Alpha Aquaculture Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 wow congrats on the first hatch! pretty soon you'll be able to do this in your sleep. hehe Thanks Eric! I can't wait to get some sleep. 9am-1:30am today! Gonna go home soon... but first I've got a clown to show off Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 One of the best I've ever seen! This clown is a rockstar!!! Link to comment
mmcguffi Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 damn. very nice. Im still waiting for the all-blue clownfish though Link to comment
Evanski9 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I lost my platinum today :/ maybe I need to get one from alpha to make me smile again ? Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I really like your system! I think I will give it a try down the line but on a smaller scale, more for growing and fragging. Maybe I skipped something but you said the next set of raceways will have 3 holes, by that did you mean 3 overflow holes? I'm still trying to understand the concept of flow in one of these. Lol Right now you have one hole, so by adding more exit holes, you get faster flow through the system because more water is exiting? But if there is only one return wouldn't that determine how much flow is going through the system? Unless by adding more holes for faster flow, you increase the pump sizes to pump more water? Very discombobulating. Either way, I like your system set up and I'm sure it will become popular as people start to take a look at it. For a small set up, would 2 tanks work? I'm thinking a full raceway for the top, and then a half raceway for the bottom to allow for a built in sump. And what happens when a fish goes down the drainage? Don't know if you have had a problem with that yet. lol A bit long, but its just a very efficient setup and can be quite a display tank at the same time Link to comment
smitty_1280 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I love that clown. Very nice looking fish. Are you keeping it to breed? Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 damn. very nice. Im still waiting for the all-blue clownfish though Thanks! All blue will be a while prob 6-10 years before you start to see them regularly. I'm working on some blue projects right now. I'm thinking there will be clowns with a lot of blue in the next 4 years. Hopefully I love the blue Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted December 31, 2011 Author Share Posted December 31, 2011 I lost my platinum today :/ maybe I need to get one from alpha to make me smile again ? Sorry to hear about your platinum. What happened? Let me know what your interested in and I'll make sure you get something very special. I have hundreds of cherry picked designers that are not on my site yet Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Just cleaned 5 of my broodstock tanks... man are these clowns getting aggressive! My hands are bit up. What are you guys wearing on your hands with aggressive clowns? Link to comment
howie1son Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 When will you have corals for sale? Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 When will you have corals for sale? I'm hoping to begin offering some frags within the next month. I have some that are very close to ready right now. I have one chalice that I'm super excited about that was completely fragged and is healing nicely. A pink body yellow eye and yellow rim chalice Right now I'm in the process of purchasing at least 2000 ceramic frag disks from Oceans Wonders. We have taken a lil over 325 frags so far out of my hobby tank and there are probably another 1000-1400 that can be taken. By that time we will have to frag the frags that have already been taken. We are also getting up all the lights for these corals. I ordered 100 ATI t5 bulbs which should be here any day. I did the math two nights ago we will be able to have 8000 frags here and hope to harvest over 12000 per year minimally. If all goes well we will never be involved in the buying and reselling of wild corals or wild coral frags. I'm keeping an open mind to it but I hope to keep this as sustainable as possible. Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 I really like your system! I think I will give it a try down the line but on a smaller scale, more for growing and fragging. Maybe I skipped something but you said the next set of raceways will have 3 holes, by that did you mean 3 overflow holes? I'm still trying to understand the concept of flow in one of these. Lol Right now you have one hole, so by adding more exit holes, you get faster flow through the system because more water is exiting? But if there is only one return wouldn't that determine how much flow is going through the system? Unless by adding more holes for faster flow, you increase the pump sizes to pump more water? Very discombobulating. Either way, I like your system set up and I'm sure it will become popular as people start to take a look at it. For a small set up, would 2 tanks work? I'm thinking a full raceway for the top, and then a half raceway for the bottom to allow for a built in sump. And what happens when a fish goes down the drainage? Don't know if you have had a problem with that yet. lol A bit long, but its just a very efficient setup and can be quite a display tank at the same time Thank you very much! The Raceway v2 will have 3 holes for overflows, the v1 only had 1 hole. I added the extra holes to the design so I could experiment with more flow. You can just add a larger return pump and the tank will not overflow onto the ground it will overflow into the next tank (the 3 overflow holes can keep up with the pump). The sweet part about raceways is that the interior walls direct and concentrate flow. I've got three 8 foot x 2 foot raceway tanks in each system that don't have any pumps in them. The entire system is powered by a Reeflo Dart. Thats impossible with any other type of system. Efficiency of flow! Plus because there are no powerheads or pumps, there are no spots of higher flow that corals can't handle. When I first setup this style I was worried that the flow would all be linear but its surprisingly turbulent. Because these tanks can handle more flow I'm planning on experimenting with some surge flow also but all in good time lol. You could have one raceway, two, or my dream is to have 10+ hooked up to one pump and have some of the middle ones and end