Coral farm planning

[Jan Hendrik]

Hello fellow reefers!
I am planning to start a coral aquaculture facility in my back yard I have a floor space of about 4 meter by 15 meter (60 square meters) available with room for possible expansion in the future if needed.
See attached photo of very neglected space in the back yard.
I have some experience in reef keeping and fragging with my past tank setups (Ricordea, Plating Montipora, Seriatopra and Toad stool leather corals).
As you can imagine this will be a very costly venture to start up and having a reliable electricity supply will be vital.
For electricity backup I am investigating options between solar panels with inverter and batteries or a backup generator.
We do not usually experience load shedding in our area, however lately there have been some issues with the substation feeding to our area.
Longest we have been without electricity was three days!!!
I am going to try to get sponsorships from companies and local business to build the greenhouse and infrastructure as far as possible.
If you have any advice or helpful input please feel free to comment

 

[leslie hempel]

Send me a message i help with lighting for farms as my primary work.

 

[FishyThoughts]

All of the best with your venture!

 

[Jan Hendrik]

A possible turn of events.
I was told by my landlord of where I rent for my manufacturing business in a heat of the moment kind of way to get another premises.
This led to me finding a possible new location that is double the floor space of my current location.
If the owners accept our proposal we will rent the entire space, but split the new office in two offices by means of a dry wall.
The plan is to utilize the front half as a marine aquarium store!
Let's see how this plays out.........

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Looking for advice on where to have steel frames galvanized in Gauteng area that is reasonable. Any leads?

 

[Jan Hendrik]

So life gives us curve balls and this is no exception.
I will be staying at my current location (so not starting an aquarium store at this stage)
On the plus side this turn of events has freed up some money that would have gone to rent deposit for the office space that can now be used to buy equipment for the first frag tank!
Started building the aluminium frame for the tank.

After drilling 224 holes, a total of 160 rivets and threading 64 holes the tank stand is 90% complete. I still need to manufacture the adjustable feet brackets for the stand.
I decided to go with aluminium because I did not want to have a rusty tank stand. Galvanizing would have cost me too much for a single stand and would give a life span of about 15 to 20 years.
The aluminium stand can be disassembled by unbolting the stainless steel bolts and weighs a fraction of a steel stand.
Measurements of the tank will be 1500mm x 700mm x 450mm.
I am still undecided whether to put panels on the stand to close the sump or leave it open.
Total height of the tank and stand together will be just under my armpit to allow ease of working in the tank.

 

[Whoknows]

So life gives us curve balls and this is no exception.
I will be staying at my current location (so not starting an aquarium store at this stage)
On the plus side this turn of events has freed up some money that would have gone to rent deposit for the office space that can now be used to buy equipment for the first frag tank!
Started building the aluminium frame for the tank.

After drilling 224 holes, a total of 160 rivets and threading 64 holes the tank stand is 90% complete. I still need to manufacture the adjustable feet brackets for the stand.
I decided to go with aluminium because I did not want to have a rusty tank stand. Galvanizing would have cost me too much for a single stand and would give a life span of about 15 to 20 years.
The aluminium stand can be disassembled by unbolting the stainless steel bolts and weighs a fraction of a steel stand.
Measurements of the tank will be 1500mm x 700mm x 450mm.
I am still undecided whether to put panels on the stand to close the sump or leave it open.
Total height of the tank and stand together will be just under my armpit to allow ease of working in the tank.

Looks like a solid stand. You building the tanks yourself too?

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Looks like a solid stand. You building the tanks yourself too?

Hi!
Yes, I will be building the tank and sump myself.
I will post the whole build in this thread

 

[Whoknows]

Hi!
Yes, I will be building the tank and sump myself.
I will post the whole build in this thread

Nice thanks. Will follow along

 

[George Moorcroft]

My new 3 m natural light

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Spent the weekend building a cabinet stand for the quarantine tank and building the sump for the frag tank.
Quarantine tank will be an all in one nano cube measuring 500x500x450.
The stand is made to a height so that working in the tank is at a comfortable height. I plan to paint the wood three coats with black pond sealer to make the wood last longer.

