RnB Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 While I was on holiday on the gold coast I was recommended to visit Coral Plantations http://www.coralplantations.com/pages/factory.htm In all I visited about 5 shops on the coast but they all paled in comparison with CR. The main difference I guess was the evidence that these guys really did know what they where on about. They are currently propagating quite a few coral varieties and you can purchase frags from $10 - $20, as well as having tanks full of standard harvested corals $30 upwards. I was told that corals cannot be imported or exported from Australia??? trying to verify this but interesting if true. Fish can be imported/exported, and i was told varying stories regarding where most of the fish are from. I sortof believe that about 70-80% of fish are imported and the rest are local caught, the imported ones have to be quarantineed just like here in NZ. Fish are much cheaper in Aussie in general then here (about 50-60% of NZ prices even when NZD/AUD corrected). There are exceptions, yellow and purple tangs are not 50% cheapper in Aussie, but def less then AKL. What was very interesting is the philosophy of coral Plantations.... They recommend changing 30% of the water each month with natural seawater (they will deliver seawater to your door for a fee.) Add Iodine and strontium during the week. Use Kalk for calcium. no skimming, but they sell/recommend using a cannister type system filled with manmade rock, through which tank water is pumped using high flow. yes thats no protien skimmers on any of there tanks, but LOTS of man made rock in the tanks. There tanks look REALY good, I saw a lot of tanks in aussie shops where the mushrooms where in a separate tank to all other corals and they looked awesome........ It was interesting to see a full scale coral propagation business in operation, it will be interesting to see how they go long term. They seemed a level above anything I have seen in the retail business for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 That's very interesting Rnb, I'll bet the thought of adding a secret compartment to your travel bag occured to you :lol: I'll have to have a good mull through that site when I have time. My wife is in Melbourne at the moment, she rang up and said she went to a marine shop and was amazed at what she saw. She does not know the names but said there were beautiful corals at really cheap prices. Probably because no QT and other expensive procedures required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 There are no definitely no imports or exports of corals allowed to or from Australia. There corals come exclusively from the reefs around Australia where I believe there is a permit system for individuals, and businesses to collect them. That shop looks to be very well presented. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RnB Posted January 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 yeah the layout of the tank systems, there depth, everything is just different to what you normally see in a retail shop, yet it all seems to make perfect sense and is explained on there website and if you visit. There are no pictures of there fish system, which is about 2000L, has 1 massive skimmer, a ReefGuard UV system and live roock filter system. the fish system They also have daily test results of the water quaility of the system on a whiteboard and also have there organiser charts on the wall showing days for additives, levels of additives etc etc. Interestingly they have very little metal halide lighting, almost everything apart from acros are under normal flouro tubes, owner said even at trade the cost of replacing lights are a major factor, hence tubes and shallow tanks! WASP - the tanks are all plywood with a replaceable glass section in the front, they are all 4ft by 2ft by about 20cm deep, racking all wooden as well. I think you would be really interested in this place..... no skimming on the prop tanks 8) just snails and live man-made rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 its kind of sad why do the aussies get a nice store?? i like the height of the tanks. i get sick of bending down to look at fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 10, 2005 Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 So the unskimmed tanks have no fish? What about chemical filtration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RnB Posted January 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2005 each rack of tanks was 4 high, the bottom tank at almost ground level has only live (man made version) rock in it, and is slightly deeper, say 30cm of water. A single pump then rises water to the 3 tanks above via a T-ing off system, and each tank returns to the lowest one. There may have been a fish or two in each tank, but they where scavenger type, especially small algae eaters. No need for skimming or phosphate removal or zeostuff or anything else. They followed the same routine on these tanks, 1/3 water change each month, iodine and strontium. They had kalc drippers that attached to the top tank (low tech but cheap as chips...). I am begining to suspect that many of the reef supplements available are actually just combinations of single trace elements. the aquaculture was very http://www.garf.org/ based, right down to home made little plugs for the frags. It was really cool to see hundreds of little coral frags in a single tank. The whole shop/room was air conditioned, rather then cooling individual tanks. Its located in an industrial area to keep the rent down I guess. Oh and on the tanks they install for people the do DSB. I got to say from the shop tanks they are getting really good results. I think the quality/look of a shop tank says a whole lot about the result. They have pictures of the last 12 months of each show tank on the wall to prove i guess they are not replacing losses but are rather getting growth and results. This operation is very professional, and IMHO will eventually pull custom from the other shops on the coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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