Turbo Coral Growth... Faster Growing Frags...More Frag Sales

o2manyfish

o2manyfish

o2manyfish
Hey SoCal Locals,

I have an idea. I'm not sure how exactly to word it. And it will be very easy to think this is a scam. But here me out and remember it's coming from o2manyfish and then give me your thoughts...


As most of you are aware I am part of a small group of hobbyists that likes to share corals rather than sell corals, or just plain give them away. You come over to my house and I give them away. And the way that I am able to do this is because with my outside frag tanks everything outside grows at a crazy fast rate. Same corals in the same water - corals outside easily grow 3-5x faster.

We are coming into spring and the next 4 months are when I get the most sun and the corals look the best and grow the fastest.

Here's what I would like to offer, then you guys tell me how to title this so it doesn't sound like a scam.

I would like to rent out some frag rack space for people to grow out their crazy high end big money making corals....

I know, the guy typing just said Cut your most expensive corals and just give them me :)

We can mark and ID the corals so nothing gets confused. In 1 month, 2 3, 5, 10 months you come and pick up the corals.

I have the webcam on the frag tank, so you can keep an eye on them.

Now for my sharing space in my frag tank, and keeping the calc and alk flowing I would like a frag of the coral when you drop off, or a frag when you pick up - size pending amount of growth while out in the sun. If in 60-90 days your particular coral is not a sun nut and is not growing well, and you decide to bring it back home, I will give back the piece you gifted to me. The point of this is to help everyone grow corals faster, not for me to collect frags for no reward.

I know this sounds like a crazy scam, but I am hoping most of you know my integrity in the hobby and I am not trying to scam just trying to help you guys make more money off of those expensive little sticks you are growing to pay for your hobby, and I want to start collecting more high end sticks and build up a SoCali Ultra Frag Bank. So within a year or so, if you lose something killer I can replace it for you, and eventually SoCali will have the craziest collection of corals being shared for free :)

There are some guidelines.
1) Zoas - Some zoas like sun some don't if we put them on top rack and they don't look happy we can move them to a bottom rack. If they still don't like it then you take them back home. I do have a bunch of angels in the frag tank but they are well fed and don't pick on any of my frags.
2) LPS don't like the bright light for the most part.
a) I have Duncans on a lower rack doing well. I have some Leptoeris which are growing like crazy. Acans are too risky with the angels.
3) I have AEFW in my system. But the corals out in the sun don't seem to care and don't have any issues. I have had AEFW for over 2 years now. And the frags outside don't have any issues.
4) Deep Water and slender branched acros don't do well. It's too bright
5) Monti Caps and Digits grow outrageously fast. Encrusting montis do well. The expensive montis like the Kung Pao, Beach Bum, they don't like the light. On the bottom racks they do okay growth wise, but the color is washed out and its not worth helping
6) Millies, Torts, Tenuis, Stags, etc grows like crazy. There are the piece where you can really jump start your frag sales by sharing my sunlight. Drop in a Bali Maricultured piece and within 60 days you will see about double the number of tips on the colony and all of them growing.
7) Frags have to be a minimum of 3/4"---- tiny nubs cant out compete the coraline and algae growth.

I don't want to run a coral business from my home. I don't want anyone in 3 months to say, hey Dave I'm sending AcroBob down to pick up my coral, he's going to leave you $5.


Tell me your thoughts? Is it a good idea? Would you want to do it? Is my reputation good enough that you would be comfortable leaving me the sticks you cherish most?

Dave B
 
I love the idea, how much space are you going to assign? Or does it depend on how much coral?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
 
Sounds like an awesome idea! Obviously has it's pros & risks, but for those willing to share it's great!

I don't have anything too crazy as I'm still too new, but do have a couple cool zoas. Not looking to make a profit, but If I feel confident to try & frag my rastas, then we can just let them grow & share them for free!!
 
d-man said:
I like the idea, only issue I think is possibly the AEFW
Click to expand...
I see the concern.
I've watched Dave blast a color with a turkey baster in his dt and saw several of the flatworms shoot up out of the colony into the water column yet the colony was okay and nothing around it had any. It was interesting actually how some corals seem to be resistant or even repel them yet others they'll make a home in. He's had this for a long time. It's an interesting take on the reef ecosystem
 
Dave....I have a few pieces that LOVE light. One is a crazy bright blue stag, another is simular to the Pikachu but longer branches. That other one I gave you is doing awesome last time I was there. Ohh and I have you a frag of the bright green monti with the purple protein infection. It's about 1"squared
 
And rik... still don't remember the name of that pastel Blue acro. (Has the color of Ice fire echinata)... it's here fully encrusted frag whenever your ready
 
Does it have to be a coral u don't already have? Also, does it have to be a killer expensive coral? It makes sense in term of bang for the buck but what if we don't have anything crazy expensive.
 
