Coral Farming at home: How to start?

[Johnykiwi]

Hi. Recently I've wondered about growing/farming coral but I have no idea of what I would need. I have never owned a saltwater tank before but was planning on getting one anyway as a display tank and thought that growing coral could be fun and profitable (could be wrong, but thats why I'm here). So I was just wondering what I would need to create a hopefully successful coral farm.

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R!!! IMO the first thing to focus on is learning how to be a water gardener. What I mean by that is that when people first venture into the saltwater space they tend to focus primarily on the equipment, the fish, or the coral instead of water quality. If you provide good water quality then you are setting yourself up for success whether you have a small tank or a full commercial facility. Good luck on your adventure wherever it leads you!

 

[LIreefguy]

I would say start with one tank
Trying to start a coral farm with no experience in coral keeping will be difficult
Same as trying to start a real farm without every growing a plant
The start up cost for setting up multiple tanks is a lot In this hobby it’s best to go slow and just like anything in life you can read as much as you like but you still need to do it to learn and trust me in the beginning you will have a lot of ups and downs
With your first tank there will probably be a point where you feel great. Like you can grow anything then a week later everything dies and your like what everything was fine yesterday and now have my corals are dead. We all had that experience no matter how good you get

 

[ninjamyst]

It is not profitable. Too many people doing it already. At best, you break even. Do it because you enjoy the hobby, not because you want to make a profit. Good luck.

 

[Zach B]

Welcome some great advice above from @Peace River

 

[kiran]

As a beginner I think you should start with just a normal DT and think about propagating corals 8-12 months (shorter or longer depending on how quick you pick up things) later when you feel more confident. In the beginning I feel like with no experience you'll have a bit of a rough time and won't enjoy the hobby.

I'd take some time to gain some experience and to just enjoy your tank for what it is while you're learning, then I think you'll feel a lot more confident going into the propagation part of your hobby.

But to answer your question I'm guessing you'll need a fairly large and shallow tank with equipment for different kinds of flow and lighting for the different types of coral.

Different corals require different things so you might be only to propagate certain corals at a time unless you invest in more tanks dedicated to specific types of coral (LPS, SPS, Softies, etc). You'll need some kind of filtration and some solutions to dose your corals with if they're lacking certain elements. You'll need a lot more stuff then what I listed but I think that is the starting point.

I think once you're more experienced you'll enjoy propagating a lot more instead of it being frustrating in the beginning not knowing what could be wrong if a coral isn't healthy.

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Uncle99]

You’ll need mother colonies and a stable mature holding system, the latter being paramount to success.
Start small and scale up.

 

[Johnykiwi]

As a beginner I think you should start with just a normal DT and think about propagating corals 8-12 months (shorter or longer depending on how quick you pick up things) later when you feel more confident. In the beginning I feel like with no experience you'll have a bit of a rough time and won't enjoy the hobby.

I'd take some time to gain some experience and to just enjoy your tank for what it is while you're learning, then I think you'll feel a lot more confident going into the propagation part of your hobby.

But to answer your question I'm guessing you'll need a fairly large and shallow tank with equipment for different kinds of flow and lighting for the different types of coral.

Different corals require different things so you might be only to propagate certain corals at a time unless you invest in more tanks dedicated to specific types of coral (LPS, SPS, Softies, etc). You'll need some kind of filtration and some solutions to dose your corals with if they're lacking certain elements. You'll need a lot more stuff then what I listed but I think that is the starting point.

I think once you're more experienced you'll enjoy propagating a lot more instead of it being frustrating in the beginning not knowing what could be wrong if a coral isn't healthy.

Welcome to R2R!

So is it a good idea to set up a DT, which I use to learn how everything works, and eventually if I still want to and feel confident I can use that tank to start propagating. If I were to do this I was thinking of creating a shallow reef DT (Danny's Aquariums has inspired me), not too big as to be intimidating and expensive, but not too small either. Or should I set up a nano saltwater tank. What would you recommend for me to do?

 

[UnderseaOddities]

I would say start with a 29 g or 40g breeder when petco has a $ per gallon sale or if u want something larger look on cl or fb marketplace for a larger one locally.

Buy job filter that's 3 to 5x turnover (tankvolume)
Buy filterfloss chemipure blue and carbon to put in it along with extra cartridges

Buy 2 to 3 150w heater 20 to 55$
And maybe a back up

Buy 55g drums or garbage cans
Have two one for fresh rodi one for saltwater and have a few buckets
Buy 2 small wavemakers 15 to 300$ depending on brand sun suns from China are cheap or u can overspec if money isnt an issue
But rember we want this to be a profitable/ cost effective endavour

Buy a 2ft 4 bulb t5ho or 165w chinese phlizon viparspectra or will led off amazon for 89$

A smaller tank without hardware will test u and make u a stronger fish keeper as you will learn propper maitence regime and get in the rhythm without hardware rember you take care of the coral not the hardware a machine cant do the job of a human sometime or they can but lack in certain aspects

Next is to buy a rodi unit that is 5 stage
This is close to 160$ but will save money and errors in the long haul as long as u keep up on filters every couple of months

Make 2 vats water

Make sure water test 0 ppm


Add powerheads and heater to one

Mix salt into one

Buy refractometer instant ocean salt and kh cal mag test kits

Buy all for reef powder or esv bionic 2 part for first 2 part as they are cheap and pretty much dummy safe


