Zoa Prop

[JCD]

Hi Im currently in the middle of stripping down 2 of my 40 gallon tanks and im going to use them for mainly zoanthid propogation. I have 2 arcadia MH pendants which are both 250 watt. My idea is to place a lower kelvin rated bulb over one of the tanks to really get some good growth and then after im happy with the size of the colonies, ill transfer them in to the next tank which will have a much higher kelvin rated bulb with the intention to bring out the coloration in the corals. Does this sound like a good idea or am i totally wrong in my thinking? Could any one please advise me.

Thanks and happy reefing to you all.

 

[tekknoschtev]

That actually sounds like a decent plan if you have the time and money. My only concern is that you might overrun yourself with frags in one tank and need the other.

Why not try a balance, like a 14K bulb (some of those have higher PAR ratings from I've ready and seen) and use it over both tanks. Then you dont have to worry about shuffling the frags around. I say this because I've noticed that frags that are moved constantly take longer to grow.

Then again, what is your goal? Are you looking to make money on it? Or just some spare change to buy things for your tank(s)?

 

[CoralNutz]

IMO, I would just use a 10K or 14K bulb. You will get great coloration and growth under those... IMO, low par isn't going to be an issue with those shallow tanks..

 

[JCD]

Im not really in to it for the money it is just a passion of mine. I got into salt water aquariums about 4 years ago and love it. All i want to achieve from my little venture is a good reputation for selling great corals at great prices. The lighting i have at the moment is 2 250watt 14k bulbs. I have had some good growth from these and think i will stick with what you both advised me on. Do either of you have any good advise about setting up a small frag selling facillity?

 

[tekknoschtev]

facility - as in for people to come in, like a store front? Or a website? As far as I know, both of which would eliminate you from selling here, and most forums for that matter.

Or if you're talking about the prop system itself - then thats different Its a matter of how much time and space you have. You said you have two 40gal tanks. If you had the space, setting them up end to end would give you the ability to show the frags off and make taking pictures easier.

You can check out my thread. I'm currently in the process of setting up two 30gal breeders under a similar description to what I described above.

 

[CoralNutz]

I am pretty small time... don't know much about facilities. Pretty much have a frag tank to satisfy the inner mad scientist in me. I like to monkey around with stuff and it keeps my hands out of my display tank. My main goal for propping corals is for trading for nice corals and supplies to keep my reef going; salt, bulbs, things like that. I don't think I will every turn a cash profit... But I do have a pretty sweet collection of zoas and lps and have only had to buy a few of, all the rest I have been able to trade stuff for.

 

[tekknoschtev]

As CoralNutz eluded to, it would take a pretty substantial setup and even then you're fighting with the cost of finding corals cheaply enough, paying for electricity and salt, and then finding a customer base. I gave up on the idea of making money to pay for say, tuition or my car, or what not, with selling frags but we do it to be able to afford the occasional new frag/colony/piece of equipment/supply for the 150 back home. Trading is another good idea.

 

[JCD]

Thanks for all the advice. Sorry, when i said facility i meant the actuall frag tank set up. I have got a web site being designed at the moment so i would not have to advertise through forums as i know this is not aloud. As far as filtration goes for the tanks what do you guys think works well. I know many people use bare bottoms on their setups but i have a substantial amount of LS which i would like to use. Is this a good idea to use. Also i have a friend who has some breeder troughs, they are made from a blue plastic and are really shallow. They are alot longer than my tanks so i could store more frags in it. Do you know of anyone who uses such methods. He wants to sell them to me for a very good price so i wolud like to know wether they are worth purchasing.