Yeah, and you think the real experts are going to give away their secrets??!!...
Here's my newbie story. When we bought our last house, I inherited a 10 year old tank full of softies and some LPS. It was also full of aiptasia, nitrates and phosphates.
So first step was get the tank into shape and get my nitrates and phosphates down to near zero. That actually took about 2 years for me. Of course it didn't help that I didn't know anything about SW. Bio pellets with MB7 took care of the nitrates, and GFO for the phosphates. Pearlscales got rid of the aiptasia.
Then I started with easy SPS, and more LPS. First lesson was turn down my Radion LEDs so I didn't bleach and kill the new frags. Growth took off, and after about 6 months or so, started selling frags to pay for more expensive "designer" frags that I had my eye on.
Now am adding more "deeper water" SPS, and learned that they need even more gentle care, especially with dipping.
And BTW, I dip everything, and with most, break off the frags from their plugs, and remount on new ones. Also, I QT some new corals, and give them more than one dip. My biggest fear is getting some of these nasty bugs, like AEFW in my tank. So far, I have been lucky.
So, yeah, now I am on the hunt for designer corals. Have a few now, and they are looking good. But a long time still before they will be ready for fragging. Of course, my first objective is to have a good looking tank. So at this time, I am only fragging as a result of pruning (some accidental) and making room for other corals.
And that's my story,... and I'm sticking to it....
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