed, because now he is selling % of rotifers and % of pods in the same culture, and does not offer them by the species. Besides the fact the pods would eat the rotifers during storage, he says his cultures do not last longer than a week - this is hardly enough time to distribute an order of them. =/
It may be the only solution is to do it myself or hire another person - lol, I guess I am just looking for an easy solution that requires no more than me getting the boss to write a check and making sure I sell 'em! (Two things that are very easy for me, lol!) I am starting to come to the conclusion that this is just a nice dream I have, though, lol!
culturing
culturing
step by step its all doable,
the culturing needs to be done to lab standards if its going to be a sellable product(s).
Separate pod and rot cultures and separate phyto,
both live cultures and cysts are doable, but they need to be pure.
Its really no harder to do it right, and pays better and longer.
culturing
step by step its all doable,
the culturing needs to be done to lab standards if its going to be a sellable product(s).
Separate pod and rot cultures and separate phyto,
both live cultures and cysts are doable, but they need to be pure.
Its really no harder to do it right, and pays better and longer.
Ah, Jake, I can see we agree on many things! +100 to the above, that is true of everything!
I have an electrical issue that is taking up a lot of my time right now - in the middle of the night, for no reason, pretty much every night - half the greenhouse turns off. =( I figured - well that has to be a heater doing that, middle of the night - nope - unplugged all the heaters and it is still happening. I have been though most of the pumps in there, because every time it shuts off I have go around and kick them a little to get them going again. (this is what is taking up the most time, lol!) I know when I find it I am going to kick myself - oh, duh, yeah of course it is that - but I just can't figure it out yet, lol!
Anyway, Brian actually made some nice culture systems at one point - if I could find all the pieces to them and clean them up I would be almost there - but there are just a TON of events around here in the next few months, so it may be put off another month or two! When I do I would love to post some pics here and get an opinion on how I can improve them!
Thanks for the reply, Jake, sorry it took me so long to get to this! No rest for the weary, ya know!
electrical
electrical
Sounds like a breaker flipping because something is heating up, then cools down and when you find out its cooled off and normal again. Needs someone a whole lot better then me to work it through, but thats my guess, that or you have a resident gremlin.
I thought that they were all overbooked for Washington.
Get the rest you need, else its no fun anymore.
electrical
Sounds like a breaker flipping because something is heating up, then cools down and when you find out its cooled off and normal again. Needs someone a whole lot better then me to work it through, but thats my guess, that or you have a resident gremlin.
I thought that they were all overbooked for Washington.
Get the rest you need, else its no fun anymore.
Hurray! Just got out to the greenhouse - and the good elves must have come in the night and chased away all the gremlins! Lol, jk, it was the titanium heater. I had just unplugged it yesterday, thinking this can't be it, no way this thing has a short - it is 1000 watts, if it had a short it would knock me on my butt the moment I touched the water.
Well, I don't think it did have a short - but I do think it was tripping it with too much power. Either way, 1000watt heater plugged in = half the farm off in the morning, and not plugged in = farm on in the morning. I have found my culprit, I think - no matter how it committed the crime!
I have several pms I could not get to this morning, I will message you guys later, gotta get to farmin' now! =)
Well, I don't think it did have a short - but I do think it was tripping it with too much power. Either way, 1000watt heater plugged in = half the farm off in the morning, and not plugged in = farm on in the morning. I have found my culprit, I think - no matter how it committed the crime!
I have several pms I could not get to this morning, I will message you guys later, gotta get to farmin' now! =)
Oh, I am sorry, I missed that - I would use it all to feed my vats, but the main driving force for me is to have them to sell to hobbyists that are breeding fish - and hope they sell the fish to me! I have been wanting to include a small selection of TB fish to the farm's stocklist. =D
I have been wanting to include a small selection of TB fish to the farm's stocklist. =DTB stock
TB stock
For sure a line of TB stock would be a plus, its the difference between wild and farm raised as to hardiness in captivity, TB are acclimated to confinement, preaching to the choir here I know, but there are just so many advantages to TB stock I hope to see them replace all the wild caught other then for study projects or occasional outcrossing.
So, to me a TB line is a major advantage to reach the responsible reef keepers. Thats on fish and corals and inverts. They are also good business as its a hardier product.
Just look at how many thousands and thousands of anemones are imported every year and most are dead within each year.
I'd far rather see someone(s) start producing a great many BTAs, Carpets and Condylactus anemones that are acclimated to aquariums and lower light and spikes in the water chemistry. THese things can be selected for , slower with inverts but all doable.
That said, we need the centropyge raised, BFs that will survive on captive diets, all the little gorgeous fish to round out the reef,
me, my dream project would be developing a strain of Miniatus Groupers that matured at a smaller size, and was more amenable to tank mates, how about Lionfish without poison spines?
There is a huge list of possibilities in TBs, it only needs the people to concentrate of what they like to work with and do what they want to do. Its a huge potential. I wish I was 20 again !!:thumbsup:
TB stock
For sure a line of TB stock would be a plus, its the difference between wild and farm raised as to hardiness in captivity, TB are acclimated to confinement, preaching to the choir here I know, but there are just so many advantages to TB stock I hope to see them replace all the wild caught other then for study projects or occasional outcrossing.
So, to me a TB line is a major advantage to reach the responsible reef keepers. Thats on fish and corals and inverts. They are also good business as its a hardier product.
Just look at how many thousands and thousands of anemones are imported every year and most are dead within each year.
I'd far rather see someone(s) start producing a great many BTAs, Carpets and Condylactus anemones that are acclimated to aquariums and lower light and spikes in the water chemistry. THese things can be selected for , slower with inverts but all doable.
That said, we need the centropyge raised, BFs that will survive on captive diets, all the little gorgeous fish to round out the reef,
me, my dream project would be developing a strain of Miniatus Groupers that matured at a smaller size, and was more amenable to tank mates, how about Lionfish without poison spines?
There is a huge list of possibilities in TBs, it only needs the people to concentrate of what they like to work with and do what they want to do. Its a huge potential. I wish I was 20 again !!:thumbsup:
