You've got $500 where to buy sps frags?

[masterbuilder]

Hummm... I know of more than a couple that have aquacultured SPS that are many years old. Your are right that there are some that hack up wild corals ..... but its not to hard too spot and avoid chop shops.

 

For instance, ORA is one of the big ones that everyone knows and it has corals that have been growing in captivity for over 10 years. They also sell maricultured corals from the Marshall Islands but they make it very clear that they are just that.

 

I still say.... wild at your own risk. Hard to keep alive much less retain any colors.

[hey]

true to an extent. If your system doesn't meet the requirements of that pieces then you may lose regardless if a frag or full colony. Compared to a small frag, you can frag a colony into multiple pieces and those will be backups in case one piece RTNs. As for pests, just dip and quarantine. It also helps to remove the base rock if it has one. I would rather lose multiple parts of a colony, having backups than to pay the same amount on a small frag which is the only one I have and lose it. B.L.U.F.F. - most of the frags from online are chop shop pieces.

 

heres on of the articles I think I read a while back on the subject, I just found this quote to be specifically interesting to the subject of buying a colony.

 

"Assuming for a moment a large colony shows up in one piece, the last major problem is the shape of the colony itself. A bird’s nest will grow quickly to a particular shape to maximize the flow it was receiving in its previous home. The flow patterns in the new aquarium may not be well suited for its given shape. This manifests in the coral decaying from the inside where it was not receiving enough water motion"- http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/beginner-sps-coral-seriatopora-birds-nest-1084/

[ReviloM]

heres on of the articles I think I read a while back on the subject, I just found this quote to be specifically interesting to the subject of buying a colony.

 

"Assuming for a moment a large colony shows up in one piece, the last major problem is the shape of the colony itself. A bird’s nest will grow quickly to a particular shape to maximize the flow it was receiving in its previous home. The flow patterns in the new aquarium may not be well suited for its given shape. This manifests in the coral decaying from the inside where it was not receiving enough water motion"- http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/beginner-sps-coral-seriatopora-birds-nest-1084/

I stated it was true. But that statement applies to frags(mari/aquaculture) as well. If the flow and conditions aren't met, it will RTN. Low flow creates brittle like growth and in high flow, it will severely damage the frag or colony. High flow will produce thicker growth but in low flow it may not be adequate enough and will causes areas blocked by the thick growth to RTN away.

[hey]

I stated it was true. But that statement applies to frags(mari/aquaculture) as well. If the flow and conditions aren't met, it will RTN. Low flow creates brittle like growth and in high flow, it will severely damage the frag or colony. High flow will produce thicker growth but in low flow it may not be adequate enough and will causes areas blocked by the thick growth to RTN away.

 

Yeh I was just trying to give the claim somewhat of a backing is all, not exactly sure how credible the source is but I find posting sources to where I find my random bits of info trapped in my head to be somewhat more helpful to anyone following the thread lol.

[jservedio]

He is then very limited on sps. Only VERY FEW online retailers actually have true aquacultured pieces. Most sell maricultured pieces and say it is in their growout. You won't know because it is chopped down and glued. I can't count on my hands how many vendors I have seen that say they are selling pieces that they have in their grow-out (mother colony pic) but I saw the exact same sps with the same shape on a wholesaler's daily/weekly list either the same week or the prior week.

 

False - absolutely false. Yes, there are a lot of chop shops, but there are many great honest places and it is easy to find them, talk to them, see their operations, and listen to them speak.

 

There are a ton of places that sell truly aqua cultured corals and have amazing reputations. Unique Coral is definitely one of the best, but Battle Corals, Joe Knows, WWF, and Live Aquaria (in the aquaculture DD category) all have awesome selections of truly aquacultured corals.

 

Not a single one of the 28 acros I have in my systems is maricultured or wild caught - every single one is aquacultured. If you actually care about what you are buying and take the time to talk to the vendor on the phone or go see their facility, it isn't very difficult at all.

 

If you have any doubts or are skeptical, then buy ORA stuff on the black plug and you know 100% where they are coming from. Every vendor I buy from will explicitly say where they came from - in fact UC has separate mari and aquaculture categories like DD does.

 

Buying small colonies from fellow reefers is best, but buying colonies from the LFS means buying maricultured pieces at best, wild caught at worst and you don't know what you are getting. If you buy a frag 1", it'll grow to your tank and in a year you will have a nice small colony that is the exact size that a small mari from the LFS.

 

If you can't wait a year for a small colony, then you really aren't an acro keepr. A year is nothing in this hobby - do it right from the get go. Plus, aquacultured pieces look better 95% of the time anyway and make you much more money when you frag them.

[ReviloM]

False - absolutely false. Yes, there are a lot of chop shops, but there are many great honest places and it is easy to find them, talk to them, see their operations, and listen to them speak.

 

There are a ton of places that sell truly aqua cultured corals and have amazing reputations. Unique Coral is definitely one of the best, but Battle Corals, Joe Knows, WWF, and Live Aquaria (in the aquaculture DD category) all have awesome selections of truly aquacultured corals.

 

Not a single one of the 28 acros I have in my systems is maricultured or wild caught - every single one is aquacultured. If you actually care about what you are buying and take the time to talk to the vendor on the phone or go see their facility, it isn't very difficult at all.

