Tips on becoming a designer coral collector

reefwars · #1 10-31-2013, 04:57 PM

Well I'm sure the new folks into the coral game wanna know......how do you get them?

Lets hear your tips for beginner collectors on how to achieve their goal, lets hear your story on how you started , how bad the addiction got and where you are now

Game on!!!

Slyguy00 · #2 10-31-2013, 05:00 PM

Haha this should be good. I think if we say how much $ we have into our systems now it will scare away all the new comers

BC564 · #3 10-31-2013, 05:20 PM

are you really sure you want to shock new people this way?

Reef Pilot · #4 10-31-2013, 05:22 PM

Yeah, and you think the real experts are going to give away their secrets??!!...

Here's my newbie story. When we bought our last house, I inherited a 10 year old tank full of softies and some LPS. It was also full of aiptasia, nitrates and phosphates.

So first step was get the tank into shape and get my nitrates and phosphates down to near zero. That actually took about 2 years for me. Of course it didn't help that I didn't know anything about SW. Bio pellets with MB7 took care of the nitrates, and GFO for the phosphates. Pearlscales got rid of the aiptasia.

Then I started with easy SPS, and more LPS. First lesson was turn down my Radion LEDs so I didn't bleach and kill the new frags. Growth took off, and after about 6 months or so, started selling frags to pay for more expensive "designer" frags that I had my eye on.

Now am adding more "deeper water" SPS, and learned that they need even more gentle care, especially with dipping.

And BTW, I dip everything, and with most, break off the frags from their plugs, and remount on new ones. Also, I QT some new corals, and give them more than one dip. My biggest fear is getting some of these nasty bugs, like AEFW in my tank. So far, I have been lucky.

So, yeah, now I am on the hunt for designer corals. Have a few now, and they are looking good. But a long time still before they will be ready for fragging. Of course, my first objective is to have a good looking tank. So at this time, I am only fragging as a result of pruning (some accidental) and making room for other corals.

And that's my story,... and I'm sticking to it....

reefwars · #5 10-31-2013, 05:38 PM

Here's a few:

Keep eyes on the forumns, collectors are always ready to pull the trigger

Know your coral !! Be up to date on what's hot and what's not , know the values and how to buy , sometimes bulk is better than being quick.

Before taking the financial dive make sure you can care for what you buy, I rarely ever lose zoanthids no matter what the species

Keep an arsenal to trade , sometimes collectors arnt interested in cash so having some sway plays a good role

Be prepared to pay more than you think is fair , designer corals can be costly and market value can be tough to swallow sometimes

Will touch on this later when not on my phone

windcoast reefs · #6 10-31-2013, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefwars

Here's a few:

Keep eyes on the forumns, collectors are always ready to pull the trigger

Know your coral !! Be up to date on what's hot and what's not , know the values and how to buy , sometimes bulk is better than being quick.

Before taking the financial dive make sure you can care for what you buy, I rarely ever lose zoanthids no matter what the species

Keep an arsenal to trade , sometimes collectors arnt interested in cash so having some sway plays a good role

Be prepared to pay more than you think is fair , designer corals can be costly and market value can be tough to swallow sometimes

Will touch on this later when not on my phone

That pretty much sums it up for me to!

Snappy · #7 11-03-2013, 07:39 PM

For what it's worth all designer corals start out as just another cool coral somebody has until someone names it and it gets marketed as such.

Proteus · #8 10-31-2013, 05:41 PM

I started with the mixed reef with most of my sps being monties. When I down graded to a smaller tank I was able to sink more money into better equipment and realized that I can't house some corals due to size of tank from there I had to decided sps or lps. I went for sps as I liked the challenge. I started with frags from lfs and found others in area that were into sps and from there we were able to do larger orders from places like reef raft. From there it's complete addiction.
Though I try to be self sufficient with my hobby selling frags and equip to buy the $$$$ pieces.

Spyd · #9 10-31-2013, 05:52 PM

I happened to get lucky.... Very lucky....

Once I decided to get my first SPS to test in my original tank, I responded to an ad on another forum here in Ontario. Turns out I ended up getting them from none other than Darryl (Reefermadness).. You know the one who won TOTM on RC... So, needless to say, my A1 supplier lives 20 minutes away from me and we have become good friends along the way. He has helped me out big time and really answered a ton of questions while I was figuring out the whole SPS route. Definitely owe him for a lot of my success in the hobby and coral selection.

Also, we have the luxury of many, many quality LFS around here that bring in rare pieces. I much prefer tracking which customers get the rare pieces, see if they can successfully keep them, then purchase a frag directly from them. Saves big $$$ than purchasing wild corals and having them die on you. I would rather someone else take the risk and pay them more for a frag if it is doing well than dishing out tons of money to only have a success once in a while.... Wild corals really are a 50/50 gamble.

I would say my success rate for aqua-cultured corals is around 95%. Maricultured... 65% and wild corals 50%... Keep in mind, 80 - 90% of my tank is all aquacultured so you can see just how much easier it is generally to keep aquacultured frags and helps save the coral reefs.

KPG007 · #10 10-31-2013, 05:47 PM

Here are a few of my tips:

1. Know what you are getting into. Don't buy colorful corals just because they are pretty. Know what it takes to keep them happy, know where to place them and have a ton of patience! A small frag will eventually turn into a colony, but it may take 2 or 3 years if not more.
2. Networking. Buying frags from other reefers is the way to go. Wild / maricultured coral can take a long time to acclimate to an enclosed system, and suffer a much higher rate of death (at least in my experience) then coral raised in an enclosed system. Pluses to this are a much better idea as to color, growth and placement, quicker acclimation time, and a person who can tell you their experiences with the coral. Also there can be a substantial savings, as private collectors do not have the overhead that a LFS has. Cons are pests - whats in their tank will soon be in yours. Take Reef Pilots suggestions and dip, dip and dip some more. This may sound like I am bashing the LFS's, not true. Most will buy from local collectors, so check their selection out (they can buy from a much larger variety of collectors). If you insist on a larger colony then the LFS is usually the way to go. Few private collectors offer colonies. You will have to have more patience with the LFS colonies due to the issues stated earlier.
3. This is a long term hobby. You don't need to buy it all at once, so if you want a super rare high end frag, like say a Oregon Tort, you may pay a lot for a small frag, but with a lot of patience you will get what you want. As mentioned earlier, frags will grow into colonies - it just takes time.
4. Be prepared for failure. As many nice colonies I have, I have a sump full of dead ones.

One of the things I like most about this hobby is talking to other reefers and seeing other tanks. Their is a wealth of information and a wealth of beautiful corals - you just have to look for them.

Enjoy!
Kelly