Too Many Corals

[TazzBear]

I recently changed my system and now I have WAY to many corals. Not because I bought them but because they are growing out of control. My quandry is that I don't want to frag them and sell them off a piece at a time. I really want to get rid of a bunch at a time. Now many people say frag them and sell them as frags. Yea, you going to come over and frag them, bag them, pack them, take them to FedEx (or whoever) and deal with all the questions and arrive alive stuff. I guess in reality the only way to get rid of them is to sell them however I can. And before you say, go to your LPS, no one within 3 to 5 hours of here even sell SPS, let alone give you squat for them. I have SPS, LPS and softies coming out my ears. Can anyone suggest a company that might be interested in me shipping a bunch of them to them or even driving them to them? I live 5 hours from KC, Chicago, St.Louis and 4 from The Twin Cities. Most of my sps heads are 4" to 6" across and I have multiple heads of A.Nana and a 12" H.Pilosa, LPS Euphyllia FrogSpawn(s), and Wellsophyllia brain. I have about 50+ branches of FrogSpawn and Torch Coral. I tell you, I never had so many darned corals. I think the Torch heads split every month into as many as 5 seperate for each one. At first I could not get much to grown, but now they are a pain and I am actually thinking of getting out of the coral business for awhile. I have been giving away corals to everyone I know and the LPS takes some, but I really need to get rid of a BUNCH. My electric bill is $192 a month. Gees, such a mess to be in. I will look for SOMEONE here to point me in a direction to help me. I may put up some for sell on the trader page or Ebay. But again, I really don't want anyone who wants one or two frags. I just don't have all the stuff necessary to frag/bag and box these things as needed. Maybe some LPS or whatnot will see this and help me out. Mods, please don't move this to the trading post because that is not what I want here. I want suggestions on what to do with all of these things. I will put the camera online so you can see some of these corals. But, I will only have the camera ON from 10am till about 5pm central time. I have pics of most of the corals. I will put together a list of what I have so when I decide to sell these everyone can see what I have. I mostly have SPS, but I do have two LARGE rocks covered in blue mushrooms and turquois bumpy polyps. The turquois ones have multiple mouths so not really a mushroom, but look just about the same. Except they are HUGH. Up to 4"across or so. Can you tell I am frustrated! I have to put up ANOTHER tank just so things don't sting and kill each other. That have 5 additional tanks just for corals I can't fit into my 125. But, at least I know these corals grow VERY well under VHO only.

Ciao

Link: http://BearCreekLtd.camarades.com/

Tank up tomorrow to see.

 

[Leslie]

Gee. Sorta wish I had your problem! What are you feeding them? Miracle Grow? Puppy Chow? Seriously, I see your problem, and unfortunately can't help with your specific question, but would love to know your method of keeping your corals obviously thriving and growing like, well, weeds.

 

[TazzBear]

No feeding AT ALL other than flakes in the morning and brine at night. I only add Kalk in a 5gal drip every week. But, what has made ALL the difference is the move to HQI and allowing the Neptune controller to have the temp go up and down according to a real reef. I have swings from 79 to 81 or so. I took pics today and will be posting them to my web page shortly and I will provide the link from my link above. Yea, weeds they are. I now have the formula down to a science. Of course, they are in tune with the water quality of Iowa water. In Missouri, I had to do it differently, and in Texas again I had different water conditions. But the HQI and temp thing really have accelerated growth. My A.Prostrata is growing extremely fast. Both colonies are growing an inch in every direction a month, and the A.Microphthalma from Steve Tyree is growing even faster. The frags in the frag tanks under the VHO are over 4" wide in just 2 months. They are already small colonies now.

 

[TazzBear]

Tank is online. This is the middle section. Look at the W.Brain at the bottom center of the screen. It is over 12" wide. The tangs you see are all 3" so you can get an idea of the size of all the corals and whatnot.

 

[pkolenda]

One thing you might consider the that the Chicago Marine Aquarium Society is having our annual conference this month. If you are interested in driving up you could probably make a mint. Plus see some great speakers.

Personally I would love your frogspawn.

If you do decide to come up I would be glad to take some of your headache away.

 

[Bucktronix]

im not sure what kinda answer you were looking for? you don't have an lfs to buy them and you don't want to frag them and sell them. there prolly aren’t to many people who want an "insta" 125 tank full of coral. if you want any sorta money for this you are going to have to work for it. but then does any hobbyist get in this to make money

btw a $192 electric bill is nothing. i have meet people that have $650 power bills due to their tanks!

 

[BCReefer]

Amen to that Buck

 

[Anonymous]

Ah!

I sent yo a PM.

My email is [email protected]

Wow, I never thought I'd see a post like this from my town!

I will pay $$ or trade for some. As you know, LFS's suck around here.

I would like to meet reefers near me anyway.

