(Reprinted from Marine Fish Monthly April 1997, with some minor changes/corrections to update it.)
By, Tom Miller
Last month we started making soft coral cuttings. Did you remember your home work assignment? Good! Many of you no doubt have tried some coral cuttings and are quite excited and ready for more info. To quench your continuing thirst and quest for this knowledge we'll finish the soft coral growing techniques this month and tie it up with some general handy tips for propagation. Or as a rose gardener like myself would call propagation: coral reef gardening. Every time I use that phrase the Beatles come to mind. I wonder why?... "I'd like to be, under the sea, in an octopus's garden...".
Last month we left off with how to make cuttings of sarcophyton or leather mushroom corals. Now we'll continue and finish the leather coral family with lobophytum - leather flower, lettuce or cabbage corals and then sinularia which is known to real people like us as leather finger corals. Pieces of leather flower corals can be cut off with sharp scissors or a new razor blade. You'll notice that the corals in the leather family have long thin calcium spicules running through them which offer only a little resistance to cutting. The leather flowers tend to easily decay into slime sometimes but only when making cuttings. They are not as touchy as the yellow leather mushroom type of sarcophyton corals we discussed last month. Still be careful, lobophytum is some times one of the touchier corals when it comes to slime outs, especially when sewn onto the rock with sewing needle and fishing line which happens to be one of the best methods of attaching the other two types of leather coral cuttings to rock. The leather flower corals can also be sewn onto rocks or rubber banded lightly to rocks or even lodged into holes with toothpicks or other materials. Put these corals in good water flow for about the first week after cutting to prevent protozoan infection as described last month. Another technique to prevent slime out is to cut the pieces off and let them heal a week or two in a quiet corner or in a gravel bowl where they might attach to aragonite chips, shells or pebbles like we did last month with corallimorpharians or mushroom anemones. Once healed you can attach them to rock with fishing line or rubber bands with virtually no losses. If the cuttings attach to the pebbles then thick super glue gel or Super Reef Gel (from Mark Barnes at ReefGel@aol.com) will attach them to your rocks most easily.
Finger leather corals are as simple as cutting off a branch and attaching it with super glue, fishing line or rubber bands. Fishing line is my favorite, but it helps to have a small pit in the rock to put the stump into because it helps the fishing line hold it in place while it attaches. Also tying corals onto rock can result in the fishing line cutting right through the coral and onto the rock. So try placing coral cuttings in slight depressions or holes in the rock when tying or rubber banding them on to rock to avoid cutting through and losing a specimen from your rock. A masonry drill bit really helps here to make a shallow depression where you want it. Stick the coral's stalk in the hole then sew through the stalk next to the rock and tie it in place. Some times you can find two small branches and cut them off just beneath the fork. This lets you use a rubber band between the branches to secure the cutting into a depression or drilled hole and works very well. When using super glue try laying a branch on its side and gluing over the top of it in just one thin strip that will kind of look like a rubber band across it. Make sure the glue sticks firmly to the rock on both sides or the coral will pop the glue up when it expands. Using dry aragonite rock helps. Existing live rock in your tank some times has too much slime to let super glue get a good hold. Or when gluing to some coraline algae on rock, the coraline you glue to can detach. If it does then scrape the live rock a little with a knife or once again use dry aragonite base rock.
Colt corals like cladiella, alcyonia, litophyton and nepthea can be propagated much like leather finger corals. Actually some bushy silularia look just like cladiella type corals. These corals also have long calcium spicules running up from the base through their branches. It is difficult to get super glue to stick to these slimy corals, unless you can get it to stick to the spicules or form a band with glue over the branch like we did with sinularia. The fishing line and rubber band methods do well here too. These corals expand and contract to a great extent which can allow them to escape a rubber band. Small cuttings seem to work best. Don't put a rubber band tightly at all over these corals or it will slowly slice through it over the course of a day or so.
