Should I start a Frag Tank To Sustain Hobby?

[ChristianReefer]

Thinking about starting a frag tank to help with the cost of building my dream tank (300 Gallon). I currently have a 48 gallon cuboid tank and has been running well for just over a year. The only problem is there is not much to look. Livestock is really expensive, especially when quarantining everything that touches the tank.

I did some construction work for a client of mine and he paid me in fish tanks and aquarium equipment. The tank he gave me was a 6x2x1 glass tank with plastic bottom. I think the tank is 90 gallons. Starting off, I would only be growing and fragging soft and hard coral. No sps.

here are my questions:

1) what is the average cost to set up a decent frag tank this size?

2) how long until I get a return for investment?

3) Is more work than maintaining a regular saltwater aquarium?

 

[Og_Reef]

You'll start to love the hobby even more when it pays for itself in my opinion. I say go for it!

 

[Arthacker87]

Plan on fragging coral to sell?

 

[ChristianReefer]

yes. Maybe it’s just me, but I think about ways to sustain the hobby. Like having friends and family buy fish and they get to name them and come over to see them. May be a bit corny but it works! People love coming over to see the fish they purchased and named. They seem to have a kind of connection with them after naming it. Besides, they don’t have to do all the Maintenance .

 

[Layll318]

yes. Maybe it’s just me, but I think about ways to sustain the hobby. Like having friends and family buy fish and they get to name them and come over to see them. May be a bit corny but it works! People love coming over to see the fish they purchased and named. They seem to have a kind of connection with them after naming it. Besides, they don’t have to do all the Maintenance .

My wife and mother seem to always want to buy me stuff. Though they boughtt some coral
I can’t keep alive... so I will not allow them to go for the lfs alone anymore.

 

[ChristianReefer]

very true! family are always moving me away from what I want the tank to look like by offering to buy stuff they want. Sometimes I give in but most times I'm pretty firm. Lol

 

[ChristianReefer]

Ok guys, starting the build process on a 40 gallon breeder frag tank. I need some help, advice, and some opinions. Trying to this as cheap as possible. For now I’m just wondering if this rack will hold the weight and what’s the best way to support the whole thing? Should I use 2x4 across the rack to support the tank or even better 2x4s and a top board? Help and advice is vary much appreciated.

 

[Brad ward]

Thinking about starting a frag tank to help with the cost of building my dream tank (300 Gallon). I currently have a 48 gallon cuboid tank and has been running well for just over a year. The only problem is there is not much to look. Livestock is really expensive, especially when quarantining everything that touches the tank.

I did some construction work for a client of mine and he paid me in fish tanks and aquarium equipment. The tank he gave me was a 6x2x1 glass tank with plastic bottom. I think the tank is 90 gallons. Starting off, I would only be growing and fragging soft and hard coral. No sps.

here are my questions:

1) what is the average cost to set up a decent frag tank this size?

2) how long until I get a return for investment?

3) Is more work than maintaining a regular saltwater aquarium?

Sounds like you will just be spending more money. I’ve got plenty of Frags for sale really cheap and I hardly ever get any replies. I think you have to be really established in the hobby and have a following to regain your costs. I would check with fishofhex

 

[Gareth elliott]

I would start local. Go to nearby club meetings. Sell at local frag swaps etc. See if you can meet the needs/wants of those that you don’t need to pay shipping for. Also lets word of mouth be your advertising cost, before you get to far in on purchases to sustain the business.

 

[Bills beginning]

Built my stand out of 2 x4. I have a 40 breeder with homemade 20 long sum

 

[Infidel]

yes. Maybe it’s just me, but I think about ways to sustain the hobby. Like having friends and family buy fish and they get to name them and come over to see them. May be a bit corny but it works! People love coming over to see the fish they purchased and named. They seem to have a kind of connection with them after naming it. Besides, they don’t have to do all the Maintenance .

"Oh, hey... remember about 4 years ago when I bought that Gem tang and named it Gemma? Yeah... I just got a new tank and I'm going to need that back now. Thanks for raising it!" ;Sour

It's definitely a great idea to start a frag tank. I will be starting a smaller one sometime in the future for the same reasons. You could always –at least– sell frags to a LFS for credit or as a discount/trade on something you are interested in. You could also just bring your stuff to frag swaps to trade for other frags from other hobbyists.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

It would probably be around $2k to set up a frag tank that size with decent equipment. If you’re looking at doing zoas etc, it could pay off pretty quickly.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Double to triple that number for acros.

 

[ChristianReefer]

Thanks everyone. I’m not really doing it for the business but though might as well since I will be growing coral. Mainly soft coral to start. See what happens I. The future. I live in Houston Texas and it seem like there is a demand for corals around here.

 

[mitch91175]

I'd say do not look at it that way to sell coral. As someone else mentioned, you will be spending more money no matter how you do it. And if someone is saying they would buy from you if you did it, once you do see if they are around once you have invested money into doing it.

There are so many people trying to sell coral that your market shrinks more everyday and unless you are trying to sell the trendy corals, it will likely not be worth the time/effort involved.

You'll have increased electricity, salt, water, etc. cost that you'll have to account for when doing this. As well as more time involved.

I'd suggest that you narrow your focus on your main system. If it all goes well, you can always sell directly from it versus a different system. Once you are able to maintain the main tank and then if you have more people wanting things, then look into a frag tank.