I'm game, and the AEFW is not a big problem as I would expect that we'd simply dip our corals before returning them to our systems.

Reef keeping is life!
 
Like this idea. Wish you were closer. I would cut a few pieces just to see growth rate under sunlight vs ATI.
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the reassurances that this could be a really good idea.

I will try to answer some of the questions that came up

1) Mushrooms - I haven't kept mushrooms in the frag tanks. I do have mushrooms in the rock sump - The rock sump is outside too, but its a tomato bin and so not as much lights goes in. I have a couple of shroom rocks in the rock sump. They are super super huge mushrooms. I don't know if I would say that they are multplying. They have been in there for at least 3-4 years and I don't see them as spreading. Yellow Polyps in the rocks sump grow like crazy. I don't know if fragged mushrooms would get you a big benefit of having more. However if you had a small shroom and put it in that sump it may grow bigger a lot quicker than in the tank. I have about 4-5 shroom colonies in the display tank. Only one of the colonies seems to proliferate. The others are big and beautiful but not multiplying

2) The AEFW issue - I know this is a legitimate fear in the hobby. And that's why I brought it up ahead of time. Like i said in the sunlight the AEFW don't seem to be an issue. At Steve Garrett's recommendation I started using Melafix to dip acros. And different then other dips in Melafix the AEFW will literally fall off the corals and actually die - Most other dips you blow them off the coral but they keep cruising around. When it's time to pull the corals, I think if you cut off the frag plug base (if it's not encrusted) and do a couple of good dips - the risk of infecting your system is almost nil. The dip definitely gets the AEFW off the coral. The AEFW have to be layed on dead skeleton - Not on tissue and not on algae. So cut off the base, or bleach the base or slather it in Frag Glue - And now the eggs are no longer an issue.
This is just my experience, I am not trying to sell, convince or pressure anyone. We all know that corals from the wild come in looking gorgeous and yet infected with AEFW. Something in the ocean lets the corals thrive and the AEFW are not predatory. In our aquariums the situation reverses (and quickly), perhaps there is something with sunlight rather than bulb light that gives the corals vitamins, or strenght, or a color that makes the AEFW less parasitic to the coral.

Oregon Tort -- The color and growth of torts outside in the sun is great. I Have a few pieces of Oregon out there currently. If you look on the webcam they are in the front right corner of the frag rack on the left (top rack) you can't miss them they are the deepest purple/blue coral you have ever seen. I also have the Miyagi tort outside which grows super quick. And I have piece of tort from Chefzilla that has done really well

Fizzman - It doesn't have to be a super expensive piece, I just wanted to have corals growing outside that I don't currently have - so I get something cool out of this - and then also in the future to be able to share. There are plenty of red caps and digitata in So Cal -- But if you have candy striped monti that's something different.


For making the frags to keep track I have been using sharpie Acrylic paint pens on some other projects. I am thinking of making some frag plugs and labelling the underside with the acrylic paint and then covering it in crazy glue to enclose it from leaching anything -

In the past I have also used colored wire ties around frag plugs to identify frags. Depending on how many people want to participate I will figure out how to best mark them.

As for how much space i available. I can definitely clear up at least a half a sheet of eggcrate, and if the response is really good, I can move the clam and xenia in the frag tank to the rock sump and put in almost another full size egg crate.

Also this offer isn't just bring a frag or two. If you have a few different pieces you want to try this with thats fine. If you want to bring 5-6 pieces of something special and grow out several pieces thats fine too. By renumeration will again be just 1 piece of something. If you bring 3 or 4 things to try in the sun, and I already have some of the ones you bring. You still only owe me 1 frag -- If the frags do well.

As for dropping off the frags. Do we want to put together a couple of hours on a weekend and have everyone come at the same time, or because of all the different schedules we have would you guys prefer to just come when you have the free time (or both options are possible)

Dave B
 
Very nice idea but the flatworms should be gone befor this starts. Many have problems with pest. Some get past it others do not. To me the reckless ones will pass it along and that is not good at alll. Because you are open to others that you have pest is upfront and honest and I respect that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

o2manyfish
o2manyfish - FREE CORALS - Nothing Exciting, But Free (Encino)
Replies
2
Views
147
iceman12
I
m0nkie
Free Pocillopora frags or colony
Replies
1
Views
84
griss
griss
isseym328
LF Tyree Pink Lemonade
Replies
6
Views
217
isseym328
isseym328
M
Adding Corals to Aquascape
Replies
7
Views
203
griss
griss
EXTREMECORALS
Beginner's Guide to Starting a Coral Frag Tank ~ Extremecorals.com Blog
Replies
0
Views
111
EXTREMECORALS
EXTREMECORALS
Back
Top