Gorgonians are beautiful corals and branches can be cut off to make new cuttings easily but only if you know the pit falls to avoid. Super glue tends to make most gorgonians decay around the area glued so it is not always practical. But if you do try it and the gorgonian ends up with a bit of central stalk sticking out the bottom because the flesh died around it where you glued it, you can just reglue this bare central stalk to the side of a rock with some of the live skin touching the rock. The gorgonian is now secure and will grow onto the rock. Rubber bands can work but often not real well. Irritation really slows down gorgonian attachment. Fishing line is about as successful as rubber bands. A good and simple way to attach gorgonians is to drill a half inch deep hole in a rock, just larger than the stem of the gorgonian. Stick the gorgonian cutting into the hole and then pack one side of the hole firmly with craft type Styrofoam which is white and semi translucent and crunchy - usually found in various sized balls or small sheets at craft stores. Don't use pure white packing Styrofoam - it is more irritating to the gorgonian. Let it grow over the Styrofoam and rock permanently. The craft Styrofoam works well on many gorgonians but if they decay to the stem from irritation then super gluing the bare central stem to the side of a rock is always a sure fire method which works better than any others that I've heard of or used. The real strange thing is that sometimes the gorgonian grows back down over the bare central stalk even though the stalk is imbedded in and thoroughly covered with super glue!
Zoanthids are the next item we'll attach to rock. Zoanthids including palythoa grow into dense mats of what are often called sea mats or colonial "anemones". They are long necked polyps which multiply quickly in good lighting and low to moderate water current. You can feed many of them SanFrancisco brand omega-3 enriched frozen brine shrimp every week to 2 weeks for best growth rates. But once a dense mat of these polyps forms they can only multiply around the edges. So why not dig a few out of the middle of the clump and spread individual polyps around on new rocks to quickly multiply while the holes you left on their original rock fill back in. A steak knife or sharp cold chisel can be used to pry the polyps off the rock. Don;'t worry if you rip one in half, they'll grow back the other half. Super glue works well to attach them to the new rock. Rubber bands, fishing line and string all work well too. I have started cutting off individual large polyps and then sewing them onto new rocks with needle and fishing line. This works well if you have a medium water current flowing over the new cuttings to keep dead matter washed away and protozoans off. The stump that you cut the polyps from quickly regrows new polyps. At the Dec 1996 Coral Reef Farming Seminar at GARF in Boise I watched Mark Barnes (Mark developed the coral cutting and super glue techniques used by GARF) take a nice palythoa zoanthid polyp rock out of an aquarium and strip the polyps from it in sheets using a cold chisel, then he used an exacto knife to quickly cut this mat into small chunks (many polyps were cut in two) then he put Super Reef Gel globs on a large rock and onto many cement plugs then quickly put all the small polyp chunks/clusters onto the rock and plugs then put them back into the aquarium to heal and grow. Mark says it helps to have the thin skin of rock that peels off with the polyps because super glue sticks best rock to rock. Individually cut off Zoanthids like palythoa seem to super glue easier if left to heal several days after cutting before you glue them. Large Zoanthid polyps can be individually cut off with sharp scissors near their base and a new one will grow from the cut base. Also be careful with Zoanthids, they are poisonous. Wash any of their mucous off if touched and don't accidently rub it in your eyes or they can swell up. Palythoa are used by islanders to make poison arrows.
Clavularia (star polyps) and xenia type corals grow in a spreading manner much like Zoanthids and can be propagated in much the same way. LeRoy says that he has even cut Xenia polyps off and directly super glued them immediately to rock with success. As for encrusting star polyps, sections can be cut from a rock using a knife or cold chisel then tied or glued to new rock where they can multiply quickly in the right conditions like good medium water flow. The easiest way to spread these corals around is to set a new rock against them and they will multiply onto the new rock. Encrusting type gorgonians also grow in the same manner and can be propagated the same ways.
Now what you've been waiting for: Easy No-Bake Coral Cookies! Some of you have been wondering what kind of rock to attach the new cuttings to. Some people use small scraps of live rock or base rock and some people use various whitish aragonite rock (mainly calcium carbonate from ancient reefs) from the Bahamas, Florida, Idaho or where ever. Some of these dry aragonite rocks are harder and have turned into calcite - they work well. I like to use Idaho aragonite. LeRoy has also been making artificial cement live rock (using techniques developed by others) from one part marine grade Portland cement and 3 to 6 parts aragonite sand and rock chips. He molds cork shaped plugs of this cement to attach coral cuttings to. The plugs make it easier to handle and care for numerous cuttings in a small space. He then molds or drills identical indentations in the rocks to put the cement plugs into after attaching corals. This holds the new cuttings in place and creates "Socket Rocks". An added benefit is that once some types of coral cuttings spread over the edge of the plug and onto the rock, you can pull the plug out and put it in a new Socket Rock and let it spread onto that rock too.
