Advice for a Frag Tank

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

As others have said already, unless you already have a full reef tank and spare equipment for a frag tank, you're probably not even going to break even if you're starting from scratch. By the time you pay for everything and get the corals to stop dying and start growing, you'll be deep in the red and it'll take you quite a while to come close to covering operating costs. Don't expect to make a profit. "Fast growing" is relative when it comes to corals. "Fast growing" means you'll be lucky to buy a frag and have it grow enough in a year to frag and sell a frag or two. In other words, if you can get any new frags you buy to adapt to your tank conditions and grow, you need to get it to say triple in size before you can safely cut off a single frag and leave a decent mother colony to continue growing. So triple or more in a year is extremely fast growth for most corals. Many of the most desirable corals will take years to triple in size. The cheap softies that nobody wants to pay more than a couple bucks for (if you're lucky) are also the ones most likely to grow well. Good lighting is not cheap and necessary for a frag tank.

Anthony

[Jeff000]

Originally Posted by apexifd

If selling frags is enough to pay for salt and food to keep the tank running, then it's good income.

This.
Don't forget power costs in there, and the cost for the initial equipment.

I just set up a frag tank, was getting out of hand with the racks on the back of the display. It's plumbed in with my main system.

I do plan on selling frags, as I have a few desirable corals, but I doubt I'll cover the cost of the frag tank and getting it set up for a couple years. The corals everyone wants are a year old and maybe double in size from when I got it.