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Rack farming in reef aquariums is the method we use to produce large numbers of corals in 55 gallon aquariums. This method uses stacked rows of plastic shelves with 1" holes drilled in them to hold tapered concrete plugs with corals attached to them.
This tank has 5 racks full of small polyp |
This method of growing cuttings has several advantages.
Getting Started
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| These two coral heads have been cut several times. the frags are grown out on the plugs in this tank. We are able to recut the coral head several times each year. The frags are started on the lowest rack , and they are then moved up step by step, This is a very good way to adjust them to stronger light. |
Research Racks
We have developed several types of racks to hold the plugs. Tha simplest one consists of 19" pieces of 3/8" plexiglass 3" wide. These racks are drilled so they have two rows of 1" holes in them. A simple plexiglass frame is made to support these racks 4 inches under water in a reef aqarium. You can place one of these racks on each side of a 55 gallon aquarium. This simple system will hold about fifty plugs. Four layers of these racks will fit in a standard four foot lomg 55 gallon tank. This system will grow out 200 cuttings in each tank.
You can make reef safe plugs from #3 portland cement. This type of cement is used to make bridges that will contact road salt. You will have to special order a bag in most cities. The plugs are formed in small paper cups. -NOTE FROM LEROY- Find your paper cups before you drill all of your holes. After the plugs are dry they should be soaked in hot white vinager for 24 hours. Rinse the cured plugs in running hot tap water for 5 minutes.
Attaching Corals
Most corals can be attached with Super glue. Branching Soft Corals, Mushrooms, and Gorgonians require other methods of attachment. These types of problem corals are explained on the pages listed below. I will be adding data to this article several times each week for the rest of this semester. I will mark the newest parts so you can find them.
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Date: Mon, 23 Dec 96 09:34 To: leroy@garf.org Subject: Xenia PropagationDear Garf,
Thank you for putting a free coral propagation workshop on the web. I
had my corals almost growing out of my aquarium (actually the fire coral
did!) and had to do something to spead them out. Your webpage was
very informative and taught me other techniques besides the typical
rubber bands technique and has produced spectacular results.
Now for the good stuff: I purchased a single specimen of Pom Pom
Xenia that over the last 5 months has grown from a single colony and
inch tall to over 24 pom-poms! These have grown so well that I've had to
continually 'thin out' the clusters. (I believe that this is the key to why
they have grown so well and have yet to crash out like other people
have reported.)
The easiest way I have found to propagate this coral is
to use a razor blade to trim off the taller pom-poms and thin out the
colony. By trimming the corals in this way and placeing them between
two rocks, the corals will attach w/in two or three days. One of the best
rocks to hold down these corals is to use a broken piece of 'Plate coral.'
The shape of the skeleton firmly holds the coral in place but has a small
surface area that forces the coral to attach to the larger base-rock.
Then in a few days hold the pom pom so it will NOT separate from the
base rock and carefully pull off the plate coral.
Propagation by this manner is a much reliable method than just placing
base rocks next to the xenia. This method removes the problems of
large rock placement in an already established reef and the annoyance
of the placed rock shifting or falling away from the xenia.
Question:
I purchased a piece of absolutely undamaged blue Acropora millepora,
but because it was so branched the base seemed to be shaded no
matter how I positioned the colony. I was afraid of the base bleaching
and tissue recession, so I removed some of the lower braches and
superglued them to base rock using your techniques.
My question is
this: Will the exposed skeleton eventually be covered with new growth
or is this area dead for good? Should I treat the exposed parts with
anything? The polyps around the cut area are out and the area is free of
alge. (I have heard of people putting superglue over the cut areas to
slow down the growth of algae.)
This is my fisrt experience with SPS corals (I had soft coral for over 3
years now,) and your webpage gave me the confidence to trim the arms
off of an exquisite coral (even though it did break my heart!) Hopefully, I
will have 5 more corals in the near future beacuse of this.
