What is your goal?

[gparr]

It seems like a lot of tanks these days are little more than frag plug collections. In my on-going quest to photograph corals in hobbyist aquariums, it's often difficult to find mature or mostly mature reefs. In the past couple of weeks, I've had two experienced reef aquarists comment that they got much more pleasure out of their frag tanks than they did out of their displays. It's interesting to hear this when I'm working to develop two display tanks that are full of mature colonies. To me, it's a sign of success to be able to keep a reef going and stable long enough to grow mature large colonies and cover most of the rock.

What is your goal? Are you working toward a mature reef display? Do you just enjoy fragging and selling? Are you just trying to get to the point where you can be confident new acquisitions will live and haven't thought about a long-term goal? Are you trying to develop some kind of specialized biotope? Tell us where you're headed with your aquariums.

Gary

 

[rarelyseriousb]

mature reef is my long term goal. that why I rarely frag.

 

[ahayes13]

my long term goal will be to have an established and mature tank. however, in order for me to get to that goal and with as little cost spent on corals as possible, then i must frag and trade or trade to my lfs to get other corals which then i put in place on a rock for their home to hopefully grow into a nice colony. so i have several frag racks in my tank to house them til they get traded off for something i dont already have.
i have lots of zoos and palys that i frag and trade in to my lfs which i then purchase other lps, and sps with. these are put into place and wont be fragged unless necessary. usually i do purchase small sps or lps frags (to save money) and also to watch them grow into something nice, which is of course a very enjoyable part of this hobby. to watch your tank grow and mature.

 

[bamachamp92]

My goal is to have a mature colony of all of the le type sps and every sps I see that I like I have aquired a very long list of these corals, but I have a long way to go to colony size

 

[AquaWorldPSC]

My tank is mostly LEs and rare corals so I grow and frag. But down the road i would definitely like a mature reef.

 

[jimmybling31]

eventually mature reef. right now I am just trying to have fun with the frags and I'm setting up a tank that is pretty much just a frag tank with some low light areas for softies and such. I am also working to colonize tons of rock for a larger display. putting it into a seperate part of the same tank.

 

[acronautical]

Wow Jparr, you read my mind. I've been contemplating this topic for months now, but I didn't start my own thread because I wasn't sure if I could articulate my thoughts without setting some fellow reefers off! I concur with your observations of late. Yes, live rock, proper flow, 20k (predominantly) 250s or 400s halides, minimal fish load, big time skimming, etc., etc., have bridged the gap the past 10 years or so-between those who could barely keep cnidarians alive, to many reefers growing all sorts of beautiful corals out. However, as you have aptly stated, it's hard to find very many of these stunning corals (especially echinos, et al) as part of an aesthetically balanced, natural appearing biotope. I suppose if frag-farming or growing out frags of LE-type corals (to covet?) is your bag, then that's fine as well. I am striving, though, to create a little "slice of the Indo-Pacific in my living room. There are no frag racks in my display tank. If I run out of room, I typically give the excess growth to friends or fellow reef addicts.

 

[AquaWorldPSC]

There is no eggcrate in our LE tank, I will try to post a pic if I remember.

 

[JuniorMC8704]

I started about 3 years ago with a small display, and after seeing the BIG tanks on RC decided thats the only way to go for me.

Knowing how expensive it is to run such an enormous system, i decided to take a different approach.

I setup a farm system to take small frags of the best corals i could possibly find/afford and grow them out into display size pieces. (mainly tiny acan frags, which are now 20-30 polyp colonies)

This would give me a chance to hone my skills as a reefer, and keep costs down to a minimum.

I didnt see the sense in spending the big bucks on a huge tank to put super tiny frags in it.

Now i am finally in a position to stock the 300 gallon tank i bought without having it look like a glorified frag tank.

I have run into some headaches with an over crowded tank, but it will soon be rectified.

A full blown mature reef is the only thing for me, and i will also do my part to preserve the worlds reefs by aquaculturing all of my corals for a backup of the mother colony, and for trade for other grade A corals.

 

[aquaman3680]

I think my goal is to have a mature and successful tank while being able to frag out the corals to pay for the supplies I need. I do not want a tank full of frags look but I want to have large enough colonies, or remote colonies, that I can frag off of to sustain this hobby. My tank is getting there slowly but surely!

 

[mrgreenthumb]

my goal is to provide a healthy and hospitable environment for all of the inhabitants of my tank.

 

[Russellaqua]

A nice mature tank. I tend to buy larger pieces and not the LE or AE types. I also try and place things where they'd appear in nature.

 

[blkicebullys]

I think the reason you see mostly frags in tanks are because there is always new corals becoming available. Then people want the new stuff and get rid of the "common" stuff. I know I have changed corals out 4 or 5 times. My ultimate goal is to have a mature reef. But..... I want to have a "rare" mature reef. This is hard to do because of new corals coming out all the time. Then the "rare" coral from last year is common now. I hope all this makes any sense to everyone.