I have used this cement technique to make small cookie like mounds resembling no-bake cookies that coral cuttings can be attached to and later super glued anywhere you want them to stick. These small "Easy No-Bake Coral Cookies" work well for some and not as well for other cuttings. They will grow coraline algae on them to blend in. Keep in mind that new cement will raise your tanks pH so cure your new cement no bake cookies or rock in fresh water for several weeks first. I then move mine to salt water for another week or two before using them. Use grade III (any grade or type of cemnt can actually be used - type I/II is mostly what I use now) High Early Portland cement mix. The brand I get locally is from Holnam Cement. Grade III is stronger (cures to full strength faster) and is used in freezing weather and for some marine applications.
On a related note to coral gardening: If you own a reef tank, here's a critter that you've already propagated without even trying: Aptaisia or glass anemones, the little pests that multiply and sting your corals. You've tried killing them by injection and they come back. The accompanying pictures and explanation will help explain why. Many corals and aptaisia often reproduce by self fragmentation and some times when they are dying too. The little bumps around the first aptaisia picture are little nubs that break off and become fully formed little aptaisia with tentacles before a week is up. After a ring of these break off, the parent moves to the side and starts letting more break off. Then you step in and decide to put an end to this pattern by injecting it with kalkwasser or whatever. Shortly after, you might notice that in reaction to the injection it has spit out filaments that can float away and regrow more aptaisia and it has also just broken off a new ring of fleshy pieces around its base just to insult you and become more aptaisia. I should have taken a third picture to illustrate this. Some people have even thrown away all their live rock and started over just to get rid of aptaisia. This is not a good idea - things can be done to get rid of aptaisia. Among them are using elegance corals to sting them or putting a raccoon or copper-banded butterflyfish in your reef to eat them. Raccoon butterflyfish are more aggressive with zoanthid polyps. Both types will eat your feather duster tube worms, clams and probably brain corals. If you can take these items out, maybe the butterfly idea could be of help. A copper-banded butterfly just took care of ALL the visible aptaisia in my 55 gallon reef in my daughter's room. It took two weeks for it to even notice that they were food! I hear you have to feed them well and just be patient. Now that the aptaisia are gone and the butterfly has transformed into a trained exterminator I'd like to move it to another tank to do the same, but my daughter has staked claim to this fun fish which she has affectionately named "Bean Bandit" after a Japanese "anime" cartoon character. I guess I'll just have to get another one or maybe I could go down to Rob's Rent-a-Racoon. Or better yet, I need to order those special reef safe aptaisia eating nudibranchs from The Aquatic WildLife Co.
Speaking of kids, Rachel Read of Boise is 12 years old and is already a pro at identifying, keeping and propagating corals! She has made many cuttings for Sally Jo Headlee's gorgeous 55 gallon reef, pictured in this article, and has put together a very nice reef of her own.
My younger daughter, 7 months old, also loves bright, colorful saltwater fish. I think all kids do. She gets very excited and vocal when I sit in front of the reef tanks with her. Now back to my eldest daughter. I only set up "my" 55 gallon reef in her room because I ran out of space elsewhere. I talked her and my wife into letting me put it in her room, but only if I painted an old brown buffet stand white for it to go on and to double as toy shelves. But now that it's in her room and getting established, the rocks are growing purpler by the week as coraline algae sprawls over the aragonite rock. Purple is her favorite color! You guessed it: She's now staked claim to the reef tank and everything in it. I suppose it isn't purple enough yet though because she wants more purple mushroom anemones now. I made her one rock with five of them on it last week and she wanted more purple mushrooms so I helped her glue lots of purple mushrooms to a bigger rock. (The mushroom anemones were previously attached to gravel chunks using a gravel bowl) Six year olds and super glue aren't recommended, but with close supervision, she had fun!