[ February 07, 2002: Message edited by: mulberry ]</p>

 

[TazzBear]

It is not that I am opposed to working to get rid of some of this, but think of what is involved. You are right, this was a hobby that is turning into a job and that is the quandary. As for electrical bill, I am not comparing mine with anyone, but we can all compare and there is ALWAYS someone else who pays more, has more or does more. At one time I had spoken to someone that wanted to buy frags in bulk. I am not opposed to that but selling one or two is not feasible for the hobbyist. It cost $35 to $50 in shipping alone. I have purchased frags from quite a few online pet stores and have been APPALED at the quality you get. A 1/4 frag does not make a coral, neither does 3 x 1/4 frags make a coral. My frags are all at a minimum of 2" before I will even consider fragging them. If people want frags that have had the cut sealed shut with super glue and bagged and shipped, I would be happy to do that. But please, make sure you want at least 5 to off set the shipping. Heck, I have so many frags that I could easily throw in an A.Nana with every order and NOT run out for well over 200 orders. I guess the best thing is going to either go to the Chicago show (which would be a blast, but I WOULD want to buy something, LOL), or WORK to sell them. Yea, of course I want the easiest/quickest/best for the corals resolution. It is going to take all my resolve just to get rid of these corals. The only reason I am getting rid of these is because I am going to move and have too many to move and duplicates. Heck, maybe I should just keep what I have.
I have been a member of this board for a VERY long time and I used to be a newby. It kills me when I read, Cheap this or Cheap that, or can I get by with this or that. People, I DON'T add anything but Kalk, and I have tremendous growth. I tried all the cheap methods and after allot of time and effort, just keep the tank stable, don't add that stuff, and get GOOD lighting. Simple formula. It gets frustrating to see people who want to do everything cheaply. You get what you pay for: CHEAP stuff and poor results. You don't have to put allot of money into it like I did. I would just like to re-coop some of my costs and get some 3rd, 4th, 5th, to 7th generation corals out to people and you CAN grow these under VHO and power compact. You won't get the results I get with HQI, but they are a bit costly. Just keep the water temp between 78 to 81, use RO water, stick to a schedule for the lighting and DON'T add all of these chemicals. Most of these chemicals are a TEMP FIX at best for a situation that has roots in a problem. Temp changes seem to be the most serious cause along with improper lighting. But, I can tell you that over and over and over and it will not be heeded. Well, my tank speaks for itself. I can grow anything and in short order be able to have enough to sell back to re-coop my cost. But then, it would no longer be a hobby now would it. I have received emails from a few people and I will speak with them further. Work, gees, I work hard and long hours and my tank is one the biggest joy I have. But I hate seeing corals sting others to death, overgrow each other and then I can't continue to add tanks for the overgrowth. Soon I will just put on a wet suit and dive into my life of cleaning and maintenance. I am sure everyone understands that these corals will be the future for our seas. They are becoming more tolerant of un-stable conditions and hardier with each generation. I would think people would understand it is in our best interest to get these out to as many people as possible. And all I really HAD wanted was to get these to someone who would carry on and to make some of my money back. I guess I should just bite the bullet and frag them, and sell them like others do. I could make a killing if I sold these all fragged out. I bought most of them for about $30 each not including shipping. I can easily get 30-50 2" frags from most of my corals. Take that times 20+ some heads and what do you get? Allot of work and sure some cash. How many of you have fragged that many? I don't even have the set up to get rid of them. I think I am started to rant and rave because I am frustrated. I helped two people with their reef/fish tanks this week. I come home in shock at the lack of knowledge and foresight of these people. They can't understand how they get ich when they buy a COOL fish from Petco and their $400 fish dies, or they have a BLACK light for actinic and their corals slowly die. Man, I guess experience and a bit of brains go a long way. But, to each his own. And I have been a POOR college student for the last three years, I just was wise with my money and patients goes a LONG way. By the way, the camera is up again today. It is pointed at the left side of the tank today.

 

[Bucktronix]

omg put in some paragraph breaks before we go blind

 

[Bucktronix]

well it wasn’t ment as a criticism of you. i am a designer, day in and out i try and help my clients format their material so people can understand and digest it. it is difficult to try and read a huge block of text like that without losing your place or forgetting what you have just read. also bite sized chunks of information are easier to get people to read rather than having to commit them to a big block of info that they will prolly skip.

i say this as im sure its good info but i shouldn’t have to hold a piece of paper up to my screen to mark my place.

 

[Bucktronix]

also i am bored and can't sleep.. you seem like a nice person to bug

 

[Jawbone]

quit your day job and open up a LFS seems your good at taking care of the inhabitants now just partner up with someone with a good business sense and make some coin

 

[TazzBear]

For those of you who have contacted me I have replied to your emails. I finally have allot of pics taken and labeled. I will post the mother colonies on my web page and provide the link when I am done. I guess I will just do as others do, frag and sell. I figured I would bag and ship them in Coleman ice chest or other brands. This will entail a box charge, but at least you can re-use the ice chest. I won't use the styrofoam ones, but the plastic ones. That will ensure their safe shipment I hope. They will also not be attached to rocks. That only adds to the weight. I will glue the ends and do an iodine dip to help keep them from getting RTN. I will also keep them until they have healed or for at least a couple weeks after I frag. I will put a post in the trading post in the next few days. Further details will be put into that post.

Haha, put breaks in before you go blind. There are many ways to go blind guys. Criticism is invited, and I did not ask for any. But, thanks for the suggestions. I am sure an open forum needs critics. But content is what I went for, so I hope you got the jist. I don't think anyone on here would miss rude comments when we are simply getting together for discussion. Kinda makes it so NO ONE wants to post anything. Why can't we all just get along and forgo the criticisms.
Oops, forgot to put in a break. LOL