Thank you very much,
Mike Christesen Date: Thu, 02 Jan 97 09:48 To: leroy@garf.org Subject: Re: Xenia Propagation -ReplyLeRoy,
Of course you may use the message/info I sent you on propagation of
Pom-Pom Xenia. (Sorry I haven't written earlier but I was on vacation.)
Update on the Acropora sp. (probably millipora): You were right! The
exposed skeleton stayed free of alge and after a week I could see small
polyps (they were transparent.) Now after two weeks, the area is
growing tissue and is slowly coloring up.
Does the tissue regrow the
broken area first and then color up with symbiotic alge and pigments?
This is what seems to be happening. The center of the broken area has
grown a calcium structure that resembles the tip of the other branches
(axial bud??) This coral is also becoming more pigmented: I went form
being a brown with a blue sheen to a green coloration on the base, with
the branches still being a blue/green.
LeRoy, I would be very interested in trading the Pom-Pom xenia for SPS
corals. I currently have about 15 cuttings that I am trading with others.
I dont know if your interested but I also have a Fire Coral (from the
Atlantic) that is growing on the back wall of the aquarium and has since
gorwn above the water line where its barely kept moist. Also, I have
Golden Crown Coral (Sarcophyton) that naturally propagated over 14
times while being kept in a 10gal reef I had in college (Im now a
Boichemist.) The neat thing about this coral was that it continued to
divide even while being transported between Iowa University and
Chicago where I live between semesters. Very hardy.
I already have a stryo box and heat packs, but I have never sent
anything live through the mail. If you are still interested in these corals, I
am going to need you to 'walk me through' but since I live 10 min from
Ohare Airport there should be no problem.
Thanks for responding to my email message, Mike Christesen
Date: Mon, 06 Jan 97 08:33 To: leroy@garf.org Subject: Re: Xenia Propagation -Reply -Reply
LeRoy,
The Xenia are all doing fine! I love it when I can cut off a Pom-Pom and
then a few weeks later the base of the removed polyp starts growing
polyps again! After four or six weeks the new polyp is really to be
removed again!
I do have one question about some of the Acropora I have receintly
purchased. They were a tan/beige color but otherwise had no damage
to the branches or base. I have had these corals in my aquarium for
about a week and they seem to be getting lighter in color, but Im not sure
they are bleaching. When lighted by a 250W 6500K MH they seem
whiter but when the light is off and the room light is on, they seem to
have a purple/blue sheen to it. This is the best way I can describe it.
In
your opinion are they just adapting to the new light conditions or are they
bleaching? I am not sure what species they are but their polyps are not
as many and they do not extend as far as the Acropora millipora that is
also in the tank.
I have placed two layers of eggcrate to diffuse out the light a bit so that
the coral will have a chance to adapt, but it is still brightly lit. Was this the
right thing to do? (They are placed near the center of the tank and at the
top, so the light is VERY intense.)
The Acropora millepora cuttings are starting to grow down onto the base
rock and have their polyps out even during the day! It was brown when
first purchased and is getting a green sheen to their bases and the upper
branches.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Christesen
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 97 09:05
To: leroy@garf.org
Subject: Shading on the base of Acropora
LeRoy,
I wrote you earlier to describe my Brown Acropora that was originally
brown, which under my MH lights became blue/green. Well I have
another question about this coral. (This is the same specimen that I
originally pruned off the bottom branches because the base seemed
shaded in any position I placed it.)
The pruned areas are growing nicely and the cuttings all have a ring of
new growth connecting them to the base rock!
However, I did notice that a VERY tiny area of the base, under one of the
larger branches (on the side that is opposite the light) had a SMALL area
where the tissue had died. This was a 1/8" by 1/4" area.
I chipped off this area along with some of the living tissue in an effort to stop the recession. How can I stop this from happening again? I really could not cut off more branches cause the brach above the dead spot is a major (ie. thick) branch of the colony. Im not sure whats in store for this dead area...any advice?
The main reason for this loss of tissue (I believe) is that lighting in an aquarium is fixed so certain areas receive all or most of the light; while in nature the sun rises and sets, letting different areas of the coral receive more light throughout the day.
