I am a reef keeper, living in Sydney, with a passion for propagating coral. My goal is to acquire and propagate those species most suitable to home aquaria. To this end I'm offering my aquacultured coral for sale or trade.

about propagation

I operate a 2000L system distributed across about a dozen tanks, ponds, and trays. I'm always building new systems and tearing down old ones, looking for better ways to produce more coral. I use a variety of fluorescent and metal halide lamps, 140, 250 and 400 watt, and colour temperatures, 14000K, 10000K and 6500K.

I replenish calcium by drip fed kalkwasser, an inexpensive saturated calcium hydroxide solution, and an occasional dose of sodium bicarbonate as needed.

Propagation is by division, an asexual form of reproduction, and many species of coral are amiable to this technique. I mount my corals on frag plugs, marble chip or the like. I do not propagate onto live rock as Corals, Zoanthids and Corallimorphs tend to grow quicker on a clean surface, and I wish to distinguish my aqucultured coral from wild coral.

frag tanks

	Here's a view of some of my coral propagation facilities. Six ponds and a couple of tanks. I've a few more systems but they won't fit in the photo. The systems are all quite basic, good light, clean water and good current. Calcium feed is via kalkwasser drip, on a float valve.
	This system is used to grow Zoanthids with a 400 watt MH in 10000K. Current is provided by two 1000L / hour powerheads and two buckets rigged as Carlson surge devices, delivering 20L of surge each before refilling. Two buckets makes the surges random, sometimes both going at once, other times one at a time.
	This is one of my refugiums, it has ten different types of macro algae and the odd Anemone and Octocoral. I've stopped using protein skimmers and do all my filtering via biological filtration.
	This pond is used for LPS and SPS corals, Acanastrea, Goniopora, Acropora, Montipora and the like. Lit with a 250 watt 14000K MH lamp and current provided by two 1000L / hour powerheads and two 20L surge buckets. In the photo you can see the surge bucket on the left has just started.
	This system is used to grow Zoanthids with a 400 watt MH in 14000K. I like the way the Zoanthids look and photograph under the 14000K. Again the current is provided by powerheads and surge buckets.
	An SPS, LPS pond with surge buckets. Also you can see another of my refugiums in the glass tank. Fans blowing across the water's surface drops the temperature by 2-3 degrees, enough to make the use of chillers unnecessary.
	Not all my systems use surge currents, this is a low light low current pond, perfect for Morphs. It is lit using a 14000K 150 watt MH and current is provided by a couple of 600L hour powerheads.

FAQ

Where do you get your coral? I obtain frags, small pieces, from other hobbyists by trading or very occasionally I buy wild collected frags from licensed retail outlets, which I then grow and propagate in my own tanks. I don't remove any coral from the wild.

Why should I buy your small aqua cultured coral when there are large wild collected corals available? Typically disease free, my corals are provided without the stress of collection and traumatic periods spent in holding facilities. Captive livestock is already acclimatised to aquarium conditions, unlike wild specimens, giving a higher likelihood of successful growth. Also, with captive grown livestock there is no negative impact on natural coral reefs.

How do you pack your coral for shipment? My corals are dry packed, wrapped in wet absorbent paper and bubble wrap in a zip lock plastic bag then placed inside an insulated box. In winter I tape a small heat pad (Hotteeze) to the inside lid to help maintain the temperature. I use re-cycled packaging material where ever possible. Why dry packed? Read more here.

What if the coral dies in transit? Having had a good success rate with shipping coral I am happy to offer a money back guarantee should the coral die in transit. Should this happen email me as soon as possible and I'll refund your money. I ship at my risk not yours.

I'm not in the express post next day delivery area from Sydney, can I still get your coral? I'm working on establishing a network of hobbyists in different centres who are willing to act as way stations, housing the coral overnight in appropriate tanks to be on shipped the next day. I've successfully shipped to northern Queensland using a way station in Brisbane. In this way I hope to be able to send coral to most anywhere in Australia.

I don't see anything I like. Where can I find other corals?
Check the links on my homepage on the left. Some have a few aquacultured corals, but most don't, in fact, even those that claim to sell aquacultured stock sell predominately wild coral.

I'm new to reef keeping where do I learn more? www.masa.asn.au/masa

Fragging Stylophora pistillata

growth rates

#79 Zoanthus sp. 'Dejavu's Delight'
week 1 Frag starting with just two polyps.				week 8 12 polyps, seven visible in the photo.
week 4 Frag now has seven polyps, five visible in the photo.				week 12 15 polyps, only seven visible in the photo.