 

If you have any doubts or are skeptical, then buy ORA stuff on the black plug and you know 100% where they are coming from. Every vendor I buy from will explicitly say where they came from - in fact UC has separate mari and aquaculture categories like DD does.

 

Buying small colonies from fellow reefers is best, but buying colonies from the LFS means buying maricultured pieces at best, wild caught at worst and you don't know what you are getting. If you buy a frag 1", it'll grow to your tank and in a year you will have a nice small colony that is the exact size that a small mari from the LFS.

 

If you can't wait a year for a small colony, then you really aren't an acro keepr. A year is nothing in this hobby - do it right from the get go. Plus, aquacultured pieces look better 95% of the time anyway and make you much more money when you frag them.

You miss the part where I said VERY FEW. Even so, the aquacultured section on some of them are small. Aside from ORA, Liveaquaria-DD, and UniqueCorals which promote aquacultured, most of the other facilities offer mainly maricultured as their stock list. I happen to know where Joe Knows Reefs and WWC get their sps from. I can watch the wholesaler list and drop the image the same day they post up a "new release" if I wanted to prove a point. Also, most of these vendors sell ORA, so it still is a cycle of the aquacultured sticks coming from the VERY FEW facilities that offer aquacultured.

 

 

Where'd you get your sps from? I guarantee I can spot the maricultured ones based on where you bought.

 

Buying frags vs mini colonies doesn't make you a pro sps keeper. Your logic behind that proves how many opinions you read from the forums and adopt it. I would give more props to a true sps keeper who can take any sps no matter a frag or colony and grow it out to a magnificent piece in his/her tank. With maricultured and wild being the harder to keep that is the ultimate challenge when keeping sps. It's not always about pests because you can simply inspect, dip and quarantine to get rid of that.

 

 

Most of the rainbow pieces from RR, SC, CC, J Fox, Cornbred, and other big vendors are maricultured/wild pieces. Most people will spend bill money just for those colorful sticks which I haven't seen many aquacultured pieces to look better than the original mother colony. Your fake % needs to be re-evaluated.

[Cameron6796]

Glenn np just recently mentioned he got some good SPS in that he will be fragging this was about 2 months ago maybe ask if any things ready.

[jservedio]

You miss the part where I said VERY FEW. Even so, the aquacultured section on some of them are small. Aside from ORA, Liveaquaria-DD, and UniqueCorals which promote aquacultured, most of the other facilities offer mainly maricultured as their stock list. I happen to know where Joe Knows Reefs and WWC get their sps from. I can watch the wholesaler list and drop the image the same day they post up a "new release" if I wanted to prove a point. Also, most of these vendors sell ORA, so it still is a cycle of the aquacultured sticks coming from the VERY FEW facilities that offer aquacultured.

 

 

Where'd you get your sps from? I guarantee I can spot the maricultured ones based on where you bought.

 

Buying frags vs mini colonies doesn't make you a pro sps keeper. Your logic behind that proves how many opinions you read from the forums and adopt it. I would give more props to a true sps keeper who can take any sps no matter a frag or colony and grow it out to a magnificent piece in his/her tank. With maricultured and wild being the harder to keep that is the ultimate challenge when keeping sps. It's not always about pests because you can simply inspect, dip and quarantine to get rid of that.

 

 

Most of the rainbow pieces from RR, SC, CC, J Fox, Cornbred, and other big vendors are maricultured/wild pieces. Most people will spend bill money just for those colorful sticks which I haven't seen many aquacultured pieces to look better than the original mother colony. Your fake % needs to be re-evaluated.

 

Every piece in my tank came from either fellow reefers with pieces that have been in their systems for years, UC, BC or DD. I am very careful not to buy mariculture pieces. I don't consider pieces from JFox, RR, CC, etc. that have been in peoples systems for multiple generations mariculture.

 

Every vendor - including all the ones I mentioned above get mariculture pieces in. What they do with them after they arrive is what sets them apart.

 

And I didn't say anything about not being a "pro" - I simply said if you can't wait a year and have to have a big colony "now", especially so in a nano, you probably shouldn't be keeping these corals.

[Paandemonium]

Most vendors get an imported piece, grow it a little/ color it up/ inspect/ dip and then frag, heal and release it. The amount that actually aquaculture is verrryyyy small in comparison. Just because the colony isn't on the little mariculture disk doesn't mean it's not maricultured.

I have to agree on the small frag thing, I prefer them over larger colonies any day. They're easier to keep, you can see the growth and if you have a pest you can dip easily and inexpensively. Places like RR are guilty of the chop shop mentality where they don't even let the piece color up before they ship it and everyone that receives a frag gets a browned out pencil eraser frag(cough could jawbreaker acro).

If I were gonna drop cash on acros Id go to events like Reefapalooza or CoralCon and buy things you can actually see in person

[atrox]

So I've decided to do multiple orders from diff vendors. Acros, a clam, and some zoas. I'll keep you posted on the outcomes and post pics of the new arrivals!

[markalot]

What about SPS?

 

Sorry to link to another forum, but look at this thread: http://3reef.com/threads/rickys-120-stony-coral-garden.107406/

 

He's got a lot of good SPS, he NAMES them in most pics, and you can see both the progression and what many of them look like when browned out. If only every SPS tank thread could be like that one life would be good. He has a false start so you might want to start at the end and move back.

[Neto]

If you are going to spend $500 in sps coral, make sure you know what you are doing

[RollaJase]

Cairns Marine :wub:

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