Much like aptaisia, some corals can multiply to nearly epidemic proportions on their own and all you have to do is put other rocks next to them for the new little corals to multiply onto. Some corals in this category are: Zoanthids, anthelia, xenia, clavularia and sometimes actinodiscus corallimorpharians. Even large corals such as colt corals and leather corals can be divided some what in this way. Simply put a new rock up against the base or stalk of the coral you want attached and wait a month or two and it will attach. Then simply divide the coral into 2 pieces - part attached to the new rock and part left on the original rock. This is one of the easiest methods to multiply most of your soft corals, but it is often a bit slower.
A few handy tips to wrap up soft coral gardening. Water motion is important to keep corals from sliming out. It keeps the protozoans from getting a foothold and multiplying on and eating your cuttings. Proper rate of water motion is also very important when it comes to getting some corals to grow quickly. Sarcophyton or leather mushroom corals for example grow best when blown around just a bit in the current. Mark and Bonnie Robertson of Sandy, Utah have observed that the growth rate of sarcophyton and cladiella type corals dramatically increases when you keep your hands out of the aquarium water, regardless of how well you wash them first. They use Coralife Aqua Gloves every time they get into their reef aquariums and I've witnessed the phenomenal growth rate! A little extra iodide can help with slime out prevention. Some use Lugol's or Strong Iodine Solution, but not too much, from the drugstore for it's added antiseptic effect - go easy because high levels will cause problems. The Germans use about .2 ml per 100 ltr per week. LeRoy Headlee uses seven times the recommended dosage of SeaChem's Reef Plus because it not only has iodide, but also trace elements, vitamin C and B vitamins which speed up healing and growth. His slime out rate is virtually nonexistent and growth is phenomenal. I still have a hard time recommending that you put such a high dose in your tank - it could give you bad hair algae and cyanobacteria.
You may be interested in the choice of salt for many coral farmers. It may surprise you! Instant Ocean. Yes I know you can't believe it because it doesn't have a full compliment of trace elements. But it does have the major and basic minor elements in their proper proportions which is more than can be said for some salt mixes. The coral farmers simply add a full spectrum trace element supplement plus an iodide supplement after the Instant Ocean salt water is added to the tanks. Calcium level renewal is of course simply accomplished with the use of CaribSea Reef Sand and no kalkwasser. Very easy and well balanced. Another salt manufacturer claims that it's top grade salt which comes in two parts (like what I just described) is the best way to go since certain trace elements can't be combined in a dry salt mix and then properly reconstituted. If this is true (I'm NOT a chemist) then the method I described is even better, especially since iodide is reported by some to have a hard time staying in its proper form when mixed in with liquid trace element supplements. Some top trace element supplements used are Thiel's Liquid Gold Pro + (or new Vital Gold), BioSeas' trace elements, SeaChem's Reef Plus or Aquarium Systems' new Reef Evolution Trace Element Concentrate which in its dry form makes Instant Ocean into Reef Crystals salt! Use one good supplement or rotate between two or more good ones. Tropicorium coral farm is now using Reef Crystals salt mix instead of Instant Ocean - just a matter of choice.
Another handy way to help keep protozoans from sliming your new cuttings is to use a turkey baster night and morning to clean off any mucous-like material from cuttings. Some people don't like lots of coral cuttings strewn about the nice looking live rock of their display aquarium in the living room so they set up a 4 foot long 45 to 75 gallon low profile glass tank ( or a 50 gallon Rubber Maid tub works) in the basement or in a spare room as a grow-out or nursery tank. HANDY Reef style works great and keeps costs low. Extra snails can be added to eat the brown and green algae that usually forms on new aragonite rock. Astrea snails work around the new cuttings very well and almost never disturb them. For inexpensive top grade lighting two Triton and two Blue Moon Reef 40 watt flourescent lights will blast it with plenty of proper spectrum light, especially if you line the light hood or canopy with mirrored acrylic. This is an often overlooked but superior lighting combination - the most for your money! You only need one Triton light if you are just growing mushroom anemones, but add a Blue Moon light for best performance and color development. When I went to GARF in Sept I noticed that LeRoy Headley had strayed a bit and added some cheaper flourescent reef lights to some of his new systems. I commented on it and sure enough, on my Dec visit he had replaced them again with Triton and Blue Moons and they looked better. For only a little extra money you can have first class lighting that lasts longer. After next month's column on raising stony corals, live rock and live sand you'll be ready to set up a totally home grown reef tank. "Look Ma, I made it myself
Last but not least, know the needs of your corals (lighting, water conditions, current, feeding and such) because if you can't keep them healthy, you can't expect to propagate them. As a rose gardener it's hard for me to show someone how to make cuttings of their rose bushes if they can't even water them to keep them alive in the first place. A real impressive new book (on corals, not roses) is Dana Riddle's "The Captive Reef" published by Energy Savers Unlimited, Inc. (Coralife). He covers a broad spectrum of corals and their needs in your home reef aquarium in an easy to read, informative and interesting way. It is a great reference book as well as a good book to sit down with and read cover to cover. I'm sure you've already seen rave reviews of it. This book is a must for all reef aquarium owners!