If you want the frag tank for QT of new coral, etc that is a different topic.

 

[Bills beginning]

I'd say do not look at it that way to sell coral. As someone else mentioned, you will be spending more money no matter how you do it. And if someone is saying they would buy from you if you did it, once you do see if they are around once you have invested money into doing it.

There are so many people trying to sell coral that your market shrinks more everyday and unless you are trying to sell the trendy corals, it will likely not be worth the time/effort involved.

You'll have increased electricity, salt, water, etc. cost that you'll have to account for when doing this. As well as more time involved.

I'd suggest that you narrow your focus on your main system. If it all goes well, you can always sell directly from it versus a different system. Once you are able to maintain the main tank and then if you have more people wanting things, then look into a frag tank.

If you want the frag tank for QT of new coral, etc that is a different topic.

That is very good advice.

 

[ChristianReefer]

Ok everyone, I want to thank you for all your good advice. I know it’s based on solid info and much experience. However, I have decided to start a frag tank. This will be a vary slow process. I figured I would end up doing it some day. Here is pictures of the build so far.
My son and I have built the stand. It measure 8ftx2ftx3ft tall.
I think I will be starting a build thread for the frag tank.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Not worth it imo, everyone is trying to frag and selling so market is quite saturated, unless you have some higher end unique stuff and you plan on shipping, just isn’t worth it unless your dt is stuffed full and you frag from there, since it would just be thrown away.

 

[andrewkw]

If you are just growing soft coral you can do it for a few hundred dollars.

My frag system :
Lowboy 50 gallon 48x24x10 - $159
4 bulb 48" T5 - $99
4 bulbs $80 per year - i bought some closeout bulbs cheaper than ati but still decent colour
jeabo powerhead $50
jeabo return $75
heaters + inkbird $100?
2x4 wood for stand and a little bit of paint $40?

That's just over $600. I had a 55g which I'm using as the sump and I had good live rock which is the filtration but even if you were to add all this in still under $1000

6x2 is an even bigger footprint. Even growing stuff like pom pom xenia and kenya trees I paid for this setup in less than a year. I live out in the middle of no where so I have to sell everything cheap in bulk. I once sold a guy kenya trees for $2.50 each on the condition he take as many as I had, there was close to 100!. Last time at a fish store I brought them nothing but pom pom xenia and a few kenya trees and got $350 credit.

I do have more expensive corals but the cheapest of the cheap are the fastest to grow and easiest to sell. Yesterday I made 22 frags of Leptoseris. Took maybe 30 minutes and what I fragged was pretty much just what grew off the rock onto the glass in my display tank. In 2 months they should be fully encrusted and I can probably sell a couple locally for say $30 but the rest I can get $10-$15 in a bulk sale.

Pocillipora is another good one, easier beginner sps, if you keep a colony it will spawn and you can just frag the little pieces that pop up in your tank. I get a couple dozen a year without even touching my colony. Zoas and palys have already been mentioned too.

I like fragging and growing easy to keep corals. They are easy to keep, easy to sell and almost zero stress to keep. If I didn't live in the middle of nowhere I'd probably have 10 of these tanks. One thing that makes my setup easier that won't apply to you as much is that my display is larger so when I do a weekly water change in my display the water gets reused in the frag system. Another cost saving but also ease of maintenance thing.

 

[ChristianReefer]

If you are just growing soft coral you can do it for a few hundred dollars.

My frag system :
Lowboy 50 gallon 48x24x10 - $159
4 bulb 48" T5 - $99
4 bulbs $80 per year - i bought some closeout bulbs cheaper than ati but still decent colour
jeabo powerhead $50
jeabo return $75
heaters + inkbird $100?
2x4 wood for stand and a little bit of paint $40?

That's just over $600. I had a 55g which I'm using as the sump and I had good live rock which is the filtration but even if you were to add all this in still under $1000

6x2 is an even bigger footprint. Even growing stuff like pom pom xenia and kenya trees I paid for this setup in less than a year. I live out in the middle of no where so I have to sell everything cheap in bulk. I once sold a guy kenya trees for $2.50 each on the condition he take as many as I had, there was close to 100!. Last time at a fish store I brought them nothing but pom pom xenia and a few kenya trees and got $350 credit.

I do have more expensive corals but the cheapest of the cheap are the fastest to grow and easiest to sell. Yesterday I made 22 frags of Leptoseris. Took maybe 30 minutes and what I fragged was pretty much just what grew off the rock onto the glass in my display tank. In 2 months they should be fully encrusted and I can probably sell a couple locally for say $30 but the rest I can get $10-$15 in a bulk sale.

Pocillipora is another good one, easier beginner sps, if you keep a colony it will spawn and you can just frag the little pieces that pop up in your tank. I get a couple dozen a year without even touching my colony. Zoas and palys have already been mentioned too.

I like fragging and growing easy to keep corals. They are easy to keep, easy to sell and almost zero stress to keep. If I didn't live in the middle of nowhere I'd probably have 10 of these tanks. One thing that makes my setup easier that won't apply to you as much is that my display is larger so when I do a weekly water change in my display the water gets reused in the frag system. Another cost saving but also ease of maintenance thing.

Thanks! Your testimony is vary encouraging. I was almost going to give it up but then decided to make this a father son kind of thing. So far so good. Appreciate the helpful tips on which’s corals sell the fastest. I’ll be setting up with soft corals first and see where the hobby takes me.