Buy quickstart or biospira to cycle tank

Mix ur first vat of salt at 1.025

Set up tank 29 or 40g sumpless for first tank add heater

Add bacteria wait a week add ammonium then turn on hob filter
Then add light

Wait a couple of days add wavemaker

When nitrogen cycle is over test tank to ensure 0 ammonia

Then add fish

Wait until tan reaches stasis then add coral

Test dkh cal mag daily and nitrates phosphate weekly, icp test once a year or every 6 months if you have many systems

 

[UnderseaOddities]

So all and all your looking at about 300$ worth of hardware to do it up right without any death or failure then probably another 100 on foods and additives

I would reccomend getting polyp labs genesis and their block pad and putting in tank some where

Getting a bottle of coral rx

Getting a bottle of iodine

Getting amino acid of some kind

And then a plankton based coral food like reefroids chilli or snow

And buying mysis and frozen spirulina and broadcast feed 2x a day

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Step 1 learn water chemistry and about waters polar molecules, ph, gh, dkh, acid base equilibrium, titration curves, ocean acidification

Step 2 learn about coral what is a coral made of, how do they live, were are they found and how and why do they die

So lesson 1 of reefkeeping is this playlist

 

[Johnykiwi]

So all and all your looking at about 300$ worth of hardware to do it up right without any death or failure then probably another 100 on foods and additives

I would reccomend getting polyp labs genesis and their block pad and putting in tank some where

Getting a bottle of coral rx

Getting a bottle of iodine

Getting amino acid of some kind

And then a plankton based coral food like reefroids chilli or snow

And buying mysis and frozen spirulina and broadcast feed 2x a day

Step 1 learn water chemistry and about waters polar molecules, ph, gh, sky, acid base equilibrium, titration curves, ocean acidification

Step 2 learn about coral what is a coral made of, how do they live, were are they found and how and why do they die

So lesson 1 of reefkeeping is this playlist

Thank you very much for this information it will definitely come in handy

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Biggest advice I can give is this…. You are maintaining water. If you only focus on the water, all of the other things within will prosper.

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Lesson 2 watch the brs 52 weeks of reefing to learn the basic of reefkeeping
Even though they're bland and boring they offer alot of insight to the beginner trying to reach that next stage or anyone in general trying to learn or go back to the basics




Lesson 3 learn how and why to cycle a tank
,


Usually a one month process

 

[Karen00]

Welcome to the community. Learn, start slow, learn some more and master your own tank first. Once you do that you will know what you need (or at least be on your way) to getting a coral farm going. There is a lot to learn in this hobby (I'm a beginner so take it from me) so get your first tank going, make it successful and take it from there. Baby steps come first.

 

[kiran]

Lesson 2 watch the brs 52 weeks of reefing to learn the basic of reefkeeping
Even though they're bland and boring they offer alot of insight to the beginner trying to reach that next stage or anyone in general trying to learn or go back to the basics




Lesson 3 learn how and why to cycle a tank
,


Usually a one month process

I agree. It may not seem like a fun process but those videos will help tremendously. BRS has never failed me yet with their guides.

 

[Johnykiwi]

What kind of tank did you start with

 

[UnderseaOddities]

An aqueon 29g from petco for 29$ in 2005

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

Lesson 2 watch the brs 52 weeks of reefing to learn the basic of reefkeeping
Even though they're bland and boring they offer alot of insight to the beginner trying to reach that next stage or anyone in general trying to learn or go back to the basics




Lesson 3 learn how and why to cycle a tank
,


Usually a one month process

Definitely agree here ^

I’ve seen many well intentioned people give up or outright fail by jumping to fast into things. I had to turn someone away who came to my garage coral farm because he had only set up the tank a few weeks prior and was wanting to spend 4-500 with me. Really hard to sit there and turn down the money when it’s being waved in your face, but I had to tell him to slow down, especially after hearing “I’ve only lost 1 clown and the corals look fine”. Best way I can describe getting into this hobby, this is like researching fabricating wrenching and building a race car, but then not being able to turn it on or take it out for a minimum of 1 month but most likely 3. This hobby has taught me patience that I notoriously have never had. I would hate to see you be so excited and end up burnt out or upset by going to quickly. There is a LOT to learn with reefing, more so than any other endeavors I’ve attempted.

with all that being said, welcome to R2R you are in the RIGHT place, just take folks advice, be humble and listen to the pros (we’ve all made the mistakes already), and most importantly have fun!

 

[TheDragonsReef]

With no experience in saltwater and reef keeping you're going to have a hard time just keeping corals alive in the beginning let alone thriving to the point of being able to frag them especially in a new system.

My advice would be to just start with a tank you like and give corals a shot after you learn how to hold your water parameters steady. Once you get a few fish and can keep your nitrates phosphates and salinity within range soft corals are always a great place to start. theyre the easiest to care for, grow, and can be quite easy to frag when the time comes. If they do well and your alkalinity, calcium and magnesium have been staying in range you can move onto lps like hammers, bubbles, chalices etc. Once you add them or even sps youll eventually have to start dosing for alk, cal, and mg to keep those parameters stable. And lastly when you feel ready acropora and some of the touchier sps should be your last additions.

Only after you have a thriving reef with atleast 1-2 years under your belt would i recommend looking into a frag tank or growout system. You can no doubt make money off growing corals but you need a decent amount of volume and be able to grow them efficiently with minimal loses, along with proper quarantine processes to make sure your corals are clean and pest free. I make a few hundred bucks a month off fragging my main display, but it always goes right back into the tank as new corals or maintenance/supplies.