Now I'd like to share a letter from a reader, Jim in Maryland, who writes:
I have read your articles religiously. I was all set to set up 5 gallon and 20 gallon tanks using your HANDY Reef method. Then along comes Simply Speaking - the Eng method. What system has worked best for you? I plan the 5 gallon similar to Bob Stark's tank in Dec. 96 issue - any suggestions? - plenum or not, lighting, etc. For the 20 liter (5 gallon) - a bubble tip anemone and two maroon clowns - any suggestions? Also I have a 55 gallon, I would like fish only, similar to your tank in Jan. 97 article. How did you set it up? Help please! I am moving soon and will renovate and upgrade all three tanks. Thanks, Jim.
Well, Jim, that was certainly a nice short and concise letter (better than I could do) and it's good to hear from you! To put it simply, the HANDY Reef has worked best for me, but don't go with it just because I said so. Bob Stark of ESV (see add in this magazine) says that his improved Eng natural system works best for him and many others. It does work very well for many. I see this as a great opportunity to use both systems! Set up the 5 gallon using the Lee Chin Eng style like Bob Stark does with about an inch and a half to two inches of his oolitic aragonite sand directly on the bottom of the tank. Then add no live sand but just some nice biologically and micro fauna active cured live rock to the tank and cycle it while feeding it, as if it had fish in it, with the lights out for about a month or more for best results. Use a small heater and power filter (without filter pads) such as Aquarium Systems' Millennium 1000 (Note: a Skilter 250 would take place of both protein skimmer and power filter combined) and a Visitherm 50 watt heater. No need for a power head with this small of an aquarium, just keep the water level up to the lip of the Millennium filter so that the return water gives the tank maximum circulation. If you really do feel you need to churn the water a bit faster then add a MiniJet power head to a 5 gallon reef. Make sure you have good ripple movement all over the surface of the reef's water for best gas exchange and good reef inhabitant health. For lights you might like using two Mini Might power compact U-shaped 9, 13 or 28 watt flourescents - one actinic 7100 K and the other 5000 - 6700 K daylight. By the way I've set up a one gallon glass jar as a mini Eng style reef with just an inch of home made live sand made from CaribSea aragonite Reef Sand, some live rock, a small ocellaris clownfish and three disk anemones. It has a small open rigid airline under a rock using a very small air pump, heater and no lights, just natural indirect bright light that shows through the white curtains it sits in front of. With this small of a "tank" I watch the evaporation a little closer and add top off water and change half of the water each month instead of protein skimming, carbon and phosphate remover. No snails and I haven't had to clean the glass (yet), the rocks stay spotless with just the micro crustaceans cleaning it at night. It has run very well for the last three months. This is just an inexpensive "use the spare parts lying around" project.
I don't know the compatibility of your planned maroon clowns and bubble tip anemone. If they're already together then you know, but if not check it out first. Some clowns won't pair up with some anemones. I'm not an expert on the combinations. The anemone needs good lighting and to be fed, but you probably know that. Maybe the higher wattage lighting will be best or perhaps four 9 watt power compacts. A single 28 watt 6700 K power compact will work.
