Where to buy corals?

[Wade]

What are one's options when it comes to buying corals? Do you have to buy them from your LFS or can you order them? There are some better LFS about 1.5 hours from where I live, but I'm not sure you can drive that far with them and not have the water cool down too much. Suggestions?

[scubasteve92]

What type of coral are you looking for and where are you located? It depends what you are looking for and what you want to spend, the best deal IMO are on the forums.

[Wade]

I live in NE TN about 1.5 hours from Knoxville. I want to start off with some ricordia or frog spawn, and a leather of some sort.

[Timfish]

Well, I guess you won't be showing up at the ARC meeting next weekend. Myfirst choice is local aquarists where I can see the animal in the tank it grew in and ask about it's history and how the tank is maintained. 2nd is a LFS, again so I can see how it's looks in person and for calm this is the only way to go to insure there's no damage to the byssal threads (it's not open to the clam). But some things you just have to get on line, I've been happy with Liveaquaria.com but there are other good sites like pacific east aquafarms

[Wade]

I lived in Austin many moons ago and really enjoy being a part of this forum. Always good advice. So I'm guessing if it's ok to ship a coral, then it would be ok to drive 1.5 hours from Knoxville to get it home. I'll take a look at the sites you recommended and see what they've got. Thanks for your advice.

[+KimP]

I can't imagine 1.5 hours being a problem at all. Just use a small cooler to keep them in.

[Woods]

Have you tried searching for any local Reef Clubs or Forums in and around Knoxville? Also I will sometimes shop in San Antonio and bring a styrofoam cooler that I can put the fish and corals in to help keep their temp more stable while I travel back norht to Austin. That is also an option if you are buying in Knoxville. If you don't have a cooler, often times the fish store may have one from when they received their shipment and can at least get you started with a box and then you can just keep and it take it with you when you are coral/fish shopping.

[Wade]

I suppose in this case the cooler keeps it warm. Do I need to put anything in there like some bottles of warm water or will they be fine just in the cooler? Btw, that Live Aquaria place has a lot of nice stuff. I'm going to start with just one and see how that goes for a month or so and then add another. The tree corals look nice and are good for beginners.

[+etannert]

Wade, I'm from Knoxville and stopped by some LFSs when I was home for xmas. The Coral Reef had absolutely amazing coral (great colors, great health, great displays) and the prices seemed pretty reasonable. Where exactly are you located? I've left coral in my car for several hours before and never had a problem with stuff making it, but the styrofoam cooler is a great solution that I've used when it's too hot or cold out.

[Bpb]

I've picked up zoas as well as sps corals from other hobbyists in Austin and I live 2.5 hours away. Longest I've gone is I had some zoas in a cooler for 8 hours before I made it home. The weather was 78 degrees though so I had that in my favor. Recently I bought some sps corals and they spent 4 hours in their bags in the cooler in the truck before they made it to my tank. They're doing fine

Keep in mind when live caught corals are harvested they will go through far more torturous conditions than you would be subjecting them to. I'm no expert and still a noob at this hobby but I am sure whatever you're getting will be fine for a few hours provided you keep the cooler insulated. Just packing it with towels should be adequate.

I will pick up something from an Lfs if the price is right, which is rare. Ordering online just costs so much I'd rather wait and find a hobbyist that will sell cheaper and spend those savings on more gear, bulbs, salt, ect. Plus you get to meet other folks in the hobby, learn things from them, and see some livestock in person you may never have before.

[Peter Gott]

I have had an incredible experience ordering online, equivalent to and in some cases better than experiences I've had getting frags from local hobbyists. I think it was a combination of who I ordered from and how I did it.

First I spent about three months combing forums making a list of vendors that all had a theme in their reviews: excellent communication and customer service. I ended up narrowing it down to three people, and then I just sent them emails and started talking to them about what I was planning, what interested me, etc.

I ended up going with Greg at cultivatedreef. He is amazing. Pretty early on he actually gave me his cel number and we started exchanging texts so frequently that I felt friendlier with him than most of the local hobbyists I've traded with. His policy is to be the best at customer service but I think he goes way above and beyond that. He will match or beat any price, and he sells good lineage corals, as well as maintaining a few of his own lines. So right away there is a big difference--most of the actual coral farmers (rather than many online vendors who are basically one step away drop-shippers) you can find charge an arm and a leg for their frags, which are often also very small. His pieces are much larger than he even advertises them as being, and his prices are excellent. Of course, being that his coral are tank-raised for the most part, the selection is somewhat limited--but he does also have contacts with a lot of aquarists and other coral farmers across the country, and will put a lot of effort into finding exactly what you want if he's leant have it. Like I said his prices are unbeatable, his frags are excellently sized and he will mount them as requested (I hate plugs), and their colours are and remain absolutely stunning--but what tops the experience off for me is still just how incredibly communicative and friendly he is. And patient, too. He worked with me for months as I set up my aquarium and cycled it and put together my wish list long before I was ready to pay for it. And he still checks in pretty regularly just to see how everything is doing. Plus he sent me a free Christmas favia on December because, well, it was Christmas. Oh and he also drop ships from the supplier company to marine depot, so he can get you anything you could order from them at a much lower price.