Corals grow in response to their lighting
conditions, so when we pull the coral out of the ocean and keep it under
artifical conditions, certain areas may not receive enough light and die.
Do you agree with this?
Using the above statement, this would also explane why fragments may
do better in aquariums and why their growth forms look different from
the parent colony.
Thanks again,
Mike
PS The Acropora that I wrote to you concerning bleaching are doing great! The last layer of eggcrate came off and the corals are full heads without any dead areas, also (and this is the best part,) the upper branches have turned a blue/purple!
Thanks for your help!
(PPS If you ever need a Reef-nut whose trained as a Biochemist at the
foundation, let me know...my day job is boring compared to this!)
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 97 08:57
To: leroy@garf.org
Subject: Re: Shading on the base of Acropora -Reply
>(PPS If you ever need a Reef-nut whose trained as a Biochemist at the
>foundation, let me know...my day job is boreing compared to this!)
>
>What do you do at your job?
LeRoy,
Currently I am working as a chemist in Illinois.
(It is very difficult to find work as a Biochemist in my area, although I did
work at Abbott Labs as a temp.) While in college I studied Biochemisty
and graduated with Honors. During this time I basically took a human
gene and placed it in E.coli bacteria. This gene was then mtated and the
different sized (based on weight) mutations were screened for activity
from this gene. The first half of the project worked heavily with DNA
(lots of restriction enzymes and gels...most of my work looked like the
evidence you see on court cases involving paternity suites.) The last
part of my research worked more with the expressed proteins
themselves.
One of the reasons (for me) why corals are so facinating is that the symbiotic relationship with their dinoflagellates must be heavily regulated by emzymes that are still unstudied. Many pharmcutical companies are searching the rain forests while the coral reef is largely ignored. Yet, it has been discovered that Sarcophyton leather corals do produce anti-cancer compounds.
Unfortunately, to get work like this in the private sector requires a PhD and even after so much schooling the pay is still horrible. However, I still enjoy my hobby more than anything else and would like to have this type of work for a living. Through fragmentation/propagation, I may be able to make enough money (or trade) that I can actually begin to break even or possibly even profit from the sale of corals!
I have already incorporated my own company w/o the use of a lawyer (saved Big $$$) and have contacted wholesalers in CA, who route/direct ship corals from Tonga. I already have a few retail pet stores who are interested in purchasing my products. (The combination rocks are a great idea and what I am starting with first.) Most retailers just buy their stock from the local area wholesaler who only has Jakarta corals and even these are poor quality. They really light up when I describe yellow leathers with purple mushrooms all on the same rock!
There is even a quarry/landscape rock Co. in town that has lava rock for just 4-8 cents/lb. I just have one question about the growth of coraline alge on base rock (after I glue a fleck of alge to the rock)....How long does it take in your system to get good growth over the rocks surface?
I have most of my cuttings in a 20gal that originally came from my 55gal. These tanks have been running for about two years. The coraline algae really started it growth spurt in the last six months. I am also setting up a new 75gal for this venture and am worried that the coraline will take too long to start growing.
Besides this...Im ready to go!
Thanks for asking...Its fun talking about this stuff.
Mike
Materials
Tools
Instructions
Drill two holes in aragonite to give the Decorator Rock a higher value. Be careful to not break the rock by trying to drill faster than the bit can go.
Glue the gold crown soft coral to the rock with the super glue.
Glue the cuttings from green star colony one inch from the gold crown soft coral
Glue the inch pieces of broken Fiji live rock to the aragonite so that they will be exposed to the light. The small rock has to be glued with the coralline touching the aragonite. The coralline will spread onto the other rock.
Place the rock in the bottom of a grow out tank and move it up each week for four weeks. Finish the rock at the top of the reef for four weeks. take the rock to your favorite reef store and trade it for a large Zoanthid colony. Bring one half of the Zoanthid colony to the next class and give to your teacher :) MORE SOON LeRoy
