Break even with propagation?

[jafoca]

I hope we can have an open conversation about this without being fearful of moderation, like the discussion similar to this at RC suffers...

But here is the question: has anybody broken even or better with a propagation setup?

I have recently started a prop tank with the hope of eventually breaking even and then using profits to pay for new livestock.

Anyhow, just curious - have you broken even? Tell what costs you are factoring in (electricity, salt, water, setup, etc), and what kinds of stock you are propagating.

I would keep doing it even if I am never going to break even simply because I want to be able to do trades, have another tank for my angler Dr. Evil, and just for the fun of watching stuff grow. I suppose that is the other sort of "profitable" i am referring to with the title...

P.S. - I read about one dude who claims to have made upwards of 3000$ over a period of 9 months running a 15 gallon ghetto DIY rubbermaid prop system... That sounds freakish, but is it unreal?

 

[jafoca]

I really just want fodder to trade with you all! =P

It seems like you have to have stuff to get stuff with the really cool zoos...

 

[vetteman]

my frag tank is to grow the stuff I really like and others would want... not to sell but just to trade..... I do this to get away from work... trying to make $ in my case it would be a great way to ruin my fun...BTW I think you would need a bigger rubbermaid tub....

 

[d.grcich]

P.S. - I read about one dude who claims to have made upwards of 3000$ over a period of 9 months running a 15 gallon ghetto DIY rubbermaid prop system... That sounds freakish, but is it unreal?

I think that guy is getting frag tank and propagation tank confused unless he started out with a 100 frags of PPE'S. I could see making that kind of money fragging but I would have to see for myself what coral grows fast enough to profit that kind of cash-money in 9 months.

 

[surfn]

I think that guy is getting frag tank and propagation tank confused unless he started out with a 100 frags of PPE'S. I could see making that kind of money fragging but I would have to see for myself what coral grows fast enough to profit that kind of cash-money in 9 months.

well, it depends.

you would either have to move a large volume of corals for an average/low price..........

OR

move like 3 packages of LE corals every two months...and you could hit $3g's depending on what they are.


i think moving a large volume of so-so stuff every couple of weeks for a period of 9months looks like borderline commercial.

once a month seems ok, but every week? or every other week? hmmmm.....

 

[surfn]

woah, not sure what happened there....LOL

 

[d.grcich]

Moving large volume of corals is still not a propagation tank. Unless I am confused "and that is usually the case" Propagation is growing the corals not throwing them in a 15gallon container and then selling them. That would be a frag tank. What could you possibly put in a 15 gallon container that would grow 3 grand in profit in 9 months. Pm me the answer because I want to start growing it before everybody else does:hammer:

I guess I am argueing the definition of propagation
"Multiplication or increase, as by natural reproduction."

 

[surfn]

Moving large volume of corals is still not a propagation tank. Unless I am confused "and that is usually the case" Propagation is growing the corals not throwing them in a 15gallon container and then selling them. That would be a frag tank. What could you possibly put in a 15 gallon container that would grow 3 grand in profit in 9 months. Pm me the answer because I want to start growing it before everybody else does:hammer:

there are plenty of LE zoas, lps, and sps frags that are small enough where you could put 50 of them or more in a 15g tank. no problem.

put it this way, as the reef board moderator, if i saw someone moving frag packs on a weekly basis, or bi-weekly basis for 9months, they would be considered as a commercial entity in my eyes, on this forum.

but it would never make it that far without the sponsors complaining, which is well in their right since they have to pay a very small monthly fee to be a sponsor at this site.

 

[jafoca]

...

there are plenty of LE zoas, lps, and sps frags that are small enough where you could put 50 of them or more in a 15g tank. no problem.
...

I guess that is my idea... get good stock to begin with then hopefully sell it on.

Take purple death for example - I bought one polyp. As soon as there are two polyps, and I sell one, the coral will have paid for itself and anything after that will be "profit". According to info on this site, a happy PD will produce at least 2 new polyps a month. So with this coral it seems like profit could be readily made. I hope other rarities I have now will do the same.

Anyhow... I am probably going to try to eventually sell maybe a frag pack every month. That is hardly commercial, but if the packs are good then.. it may be possible with my size tank.

I guess the trick is getting in demand frags to begin with, then hoping the demand for that type stays...