As for your 20 gallon (tall?) tank, it is a bit taller and will be the better candidate to set up as a HANDY Reef. I have 20 and 29 gallon HANDY Reefs and they work well. The 20 gallon tall tank has two ocellaris clownfish and a pacific long tentacle anemone that was banished from a friend's community reef tank for eating too many fish, including tangs, in the last few years! I traded him a yellow tang and two tank raised tomato clownfish. Just call me Trader Tom. 3 - 4 inches of CaribSea aragonite Reef Sand is fine over a screened off plenum as I described in the Jan 1997 Simply Speaking. I feel it is extremely important (or mandatory) to use real aragonite sand products (Note: CaribSea caries a wide variety of sand sizes and their SeaFlor Reef Sand grade aragonite is my favorite for HANDY Reefs)for the creation of your live sand bed whether you use a plenum or not. I still like plenums. Also follow the carbon and phosphate remover usage instructions from the Jan article for both reefs. I'm sending you an updated copy of my full instructions on how to set up the improved and most up to date version of the HANDY Reef much like outlined in the Jan 1997 and previous articles. Anyone who would like this info, if you missed it, just send me an SASE. Since your 20 gallon tank is at least two feet long I highly recommend one Triton 20 watt and one Blue Moon Reef 20 watt with a good reflector. You'll love the results of this lighting. This is a shallow reef and probably won't need more light, but you can always add 2 more if you want to grow high light loving corals.
Your 55 gallon fish only tank would make an ideal HANDY Reef too, but I'm not opposed to you setting it up like my daughter's 55 gallon tank styled after Bob Stark's, in which I used 50 lbs of ESV oolitic aragonite with no live sand and about 70 lbs of Idaho and Florida Keys aragonite and then seeded it with select pieces of live rock. The Idaho aragonite had been conditioning with bacteria and micro critters for a few months in my garden saltwater pond (more on this next month). That's why I could get away with loading it up with fish so early. People are wondering why there are 20 fish in the picture of "my" 55 gallon 4 week old reef in the January issue! Careful, don't get this anxious.
Since you are setting up your 55 gallon tank for saltwater fish only, I would still load it with rock to make the fish feel more comfortable, with hiding places and territory for all to frolic about. This is important to the health and sanity of your fish. Remember, fish only doesn't mean ONLY fish with no rocks, as some people believe. I added a Visitherm 150 watt heater and 2 power heads, a MaxiJet 750 and a MaxiJet 500, in the back corners pointing near the front center and a Millennium 2000 power filter and a VisiJet protein skimmer which I don't use all the time and it doesn't clog often since I don't use kalkwasser. I put the MaxiJet 500 on an $8 Intermatic appliance timer from Home Depot that can come on 24 times a day - a poor man's wave-maker which is good for fish only tanks too. I get good surface movement and good variable tank currents. I have recently switched to one Triton and one Blue Moon Reef flourescent tube on my daughter's 55 gallon reef and it looks great! I will only add two more if and when needed.
You could also grow mushroom anemones in your "fish only" tank in the spots with quieter water motion. I would run the skimmer more in a fish only tank, perhaps full time and keep the lighting to just two tubes. Different people have different preferences on non plumbed protein skimmers. Most prefer an HOB (Hang On Back) skimmer because it doesn't give your tank the cluttered look of an in tank skimmer. Skilters also take care of the skimmer and the power filter "with one stone" and so do CPR Backpacks which are nicer and quieter than a Skilter. Most people like The CPR Backpack MUCH better, but it is a bit pricey compared to the humble Skilter. Aquarium systems has just come out with a real nice HOB protein skimmer (SeaClone) which I will evaluate and let you know how it compares to some of the other popular skimmers.
Just two more handy tips before I say goodbye. Once again a Triton plus a Blue Moon is ideal for a fish only tank too. They will make the colors of your fish stand out more brilliantly! And speaking of colors, I've been feeding Vibragro fish food for half of the feedings in my tanks for over a month now and the fish colors are great! It does exactly what it claims!
I think I've nearly maxed out my computer's hard drive space with this one, so it's time to say "so long" (I didn't mean that as a pun.). Remember to send your questions and comments to me in care of Marine Fish Monthly with an SASE and I'll write back - include your phone number and I might be able to call you. My Email address is tommiller@handycoralreef.com if you have internet access. And remember the old copper-banded butterflyfish motto: "An aptaisia a day keeps the doctor away." I can't top that one, so I guess "Alcyonia later".
Tom Miller