Reef Discussion

jashay

Member
Jul 15, 2011
649
84
Wide Bay
coral propagation/fragging
G'day guys :D

Im new to the site, my name is jamie, I have been into fish tanks for years, my first tank would of been at around age 11. it was freshwater though. more recently at 25 I have gotten into reef keeping, always wanted to but thought it was way to involved. now I find it not an issueand quite simple if you have a little experience and do a little research!

what I want to get into is coral prop/fragging. softies, hard, LPS, zoos. etc. I have done a couple of little experiments with some leathers and had a reasonable amount of success, now I want to get into it a lot more. Im thinking of setting up a tank out in my shed just for this, mostly will be run of auto timers for the lights etc. everything else will be basic. sump tank, skimmer, probably T5 lights, MH isnt an option right now as I just cant afford to purchase them or probably run them either.
my shed is insulated so temps are quite stable, I find with my display tank inside that its temp is quite stable only changing maybe a degree over a 24 hour period and thats only running a 200w heater. sits at 24-25c which is strange as I live in sunny QLD but my house has a very stable temp aswell. just well positioned I guess.

any help or advice you guys have in regards to fragging any of the corals with success would be great, I have scoured the net for info which has helped alot and given me the confidence to go ahead with it all, but I would love to get some first hand experience!

cheers guys :D

jamie.
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
:welcome
Hi Jamie, there are lots of toutorial videos on youtube that shows you how to frag certain corals.
often it is just a matter of cutting and breaking them, morphs can allmost be torn in half.

for lighting you will need a decent amount of light for good growth and coral repair rates,
Diy leds might be a cheaper option then t5's due to bulb replacement costs.
what sort of budget were you thinking of and what size tank?
 

jashay

Member
Jul 15, 2011
649
84
Wide Bay
gday Matt,

I have been watching a lot of the video's on youtube, some of it is unbelievable! but seems to work. as for tank size I can get a 4 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot for quite cheap, might need a bit of new sealant but thats no prob. am planing on running a sump which will be at least 2 foot long. live rock will be in this too. as for lighting I was thinking LED aswell, wiring up something myself would prob be the cheaper option? as for budget its a little tight right now but am expecting tax back so I should be able to spend a reasonable amount to get a decent setup going. probably $200-$300 or so after the tank/filter setup for lights. maybe a little less. not sure have to do some home work on that!

obviously it will depend on the setup/lighting etc. but what sort of growth/repair rate would you put on an average frag? I know there are a lot of different choices but lets go for a couple of examples, say morphs, leathers, xenia, frogspawn? , etc.

cheers :D
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
you cant realy put a "growth rate" on it as every coral grows different under alternate situations. ive had the exact same coral grow differently under similar coniditons.

you will need to provide a stable setup and i think i would be looking at a rather larger budget. because you will be puting alot of fraged corals in the system you will need a good skimmer to pull out the excrements of the corals that they let off once they have been cut/broken/fragged
i would be thinking around
300$ for a cheap skimmer.
300$ for cheap lights
plumbing atleast $50-$100
liverock - depends how much is used
chiller if needed $300-$600
heater $30-$200
return pump 50$ minimum for a decent quality one.

all the softys generally grow fast and also heal fast. b
 

jashay

Member
Jul 15, 2011
649
84
Wide Bay
thanks for the info matt!

I see what you mean about the costs, a lot of stuff I actually have, skimmer, return pumps etc. its really only lighting I will need. my brother owned a pet shop for a while and has a lot of the stuff I need regards to skimmers/pumps etc. the likes of plumbing is sorted as my uncle used to be a plumber and has lots of pvc and connections (90 degree bends etc.) the old man is pretty handy with just about anything so we will do the glass drilling ourselves, and build the stands etc. my biggest concern is the automation of things like the lights, I guess I could just use a simple powerpoint timer for them, maybe looking at going more extravagant with dimmers etc down the track if things work out to plan!

as for a chiller like I said I dont plan on MH so i cant see it getting to hot. live rock will be used, maybe just in the sump? to open up the frag tank space? I actually found a website where a fellow built an acrylic tank with refugium etc. it was a good setup I will try find the link, something like it would be ideal but $$$ hold me back. so really it will be a long term project but I reckon I might be able to do it for under $500, will try and set the budget at that and take on the challenge!

will document it all when I get my camera back from being fixed too!
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
If you allready have all the other stuff you should be able to do it under that budget. if you wanted t5's a 4bulb unit would suffice over a 4x1x1 area
or you could put maybe 36 crees over it?
 

jashay

Member
Jul 15, 2011
649
84
Wide Bay
Im open to suggestions for lighting, T5 was just a first thought. LED could possibly be the best way to go though, will have to scope out the pricings on them.

being a shallower tank I could probably get away with less wattage lights but as I want to be growing them (at a reasonable speed) I will probably opt for something a bit overkill. can always take some of them off if its to strong, if there is such a thing!
the couple of test frags I did a couple weeks back are in my main aquarium at the moment, looks somewhat ugly with rubber bands over the rocks/corals but what do ya do lol.

will keep you updated as I get things going and will start a journal!
 

marineclass

Member
Jul 12, 2011
604
77
Gold Coast
Matt, i was looking at that 24 LED kit too. I currently have 2 4foot T5 bulbs. I was thinking of rigging up the 24 leds and putting actinic t5 bulbs int he t5 fitting. Would this be enough/sufficient lighting? I thought that way i can suppliment the actinik/change colour by changing the bulbs but still have the benefits of LEDs.
 

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
postage is usualy the killer, they are realy resonable tho. source the heatsinks localy then the postage will be cheaper. i think it would be sufficient for what you want to do.