So, I recently started up a 58 gallon prop system. No, there are things about it that are not optimal, but much of the parts were free, and I thought it would give me some good experience doing something along these lines before I had to commit to something larger and more expensive.
Small steps...
Here’s my ultimate goal on what I would llike to accomplish with this system.
Softies (mushrooms and zoanthids) seem to be the easiest corals to cultivate. They are also easier to keep for the average marine aquarium enthusiast due to water and lighting parameter issues, making them more commerically accessible to more people. No, I am not getting into this for money, but if I could at least cover my costs or fund a new tank project, it would be great.
So, I would like to grow 3-4 standard mushroom types and dabble in the ricordea Florida mushrooms as well. Then, I would like to put together some really nice live rocks with multiple species of mushrooms.
My thought is to get 6-12 individual mushrooms growing on reef plugs as my “brood stock.” I can take cuttings from these on a regular basis, leaving the foot and something that will grow back every time. From these cuttings, using the bridal veil method, I can slice and dice, and place these on live rocks. For the ricordea, I can either learn to raise them or find a good supplier, and just buy a batch every so often.
I will also be making some smaller rocks with encrusting flourescent green star polyps, which are really easy to propagate.
I am going to try some zoas too, but that’s not high priority right now for me.
I would love to get comments from anyone experienced with this type of propagation. I have an ideal of what I would like to do, but as I don’t really have any practical experience, I don’t really know how feasable any of this might be. INPUT APPRECIATED!
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
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when fragging zoanthids, in case you didnt already know, you will ALWAYS want to take the frag from the middle of the colony. this makes it easier for the frag AND colony to both heal. you will have the hole in the colony healing on all sides of the cut, rather than just on one side. and the middle of the colony is usually the fastest growing part.
__________________ Bobby
"I FORMERLY glued animals to rocks" NO TANK RIGHT NOW, but you never know when I might throw one together !! I have everything I need but the time!!
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Bobby, I never thought of that, and I have never heard that advice... I will definitely give that a shot.
I saw an earlier post of yours on candy cane corals and I understand that if you feed them they REALLY like to grow. What specifically do you feed yours. I was going to feed the hammer coral cyclopeeze, would that work too, or should I do something bigger?
Should I carefully place a larger food with tweezers? Or would that even work...
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
i feed a mixture of mysis and cyclopeeze most of the time. it takes a little longer for the mysis to be eaten, but they love it. i just feed every head of the coral with a turkey baster. 3-4 mysis per polyp works well for me. i started with a few frags (maybe 8 heads) about 7-8 months ago (i think) and i am at close to 30 right now.
__________________ Bobby
"I FORMERLY glued animals to rocks" NO TANK RIGHT NOW, but you never know when I might throw one together !! I have everything I need but the time!!
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Wow. I wonder if my candy cane corals are smaller than yours...
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
Yes... I think the candy coral I have is MUCH smaller. The heads on mine are only 1/4 - 1/3 inch wide.
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
I just posted a long description of my prop system with a ton of pictures on my local club website. I didn't want to hog a bunch of Rob's bandwith and server space, so I will just post a link for now.
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
nice man !! i just sold a 55 gal tank yesterday, so now i have room for my new prop system. i am thinking about a 50gal. a guy in my club has for sale. if i decide i will post the build here also.
__________________ Bobby
"I FORMERLY glued animals to rocks" NO TANK RIGHT NOW, but you never know when I might throw one together !! I have everything I need but the time!!
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Bobby - back to candy cane corals... I fed mine cyclopeeze last night and even though they are small, they really went to town along with the hammer. There was NO DOUBT that they were eating. In fact, one head that I thought was toast was feeding too, so I guess that shows what I know.
But that begs the question - how often can I feed them?
I also think I need to frag off a small branch of the hammer. It really is quite small, but it is just at *that* angle so the food slipped off, never got consumed. Is there any trick to that at all, and what should I use to cut that piece if I don't have bone cutters, or should I *get* some of them before I go fragging.
I also target fed each and every critter in there (except the shrooms) some phyto last night.
__________________ "Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study Hard. Be evil."
The Palouse Region Aquarium Society is now PALOUSE REEFERS - http://www.palousereefers.com/
Abolish the IRS! Bring transparency and accountability to tax policy - close all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation. Support the Fair Tax plan... visit http://www.fairtax.org
just a little cycloreeze goes a loooong way. i only target feed it about 2x a week. you could probably use a pair of side cutters to clip off the piece or is there a way that you can turn it so it faces where you need it to ??
just so you know ... it only takes 1 living cell to bring a whole colony back to life !!
__________________ Bobby
"I FORMERLY glued animals to rocks" NO TANK RIGHT NOW, but you never know when I might throw one together !! I have everything I need but the time!!
Show people you appreciate their advice! Click the icon under their name to add to their reputation.
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