ones be filtration so all the waste doesn't have to travel through all 10+. This would take very precise overflows and tank heights but it is possible. Imagine 10 - 8 foot tanks with one Reeflo Dart! Ha! On the opposite side of this idea you could build a mini raceway, say 8" wide x 12" long x 2" tall to sit in/slightly above your sump to use as an Algal Turf Scrubber, grow turf algae in a thin film of water and have interior walls to direct and concentrate flow. So many possibilities As for the fish question. Its funny I answered your questions today. Just today we removed all fish from the Raceway v2. If one fish was getting picked on and weaker it would get stuck against the overflow screen and that's bad news. I had a bunch of jumpers due to it being shallow and not having screens on it yet (Raceway v1 has screens). The Raceway v1 still has some clowns in it but they are larger and the flow is less. I won't be adding any more fish to Raceway v2 for a while until we get it fish proof. All in all these raceways are not made for fish although with lower flow and proper screens to keep fish from jumping and going into the overflow, fish can and will do very well in them. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want! If you decide to build one please keep in touch and show it off I love that clown. Very nice looking fish. Are you keeping it to breed? Thanks! Me too!!! I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'm keeping 'Rockstar' For now I'm enjoying his company. Link to comment
howie1son Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Ah Nice!! You going to be selling just chalices and acans? Or are you going to do different zoos and shrooms and other stuff? I got to get to Madison and see this mecca of an aquaculture facility!! Link to comment
basicfisherman Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I live in Wisconsin also. If I ordered from you would I be able to get a cheaper shipping due to the fact I'm about a 5-6 drive at most from you? Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Here's what we are up to today at Alpha Corals Got in an egg laying pair of Mandarins! They are going in the Aiptasia culture tank. Max was target feeding the corals. We are now target feeding every frag twice a day, everyday! I'm breaking down the hatching tank from our first ever set of Alpha Corals hatched clownfish and acclimating them to the big hatching system. Babies into specimen container... Used this artemia sieve to catch them. It worked great! This is why I moved them. Ammonia :/ The big hatching system is 400+g and I can adjust the recirculation so no more ammonia probs Here is the old basic 5.5g hatching tank and everything ready to transfer. Link to comment
oceancube Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 looks good kris, be verycareful transferring those fry with any type of net, usually you want to siphon them or even collect them with a cup,netting is harsh on the little guys,,,just a pointer thats all,,,good luck with the mandrins! Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 looks good kris, be verycareful transferring those fry with any type of net, usually you want to siphon them or even collect them with a cup,netting is harsh on the little guys,,,just a pointer thats all,,,good luck with the mandrins! I know I was thinking about using one of the finer nets but I had a feeling it woulda got ugly... after finding the seive I forgot I had around I was much happier and it worked well but your right next time gotta just siphon them. I bet going through the tube at full speed is quite a shake up for them as well. Always appreciate a heads up! Thank you and thank you!!! Link to comment
rrcg50 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 One of the best I've ever seen! This clown is a rockstar!!! I have a whyoming white that would love his company. Link to comment
FishEyeAquaculture Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Mandarins look great Kris!! Make sure they have some mysis shrimp to graze on! Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have a whyoming white that would love his company. Sounds like a plan! Just send that WW over to Wisconsin Its from Wyoming prob would feel more at home in ice cube Wisconsin anyway Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Mandarins look great Kris!! Make sure they have some mysis shrimp to graze on! Thanks Johnathan! I've been thawing and then siphoning off the frozen phosphate water and then letting them settle near their grazing area. When did you say you fed them again? And I remember you let them graze all night without your airstone off right? Link to comment
FishEyeAquaculture Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks Johnathan! I've been thawing and then siphoning off the frozen phosphate water and then letting them settle near their grazing area. When did you say you fed them again? And I remember you let them graze all night without your airstone off right? Funny, I was just getting ready to PM you and ask how they were doing. Set up a little bare spot in the aquarium for them to feed, I would soak some hikari and/or PE mysis in Selcon and/or ViatChem then place it on the bottom for them to find twice a day...morning and evening (about two hours before lights out. Are you keeping them on a steady light schedule? The reason you turn off airstones and pumps is to collect their eggs! Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 About to post some crazy pics of what we were up to today.... Link to comment
Alpha Aquaculture Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 Its a zoo in here!!! Just got the stands today right in the middle of applying epoxy. The stands are a great place to let the epoxy cure for the next week! It took two days to painter tape all the edges, then it will be two days to epoxy. That's 4 days for these 40 tanks and there is 80 for this job! Thankfully Brian is running the show!!! Another one side of one tank done! Thanks Brian!!! I foresee some plumbing in the near future Link to comment
oceancube Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 looking good kris! man yall have luck drilling those tanks, i cant get one tank under 29gallons drilled around here , especially the bottom.. oh well ill stick to acrylic for now, anyways yeah awsome job and can't wait to see them filled with nice clowns!! Link to comment
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