FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

[FarmerTy]

Actinic pic of the "factory", my frag grow out area.

Actinic pic of available frags

Actinic pic of right side of the tank

Actinic pic of left side of the tank

 

[FarmerTy]

Someone brought this up on another forum and I thought the information may be useful so I copied it here too. The discussion was maricultured acros colonies vs aquaculture frags.

While I always think its better to buy aquaculture frags from established tanks as the colors are already mature and you know what you're going to get, getting some mariculture colonies is a nice way to jump start your tank and have it look mature quicker.

For maris, some have more difficult times transitioning, which is why not everybody buys maris. I've had decent success with them with the following method:

1) Remove plug and put on my own... Plugs are just covered in all types of algae you don't want to go nuts in your tank.

2) Dip them all, not so much looking for AEFW but black bugs and sea spiders will make you shut down your tank, there is no cure for either but total shutdown.

3) Keep your tank alk at a lower value, below 7.5 dKh... Natural reefs have pretty low alk, often 6.5 dKh and below so having yours low too helps the transition IMO.

4) Put them directly in high light > 250 par. None of that start them on the same bed business unless they are deepwater acros.

They will take a long time to settle on final colors. I've had some do it in months, I've had some for 2 years still not color up.

For price value, you can't beat maris. Just don't expect all the colors to be there for awhile and expect a higher mortality rate than just collecting aquaculture frags.

I like to have a mix of maris and named pieces in the tank when first starting so it doesn't look so bare but over time, I usually phase out the maris to make room for my named pieces, unless I find a gem of a mariculture... Then I name it. [emoji16]

All I can say is avoid spathulata and abrotanoides. They will reel you in with their amazing colors straight from the facility but are crazy difficult and often don't make the transition. I've personally avoid millis these days too... Talk about ultimate bait and switch. They have ridiculous colors coming in and all end up turning into pretty boring colors under our lights for the most part. Plus, they have the highest mortality rate in my system... I've probably bought over 30+ maris over the years, with probably a 80% survival rate long-term and the 20% of deaths, about 3/4 of that are millis. They just do great for 2-3 months and then spend the next 3 slowly STNing away. Just my personal experience though, maybe they just don't like my tank. FWIW, my aquacultured millis are growing just fine.

 

[FarmerTy]

Here's exactly what I'm talking about with the old tank. I circled all the maris. Makes it look fuller when you first start your tank so you aren't staring at a bunch of 1" sticks.

I sold most of them off over the years as my named pieces started growing larger. The gems I kept and named.

As opposed to the new tank where I have a bunch more named pieces and much less maris.

 

[JasReef]

Good stuff Ty. I have avoided going the Mari route and my large tank looked/looks so bare with less than 1 inch frags to start with. My thought has been to get one of those $1200 boxes of 20 coral colonies to fill it out but then I think about the amount of time it takes to properly get them acclimatized and pest free and it will be another year before they make it to the main display and in the meantime I am having to run another complete system to accommodate them during the process. And after all that the colors may just be blah at best.

Your breakdown on your own experience with maris is awesome and something anyone considering trying them should read, especially the alk/dkh and pest insights.

 

[HolisticBear]

None of that start them on the same bed business unless they are deepwater acros

Great post, thanks for sharing.

Are we dependent on the wholesaler / vendor informing us it's a deepwater acro, or are certain types / color morphs know to be deepwater? I remember a JF YouTube video where he mentioned more and more of the collecting was coming from deeper water and one reason he ran 100% blues.

 

[FarmerTy]

Good stuff Ty. I have avoided going the Mari route and my large tank looked/looks so bare with less than 1 inch frags to start with. My thought has been to get one of those $1200 boxes of 20 coral colonies to fill it out but then I think about the amount of time it takes to properly get them acclimatized and pest free and it will be another year before they make it to the main display and in the meantime I am having to run another complete system to accommodate them during the process. And after all that the colors may just be blah at best.

Your breakdown on your own experience with maris is awesome and something anyone considering trying them should read, especially the alk/dkh and pest insights.

Thanks bud! I can help you fill that monster in! [emoji12]

I honestly think it would be terrible to get a box of maris. Pop them all off the plugs, dip like no tomorrow, let them settle in a QT for a week to observe for pests with daily water changes, then dip one more time and into the tank they go.

Place them all high except deepwaters and have your superglue ready to go to stop any possible STN. If you have expectations that 30% might die no matter what, then I think you'll be happy with the results.

 

[FarmerTy]

Great post, thanks for sharing.

Are we dependent on the wholesaler / vendor informing us it's a deepwater acro, or are certain types / color morphs know to be deepwater? I remember a JF YouTube video where he mentioned more and more of the collecting was coming from deeper water and one reason he ran 100% blues.

