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Holiday Party!
- Thread starter TanksNStuff
- Start date
I did a search and found a thread on it from 2006, stating:
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/corals/lets-talk-suspension-propagation-2404/
LETS TALK SUSPENSION PROPAGATION!
This is something that I have been doing quite a bit of research on and to be honest am pretty excited to start it.
What I am talking about is suspension grow out. And by this I mean taking a coral frag and tethering it to a piece of polyester thread and hanging it from a rod and suspending it in the water.
Sounds strange doesnt it!
So ask yourself: "why should I give this a try when all I have to do is glue it to a piece of rock?"
Well the advantages of suspension fragging are beneficial.
For one you are going to get a very different growth pattern than just the upright growth of an attached frag.
It also optimizes the flow around the coral and the lighting that it recieves as a whole.
The one thing that I really like about this method is that is uses sooo much unused water in a frag tank!!!
and by optimizing this unused water you are liberating the coral from the influences of shelter and shadow from rockscape, as well as from competators.
This method gives the vunerable divisions further protection from many benthic pests and predators (worms, crabs, encroaching algae). It gives you maximum control over coral colonies from interspecific aggression as well.
I have been reading accounts of other hobbyist practicing this method of propagation. They have reported a very significant increase in the rate of growth. This is something that really caught my attention.
Some of the species that have had very good success with this method are: Pocillapora, (Seriatopora and Slylophora), Agaricids (Pavona), Galaxea, Psammocora and Hyndophora, Acroporas.
I am going to be testing this theory on several diff types of acro and Galaxea and Hyndo.
I will start a log document the rate of growth and will get lots of pics to keep you guys informed of what I find.
Those are pretty much the reasons Ken started using this method for his nurseries down in the Keys. I think it would be very interesting and helpful if you (or anyone) tried this and documented it... so if you do, please start your own thread about it so it doesn't get lost here.
PS, the wife had me out Christmas shopping last night so I didn't get a chance to upload the vids or pics from the holiday party. I'll try to get to it tonight.
When I get finally get my tank running, I'd like to try an experiment with this idea.
here is a picture I took from Peter's tank ~ 2 years back!
Peter (Fisheye) had excellent growth and a very successful tank all around! He was doing this about 5 years ago or longer!
Bob
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I wasnt at the party unfortunately but ive seen this string method done on reef2reef a few times. I plan on doing this and I will document it for the club members. My only question is how do I attach the string to the frag securely?
Sent from my Galaxy S4
Sent from my Galaxy S4
Thanks rob. Ill be doing it this weekend if I can find something to suspend it from. I dont have a brace
Sent from my Galaxy S4
Well, I still haven't had a chance to upload the video of Ken's presentation, but here are some photos I took at the party:
Some members mingling:
Kids having some fun with the Air Swimmer Flying Clownfish (I won it at our Frag Swap and thought it would be a good time to try it out!):
The "Frag Lotto" tank - Special Thanks to Gary from Champion Lighting for lending us the LED light:
The Food Spread:
Ken - Accepting our Donation of $5000.00 :
Some members mingling:
Kids having some fun with the Air Swimmer Flying Clownfish (I won it at our Frag Swap and thought it would be a good time to try it out!):
The "Frag Lotto" tank - Special Thanks to Gary from Champion Lighting for lending us the LED light:
The Food Spread:
Ken - Accepting our Donation of $5000.00 :
Cool 