So while there are huge advantages to buying or trading from local hobbyists, if you are going to go with an online vendor, I would definitely go with Greg at Cultivated Reef. I ended up ordering from the other two I had initially narrowed my list down to as well, and while they had good customer service, it was just that. I prefer a vendor with whom I can establish a friendly relationship.

[Wade]

Thanks guys. That's a lot of great information. I've checked out LiveAquaria and Cultivated Reef and really like what they have to offer. The Live Aquaria site lists what supplements need to be dosed for each species which is nice. I already have a 2-part doser and a Magnesium doser, but am wondering if I'll need to test and dose Strontium, Iodine, and Trace Elements regularly or does this come from regular water changes? I use Reef Crystals salt mix. How do you all maintian this elements?

[wesreyn]

Thanks guys. That's a lot of great information. I've checked out LiveAquaria and Cultivated Reef and really like what they have to offer. The Live Aquaria site lists what supplements need to be dosed for each species which is nice. I already have a 2-part doser and a Magnesium doser, but am wondering if I'll need to test and dose Strontium, Iodine, and Trace Elements regularly or does this come from regular water changes? I use Reef Crystals salt mix. How do you all maintian this elements?

With the corals you are talking about, you don't need to dose or really even test for any of that stuff. You don't need the 2 part doser or magnesium doser.

[Wade]

Question about ricordia. On Mark Callahan's list of softies to avoid he lists mushrooms because they can quickly overtake a tank and if I ever plan to add some sps they'll kill it. Are ricordias considered in the mushroom group or are they safe to get? Also, i read that you should dip every coral you get from the LFS before adding it to your tank to avoid pests. Does this include softies as well?

[Jimbo662]

I've got 3 rics now and love them. Got the first two 3-4 mths ago and have seen not signs of them spitting yet. i've got each attached to a small piece of rubble on the sand.

[Peter Gott]

I've never had any luck with rics in an SPS tank. I think that the lighting and flow are just too intense for them; they have always melted away. So unless your tank has a lot of depth and variation of light and flow, it may be a moot point. But at that point I'd think your tank would be of a size where between some activated carbon and the large water volume, any allelopathy would be minimized to a point where it wouldn't really be a problem. I have also seen an aquarium where that was the case win Tank of the Month somewhere...hold on; I'll see if I can find it.

Here it is:

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/76-tank-of-the-month

[Wade]

What about dipping them or is that just for LPS and SPS corals?

[Peter Gott]

Again, I've had bad luck with rics, so this is not a set answer or even from my own experience--it's based on what I have read on other forums, other people's experiences, etc--but rics do sometimes carry a protozoal parasite, and I have seen people who farm them swear by dipping. I have also read that wild-caught rics (the one which most need to be dipped) can be too stressed for dipping, so if they look stressed your best bet may be a quarantine tank until they seem healthy/happy again, and then dipping. I'd say the best bet would be an iodine dip.

[Wade]

Thanks Peter. I've read the stuff to use is CoralRX so I'll make sure to get some before I buy anything.

[Wade]

Are carpet anemones difficult to care for? I've got good lighting and water flow so I'm ok there. I've got a clown I've had for many years and would love to give him a playground.

[(Bio)³]

i use coralrx on ALL corals that go into my tank. even gorgonia

[Wade]

Well I've ordered some zoas from Cultivated Reef which should arrive tomorrow. I found this chart (http://www.coralifeproducts.com/product/aqualight-led/#research) in another post that I'm going to use as a placement guide as far as lighting is concerned and I hear that zoas like to not be blasted with water flow so I'll either find a low-flow area or adjust my powerheads accordingly. I've also set up my new Koralia Eveloution 1050's to simulate waves on my Apex Lite on 5 minute intervals. I had it on 10 second intervals just see how it worked, but the clicking noise the heads make when they cycle are a little anoying every 10 seconds.