The sump is taking shape with just a few more glass pieces to be added as well as the perspex components for the filter socks and refugium section.
Notable features of the sump:
1) Filter sock chamber with removable baffle plate to allow for a future upgrade to a filter roller.
2) Black glass baffles for the refugium to block light spill over to the skimmer compartment and the return pump compartment.
3) The sump is quite large 1097mm x 480mm x344mm to allow enough space for in sump equipment and some live rock. However the sump will not take up the whole space beneath the tank. I left some open space to allow for a "dry" section where controllers, wiring and dosers can be mounted.

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Update on the progress so far:
Finished painting the wood quarantine tank stand with Durapond paint.
I already have a 1000L/hour return pump, wavemaker, Zetlight LED light, QQ2 skimmer and dual float switch auto top up for the quarantine tank setup.
The Quarantine tank build is coming along nicely as well and should be done in the coming week.

 

[JC...]

Wow, this is very nice and neat!

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Quarantine tank update:
The 500x500x450 quarantine cube is finally up and running and cycling for the past 7 days using Aqua Vitro seed.
Water parameters looks good and I believe it is ready to try the first corals.
PH - 8.3
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 0.5
Phosphates - 0.03 (and still coming down)
I had to build a plexiglass bracket for the second hand Zetlight as the bracket was missing.
First corals are due to arrive tomorrow!

 

[viper357]

Nice progress. What corals are you starting with?

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Nice progress. What corals are you starting with?

Thanks!
I ordered some Reverse Hallucination Zoa's, very bright red mushrooms with yellow bumps, and some red zoa's for a start.
I will wait at least two to three weeks to see how this first batch of corals are doing before buying anything else.
Taking it slow.

 

[Jan Hendrik]

About time for an update!
The quarantine tank is doing well.
I had an issue with high Phosphate levels that stayed on 1,0 for a few weeks.
Got some Fauna Marin Phos 0.04 and Phosphates came down to 0.03.
There is some hair algae, but not extreme.
To control the hair algae I got a Lawnmower Blenny yesterday.
About three weeks after setting up the tank I bought a pair of Trochus snails and about two weeks later noticed a few moving white dots on the glass. Baby Trochus snails!
So evidently had a successful spawning event. The small snails have since grown to about 4mm in size.
Fish list:
Springers Damsel (x1)
Lawnmower Blenny (x1)
Ocellaris Clownfish(x1)
Corals:
Red people eater zoas
Salted Agave zoas
Jason Fox Blitzed zoas
Bright green unidentified zoas
Lumo orange zoas with green skirt (local zoas?)
Vomit green paly (name?)
Lumo yellow zoas
Red discosoma
Green discosoma
Lava lamp mushroom
Lumo green and orange Rhodactis
OG Biohazard Bounce Rhodactis
And some red fern macro algae that is starting to grow nicely.
First frags will be made tomorrow of some of the zoa colonies that have increased in number of polyps.

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Time for another update:
I installed a 4 pump wifi doser. I am only using two of the pumps for Calcium and Magnesium at the moment.
I have been having issues with very low nutrients and have increased my feeding slightly and removed the pineapple sponges from my return chamber to see if that will help.
Phosphates = 0
Nitrates = 0.5
I have been using my new PopBloom RL60 light for a few months now. Since upgrading from my Zetlight I have seen better coral growth and coloration.
Feeding the corals once to twice a week with Ocean Six Polyp Feast.
The OG Toxic Bounce Rhodactis Mushroom shows the most dramatic feeding response. Completely enveloping the food (closing up) and then opening up after it has ingested the food. I also notice better coloration after it has fed.
I installed my DIY temperature controller to switch my cooling fans on and off. Works like a charm!

Four pump wifi doser and my DIY temperature controller in the background.

Green Finger Leather.

Guardian of the Bounce!

GSP starting to spread on the back wall.

Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas and JF Blitzed Zoas

Haliptilon SP Red fern algae growing well.

 

[icechilli]

This build is looking epic! How is progress on main display going? What thickness glass will you use and will it be Starfire?

Sent from my SM-S928B using Tapatalk

 

[Jan Hendrik]

This build is looking epic! How is progress on main display going? What thickness glass will you use and will it be Starfire?

Sent from my SM-S928B using Tapatalk

Work on the big frag tank is temporarily suspended until I get the fish room ready.
Installing damp vents in the walls, painting the walls, building a humidity/temperature control unit.
Then I need to build a mixing station as well.
For the frag tank I will use 10mm glass as the base and 8mm for the sides. I will probably use Starfire/Diamante' glass for the viewing panes.