Inexpensive source of colonies for tank restart

[jeremyd]

Hello all,

I'm restarting a 75gal reef tank after a 1+yrs of it just sitting looking ugly after a crash due to multi-day power outage.
This time around, I want to purchase some various coral colonies rather than the boutique frags I purchased from wwc/ top shelf aquatics/ tidal gardens in the past.

I don't need incredibly rare or expensive corals again, just want to fill out the tank relatively quickly. It will predominantly be a LPS/Softy tank. I've occasionally ran across a good deal on utah's version of craigslist, but are there any online sources with relatively affordable soft/lps colonies?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would suggest to check out local online classifieds near you, lots of folks closing down their tanks these days and you can find folks selling their colonies.

I use kijiji and facebook market and local online reef groups as my primary sources. Most are selling gsp and kenya trees and likewise, but if your patient and persistent and check very frequently, you will find some gems.

 

[mfinn]

Your local reef clubs and maybe even local Facebook groups might be the best source of larger pieces.
I have found a few larger softies at corals.com

 

[bradreef]

There are 3 utah facebook groups where people post takedown and corals for sale. I cant image anywhere else where you will find better deals.

 

[ninjamyst]

If you pick the right fast growing corals, you will have colonies within 6 months.

Zoas
GSP
Montiporas

 

[jeremyd]

Man, I got away from social media about 7 years ago and haven't looked back.. Sounds like I might need to reactivate my account if only to find things like this more easily

 

[jeremyd]

There are 3 utah facebook groups where people post takedown and corals for sale. I cant image anywhere else where you will find better deals.

Would you mind sharing those? I'd love to check them out

 

[mfinn]

Man, I got away from social media about 7 years ago and haven't looked back.. Sounds like I might need to reactivate my account if only to find things like this more easily

That is the only reason I have the account.

 

[areefer01]

Nothing ends up well in this hobby by going fast. Not what you are asking but I would stick with frags. Gets you back into the rhythm of keeping the corals. Assessing the system. Adjusting to changes without quick corrections. Above all lets you address what may have happened previously.

You mentioned LPS and soft corals both of which under the right conditions grow to plague proportions.

Also consider LPS colonies and shipping. Fragile and water needed to keep it save. More weight and higher shipping costs. If you pick up local then the challenge is always moving it from system A to your system. If you have ever tried to move a 12" to 24" hammer colony between tanks you will know what I'm talking about. If not then you are in for a big surprise.

Honestly even wanting to keep SPS there are plenty that grow extremely fast. I understand this is not what you asked everyone for but maybe something to consider if you don't find anything local. Proper care and the corals you want to keep will be very large within 6 to 12 months.

 

[bradreef]

Would you mind sharing those? I'd love to check them out

Saltwater utah, Wasatch marine aquarium society, utah reef keepers, and saltwater aquarium yard sale utah only.

 

[jeremyd]

Nothing ends up well in this hobby by going fast. Not what you are asking but I would stick with frags. Gets you back into the rhythm of keeping the corals. Assessing the system. Adjusting to changes without quick corrections. Above all lets you address what may have happened previously.

You mentioned LPS and soft corals both of which under the right conditions grow to plague proportions.

Also consider LPS colonies and shipping. Fragile and water needed to keep it save. More weight and higher shipping costs. If you pick up local then the challenge is always moving it from system A to your system. If you have ever tried to move a 12" to 24" hammer colony between tanks you will know what I'm talking about. If not then you are in for a big surprise.

Honestly even wanting to keep SPS there are plenty that grow extremely fast. I understand this is not what you asked everyone for but maybe something to consider if you don't find anything local. Proper care and the corals you want to keep will be very large within 6 to 12 months.

I totally appreciate the cautionary advice.
In terms of what happened previously, I lost power while I was out of state for a week, and for whatever reason my apex didn't start back up. I lost all of my fish and 90% or roughly 5-7k worth of my coral. I was very upset about it, and basically just left my tank running with the lights/filtration/pump for the next year before deciding recently to start over. My 5-6 frags that survived are doing great now and I'm ready to start adding more corals.


I'm definitely not trying to stock the tank all at once, and want to be cautious with how many LPS I add at any one time, but was hoping to be able to find some nice size Zoa or mushroom rocks reliably.

 

[Lavey29]

Nothing ends up well in this hobby by going fast. Not what you are asking but I would stick with frags. Gets you back into the rhythm of keeping the corals. Assessing the system. Adjusting to changes without quick corrections. Above all lets you address what may have happened previously.

You mentioned LPS and soft corals both of which under the right conditions grow to plague proportions.

Also consider LPS colonies and shipping. Fragile and water needed to keep it save. More weight and higher shipping costs. If you pick up local then the challenge is always moving it from system A to your system. If you have ever tried to move a 12" to 24" hammer colony between tanks you will know what I'm talking about. If not then you are in for a big surprise.

Honestly even wanting to keep SPS there are plenty that grow extremely fast. I understand this is not what you asked everyone for but maybe something to consider if you don't find anything local. Proper care and the corals you want to keep will be very large within 6 to 12 months.

Totally agree with this, taking a colony from an established tank where it was thriving and moving it into a new environment doesn't end well. Frags are much more adaptable.

OP you will end up throwing money away. Your new restart will need time to develop its biome, ugly phases, instability, etc... trying to drop colonies in an immature tank will end in failure in my opinion.

 

[jeremyd]

To be clear, The tank isn't a complete redo or anything. it's been running since April 2021. It's just the last 12 months were basically on autopilot with about 5-6 coral frags and a very small cleanup crew of algae eating snails and hermits.

 

[Katrina71]

There are a bunch of folks on here willing to share.

 

[jeremyd]

Update: I ordered a few crabs and a sand sifting cucumber from WWC, and apparently I had two months worth of coral club subscription that I had never selected shipping dates for, so I just received 10 new frags