You're welcome! Thanks for following along.

Usually smooth skins give them away and spaced out coralites is my visual cue to tuck it away on the sandbed.

JF just likes blues because they make your acros sexy and he can sell more. Haha. I subject all my deepwaters to a more "normal" white spectrum around 12k-14k and no issues at all honestly but that's just been my experience. Sorry for the sarcasm regarding JF but I trust very few that have stake in the game.

 

[CoralWealth]

Thanks bud! I can help you fill that monster in! [emoji12]

I honestly think it would be terrible to get a box of maris. Pop them all off the plugs, dip like no tomorrow, let them settle in a QT for a week to observe for pests with daily water changes, then dip one more time and into the tank they go.

Place them all high except deepwaters and have your superglue ready to go to stop any possible STN. If you have expectations that 30% might die no matter what, then I think you'll be happy with the results.

Did you mean to say it would be terrible? Just a little confused on the wording there because then at the bottom you say happy with the results.

 

[JasReef]

I think he is agreeing with it being a terrible chore and settling with being happy with what lives.

 

[FarmerTy]

Did you mean to say it would be terrible? Just a little confused on the wording there because then at the bottom you say happy with the results.

I think he is agreeing with it being a terrible chore and settling with being happy with what lives.

Sorry, fat thumbs! Meant to say it "wouldn't" be terrible. That's how I'd do it myself at least.

 

[FarmerTy]

The bigger issue that you come across down the road is when those maris become giant colonies. The market on Mari frags is pretty weak. Unless they are spectacular, you'll have a hard time getting rid of frags and practically give them away. At that point, at least for me, it wasnt worth my time to meet reefers to pick up a $10 acro frag. So I just sold them back to the LFSs.

That's what I've done this past year, remove maris, plant new named acros, and still keep a somewhat full looking tank while having Acro colonies that when it's time to do a little pruning, the frags are easily marketable and easily sold.

 

[Jimbo662]

The bigger issue that you come across down the road is when those maris become giant colonies. The market on Mari frags is pretty weak. Unless they are spectacular, you'll have a hard time getting rid of frags and practically give them away. At that point, at least for me, it wasnt worth my time to meet reefers to pick up a $10 acro frag. So I just sold them back to the LFSs.

That's what I've done this past year, remove maris, plant new named acros, and still keep a somewhat full looking tank while having Acro colonies that when it's time to do a little pruning, the frags are easily marketable and easily sold.

Ummm...I can attest to that last statement! ;Smuggrin

 

[FarmerTy]

Ummm...I can attest to that last statement! ;Smuggrin

I just went around pointing out pretty things and you kept looking worriedly at your wallet from what I remember. [emoji13]

 

[Jimbo662]

I just went around pointing out pretty things and you kept looking worriedly at your wallet from what I remember. [emoji13]

I never carry cash...it just limits me...PAYPAL all the way baby!

 

[revhtree]

Someone brought this up on another forum and I thought the information may be useful so I copied it here too. The discussion was maricultured acros colonies vs aquaculture frags.

While I always think its better to buy aquaculture frags from established tanks as the colors are already mature and you know what you're going to get, getting some mariculture colonies is a nice way to jump start your tank and have it look mature quicker.

For maris, some have more difficult times transitioning, which is why not everybody buys maris. I've had decent success with them with the following method:

1) Remove plug and put on my own... Plugs are just covered in all types of algae you don't want to go nuts in your tank.

2) Dip them all, not so much looking for AEFW but black bugs and sea spiders will make you shut down your tank, there is no cure for either but total shutdown.

3) Keep your tank alk at a lower value, below 7.5 dKh... Natural reefs have pretty low alk, often 6.5 dKh and below so having yours low too helps the transition IMO.

4) Put them directly in high light > 250 par. None of that start them on the same bed business unless they are deepwater acros.

They will take a long time to settle on final colors. I've had some do it in months, I've had some for 2 years still not color up.

For price value, you can't beat maris. Just don't expect all the colors to be there for awhile and expect a higher mortality rate than just collecting aquaculture frags.

I like to have a mix of maris and named pieces in the tank when first starting so it doesn't look so bare but over time, I usually phase out the maris to make room for my named pieces, unless I find a gem of a mariculture... Then I name it. [emoji16]

All I can say is avoid spathulata and abrotanoides. They will reel you in with their amazing colors straight from the facility but are crazy difficult and often don't make the transition. I've personally avoid millis these days too... Talk about ultimate bait and switch. They have ridiculous colors coming in and all end up turning into pretty boring colors under our lights for the most part. Plus, they have the highest mortality rate in my system... I've probably bought over 30+ maris over the years, with probably a 80% survival rate long-term and the 20% of deaths, about 3/4 of that are millis. They just do great for 2-3 months and then spend the next 3 slowly STNing away. Just my personal experience though, maybe they just don't like my tank. FWIW, my aquacultured millis are growing just fine.

