Advice to New Reef Gardeners and Farmers

I just wanted to let you know I took your advice, I went to the coral connection to get some corals. I just couldn't wait to get a couple after I got your e-mail. After looking around for a while I couldn't decide. The owner of the store told me he was expecting a new shipment any day now. I was disappointed, so instead of getting something I didn't want, I bought the two lights you recommended. Now I'm all set . Thanks again for the advice. Hopefully I'll have corals in the tank by the weekend. I'm looking forward to becoming a coral farmer. Since the last time I e-mailed you I've had more time to check out your web site and some links, there's just tons of great info. My wife and I also grow roses and hibiscus.

Thanks again,

Robert Von Dullen

Robert,

Good to hear all the news. I'm also glad to hear that you're ready to become a coral gardener/farmer. Now that your tank is established and you have good lights for growing and farming corals in it, still don't get in too big of a rush. Remember to select hardy corals which are easy to propagate and preferably ones which grow fairly quickly so that making cuttings from them is easier. Colorful corals are a good choice also, but some corals are still very alluring and pretty (usually from texture and shape) even without a lot of color. A gorgeous coral that won't grow isn't going to make you much money, now is it? Pay close attention to the live rock making article on my web site (in the "Raise a Reef" section), especially the part about how to easily grow coralline algae on your aquacultured rocks. I get plenty of letters from people who have somehow been misdirected and can't figure out why advice from some "reputable" sources is not helping them grow coralline algae on their rocks. Good coralline will help you out a lot when it comes time to sell not only tank raised live rock but any coral cutting you raise that is attached to a rock which you intend to sell or trade. Some say that clever smoke screens exist to get you to buy products with questionable benefits, some of which destroy coralline algae or even an entire reef aquarium!

I've written a continuation of the cement rock making and coralline growing topic in an article I wrote for the talk library of the #reefs web site. You can find it by going to the first link in the "links" section on my web site. Click on the highlighted "#reefs" link and then look for my article. Scan down their list of articles until you find the date of my article (it was actually a live on-line talk with Q&A afterwards) which is May 25th 1998.

ABOVE: Valerie Miller's tank-raised "xenia forest", shown about 6 months before this article was written. It has GROWN since this picture! There are four types of xenia shown above in her 75-gallon reef tank. Also note: The large concrete rock is kept nearly clean of coralline algae, looking dull gray-green. Other rocks are lacking in really good coralline growth too, a classic sign that certain hermit crabs are present which eat more coralline than you might like them to. Coralline would normally be quite obvious and starting to flourish on new concrete rock by the end of two months in a reef tank like this rock has been. The other tank-raised rocks are a year old. Coralline growth is still somewhat lacking, even with just a modest number of Mexican red leg blue spot hermit crabs present (C. digueti) which are cleaning the rock of alga, including coralline algae. In the past six months the number of hermits has decreased due to natural die-off and cannibalism. The pink, mauve and purple coralline algae is growing better now. In another test I performed, I put two small uncured concrete rocks in two HANDY Reef tanks with identical dosing and care. One tank had a very modest number of C. digueti hermit crabs in it and the other tank had none. The concrete rock in the tank with none of these hermits became almost totally covered in coralline on top and sides within just 2.5 months! The new concrete rock in the other tank, with C. digueti hermits, was still struggling to grow coralline algae, with very little coverage of coralline algae even after 6 months! The gray concrete changed colors, to a dominant gray-green look, like the picture above. The C. digueti hermits tend to keep new rocks cleaned of coralline algae the best. Another interesting observation was made. As expected and often observed elsewhere the coralline growing on the glass of the tank with C. digueti hermits was slightly less dense than in the tank without these hermits which had much more coralline already growing everywhere since there were no coralline "preditors" present. Remember, the more coralline in a tank the faster it spreads to new rocks and the glass. The coralline growing on the glass of the tank with the hermits eventually grew so thick that the hermits were finally able to climb the coralline covered glass and start stripping it too! All of this should come as no surprise since these hermits have been extensively observed to eat coralline algae in addition to their diet of snails and even coral polyps. They are omnivores of course and this should also be no surprise. In live rock farming it is critical to NOT include certain hermit crabs which eat coralline algae like candy. Claims to the contrary should be a red flag as to the honesty or knowledge of such claimants.

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