DIY new 100% effective way to grow frags.

Young Frankenstein · Jun 26, 2012

After todays FMAS meeting discussion, simply take some fishing line and hang frags in your aquarium. Away from predators and algae, actually you can have all the algae you want at the bottom

I would like to see someone try this. In a nut shell they tried frags in 3 different ways and hanging them was the fastest and with 100% success, here is some credentials from the speaker and some photos from the meeting.

Here is who grows corals suspended

Zachary Ostroff
Position: Research Assistant, Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center
Laboratory: Coral Reef Restoration, Assessment and Monitoring
Education: B.S. Marine Science â€“ Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
Research: My work focuses on the growth and culture of the staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis. Specifically I am investigating differences between line nursery culture, in which coral fragments are grown suspended in the water column, and more traditional fixed nursery methods where coral fragments are secured to growth plates/pucks. The line nursery I engineered and installed to test these differences has produced material for thousands of fragments, which have already been used for a variety of purposes, including fellow student projects and educational exhibits.

Florida Marine Aquarium SocietyÂ |Â Founded in 1955

Reef Breeders · Jun 26, 2012

Cool idea, now how to hang it, lol

Mike&Terry · Jun 26, 2012

CRF (Coral Restoration Foundation) hangs frags to grow in their nursery. Here's a pic of a coral we adopted:

Saltwatertaylor · Jun 26, 2012

Wow never thought to do that! Thanks for sharing! ( As I run to my frag tank and try hanging them )

landlord · Jun 27, 2012

Unless the tank had uniform laminar flow would it not be like flying a kite in a tornado? How did they work around this issue, aside from mariculture in open water, was it mentioned?

jamesam · Jun 27, 2012

Looks like they are using pretty rigid wire...might be strong enough to prevent the frags from flopping around too much.

Young Frankenstein · Jun 27, 2012

jamesam said:
Looks like they are using pretty rigid wire...might be strong enough to prevent the frags from flopping around too much.

They started using a metal wire plastic covered, and changed over to a heavy fishing line.

jtgordon20 · Jun 30, 2012

Now we need someone on the forum to try this

who wants to give it a try?? Make a new thread and post link here

I would but no frag tank lol

wysiwyg · Jun 30, 2012

very nice ive seen lots of videos and photos of them doing this in florida for the reef restoration initiative. could work in a frag tank also. run some acrylic rods across the top of your frag tanks connected to the bottom via fishing line and magnets

Bluejawtrigger · Jun 30, 2012

Very cool. I might try this, but it'd be in my DT. Haven't set up a frag tank yet. I'm going to try and do some research on it this weekend. I've got more than enough frags, that's for sure. Lol

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Akwarius · Jun 30, 2012

Wonder if it would work for zoas? It would be a nice way to keep detritus from settling in. But mine always seem to do best when well anchored.

FaviaFreak · Jun 30, 2012

been doing this for a longtime at work with acros and it works very good, no energy into encrusting with this method, all the energy and growth is outward and upward

FYI... for fast growing type acros the growth is astronomical

Joe Knows Reefs · Jun 30, 2012

CNN had a short special on a guy doing some of this type farming in the keys and it has been quite successful.

miyags · Jun 30, 2012

wire would be toxic in a closed system. fish line secured from top and weighted at the bottom might work?. growing vertically instead of horizontally.

Young Frankenstein · Jun 30, 2012

FaviaFreak said:
been doing this for a longtime at work with acros and it works very good, no energy into encrusting with this method, all the energy and growth is outward and upward

FYI... for fast growing type acros the growth is astronomical

Could you post some fast growing acros ?