Here's exactly what I'm talking about with the old tank. I circled all the maris. Makes it look fuller when you first start your tank so you aren't staring at a bunch of 1" sticks.

I sold most of them off over the years as my named pieces started growing larger. The gems I kept and named.

As opposed to the new tank where I have a bunch more named pieces and much less maris.

Hey great info! What about creating a separate thread for this so we can share it?

 

[JasReef]

The bigger issue that you come across down the road is when those maris become giant colonies. The market on Mari frags is pretty weak. Unless they are spectacular, you'll have a hard time getting rid of frags and practically give them away. At that point, at least for me, it wasnt worth my time to meet reefers to pick up a $10 acro frag. So I just sold them back to the LFSs.

That's what I've done this past year, remove maris, plant new named acros, and still keep a somewhat full looking tank while having Acro colonies that when it's time to do a little pruning, the frags are easily marketable and easily sold.

Finally the secret to his nice tank is revealed, shenanigans and parlor tricks!

 

[FarmerTy]

Finally the secret to his nice tank is revealed, shenanigans and parlor tricks!

Don't forget the liberal use of smoke and mirrors too! [emoji51]

 

[FarmerTy]

Hey great info! What about creating a separate thread for this so we can share it?

You got it Rev!

 

[FarmerTy]

So, a lot has been going on.

1) For the last month, I can't figure why my gonis have been slowly declining but everything else is fine.

2) Summer heat in central Texas is rearing its ugly head. We've already got a couple 90 degree days under our belts already. Three things I wanted to accomplish before the heat hits:

A) Add dual zoning to our 2-story home
B) Shut off fish room entirely from household HVAC and run a portable AC unit to vent humid air and keep the room cool
C) Add a ton of insulation in the attic

All of these things came together this week and I couldn't be happier with the results. My fish room is comfortable temperature and humidity-wise without affecting the house anymore. I stopped having to run a dehumifier in the house now and the main portion of the home is very comfortable and doesn't get too hot anymore or humid.

The portable unit I went with was a 12,000 BTU unit from Avallon. It functions as a portable AC unit but also as a dehumidifier as well... I put it on auto mode and it keeps it within usually a few degrees of 77 and below 60% humidity. Not bad for a portable unit in 200 sq ft of what used to be my garage with T5s over the display and also a frag tank. It even comes with a pump (main reason I bought it) and has a unique feature to deal with high humidity environments... It pumps condensated water out of the unit and mists it outside! Awesome!

3) I decided to do large volume water changes to see if I can dilute whatever is ticking off my gonis. I did a total of 230 gallons of water change on 300 gallons total over 2 weeks. All tests that I can run myself came back fine for parameters prior to the water changes. Before I did the water changes, I sent off a sample to Triton to see how everything looked. The results should be back any day now. I'll post when I have them.

4) Moved my RO/DI from the floor (yes, its been there since I moved last year) and finally got a chance to hang it up. Sad part, realized that I had left the flush valve open for only God knows how long. So basically with the way I plumbed my RO/DI, that allowed it to basically bypass the dual membranes entirely! I was feeding my tank 84 TDS water for probably a month at LEAST! Now I know why my gonis are ticked! To top it off, I just did 230 gallons of water change with that 84 TDS water and probably made it much worse! Ahhh! Most SPS are fine except I lost my SC Orange Passion frag and a random tenuis.

5) Now doing another 250-300 gallons of water change with the now fixed 0 TDS water to dilute what I can of the high TDS water that got into my system the last month or so and also from my 230 gallon water change. Oiy!

That's all the updates I got... Oh wait... The fun part, more frags!

Got a sweet pack from Peng. If you guys didn't see my ravings about @BoomCorals about their giant frags compared to most vendors, @Peng, a hobbyist, sent me even bigger frags, which I didn't think was possible! Just gorgeous stuff, well packed, and giant... Even tossed in some freebies!

Alright, I'm exhausted! Thanks for following along everyone!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Congrats on getting the HVAC squared away. I'm sure that has made a tremendous impact.

That must have been a sinking feeling to realize your bypass was open. I also feel for you on having to finally perform a water change after all this time. You'll have to redo your tagline and thread to "Only one water change - ever!!!"

I hope there are no lasting effects and that everything returns quickly to normal.