Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Expanding Propagation Efforts

We are constantly updating our efforts to captively propagate corals. Recently we added another 12 foot tank for the propagation of more zoas and palys, chalices, and Acans. The tank is illuminated with 400 watt 20,000K metal halides inside Lumen Max fixtures along with T-5 flourescents.


12' Tank with MH and T-5 Lighting

We Grow Several Thousand Frags in each Tank


Our Propagation Process starts with careful examination and multiple dips for all newly acquired stock that is appropriate for propagation based on type and color. In the photo below an intern is shown examining Zoanthid colonies and dipping them in several propietary baths.

The new stock is housed in our greenhouse and examined daily for health.
In the photo below our resident frag expert evaluates each parent colony for growth and determines when frags can be taken for further propagation.

Small frags are taken from the parent colony and then grown into a secondary propagation colony.

Frags for sale are taken from the secondary propagation colony and are examined and cared for on a daily basis.
Below we see some Chalice frags that have grown out into secondary propagation colonies and are now ready to be fragged for sale frags.