 

[d.grcich]

I guess I can see that.
I just know from my two prop tanks by the time I subtract tank costs, lights, electricity, salt, clean up crew, pumps, filtration, original stock and my Ro/Di membranes I wonder what the heck I was thinking. Let alone turn a profit. As you say though with a bunch of high dollar stock it may be possible to get ahead but will take some time. Unfortunately the only time my tanks see a profit is from fragging wild rocks and not propagation.

 

[d.grcich]

I allso look at it like crack. How many crack dealers who like crack make a profit? Everytime I get ahead I drop the cash on more.

"zoa's--- not crack".

 

[ficklefins]

Anthony Calfo has a reef video where he discusses Coral Farming. He talks about a wide range corals but still interesting none the less.

www.reefvideos.com

 

[patedship]

Jafoca - really unless you do not want things to grow into nice colonies I would not be fragging down my pieces. Right now I have a 20 gallon prop tank it has well over $3000 worth of stuff in it, but if I was to frag it down there would be basically nothing and I have waited so long for these things to grow out it wouldnt be practical in my eyes. Just do what I do man, once your purple death grows into two take the new polyp frag it and put it into your frag tank. Then you will have a colony that can begin to grow in your display while you will now have a polyp that can start to grow into more in your prop then you can just frag your frag tank frag of the PD down to one while you will still be making money off of it but never losing it as the base to your money scheme. (using the term scheme loosely)

This is what I do at swap and I believe is a very sufficent way of selling frags and keeping a beautiful display tank.

Also, trading is in my eye the best way to get new frags. No money transaction is needed to get ahead in this hobby.

 

[jendub]

You need to break down the cost of running your system and everything and see how much it would take in propagated corals to break even/profit. Some make a killing and others are in the whole, it really depends on what goes into the system.

Also, remember that it takes money to make money. A lot of my first profit went into getting my stock/mother colonies and it was not cheap.

Keep it small at first and pick stuff that can reproduce in a timely fashion. That is the best advice I can give.=)

 

[reefboy]

ill probly never break even if you figured the cost of me learning the hard way over the past twenty years lol but im slowly gaining on my investment in my coral propagation and new site but honestly you cant do it on a small system and just selling cultured frags ethier.The majority on my site are all cultured frags but i sell alot of wild colony's localy to clients and i also think you need a minium 1000gal system to really be able to hold and grow the amounts corals you need to make a profit in the past my system was only 500 gal and i didnt make any profit untill i upgraded to 1200 and got the site going and other things fell into place im slowy showing a profit but i got aways to go before im in the black.

 

[fishes2889]

I dont really think you can break even without time on your side (you've been doing this forever), a big butt system, and doing wholesale at the same time. I think it has to be 50/50 to break even. (wholesale/propogating) JMO

Steve

 

[jafoca]

Jafoca - really unless you do not want things to grow into nice colonies I would not be fragging down my pieces. Right now I have a 20 gallon prop tank it has well over $3000 worth of stuff in it, but if I was to frag it down there would be basically nothing and I have waited so long for these things to grow out it wouldnt be practical in my eyes. Just do what I do man, once your purple death grows into two take the new polyp frag it and put it into your frag tank.

Ship: I am doing basically the same thing except in reverse. I put new bought frags into the prop tank (where I can monitor them easily), and then my plan is to put the first propagated pieces into my display. Sofar I have like 15 frags of zoos that I plan on seeding into my display as soon as some growth happens. That will be the exciting part! I want a zoa garden!

Jendub - thanks for the encouragement. I am a college student and it is easy for me to ignore the actual costs of things for the time being, so I will be keeping my system running for at least the next year. I am very excited about it...

There are some kinks that need working out, but as soon as I deem myself successful at actually fraging the zoas, and can spread them out to some more plugs, I should be good to go!

 

[d.grcich]

Best of luck man! Take pictures and keep us updated on your progress.

 

[patedship]

You know if you need some frags I am just an hour away.. I am very interested in trading so lets do something to diversify your tank.

 

[Stixbaraca]

I don't know about breaking even, or turning a profit...but I have gotten some much needed hardware upgrades from fragging some of my nicer colonies and selling the frags. I don't have a frag tank...but we all have displays that need pruning from time to time!