Florida Keys coralfarm'n ?

[coralfarmin]

I once saw several years back a tropical fish collection business, house and all on the water in a FMA magazine for sale in the keys.I always dreamed of owning it or one like it on the water.Now with all I have learned thru time I pine to propagate exoctic coral on a commercial level as well.
If I actualy were to realize these dreams in my life and found a spot in the keys ......could I use the ocean as my sump legaly.
Would I run the risk of speading diseases to florida reefs if I introduced foreign coral?

 

[Kalkbreath]

I would be more worried about people using your sump as a rest room .
givin the amount of disease floating about in the waters of the Keys .......
Your poor Pacific corals would not last long , even the native corals are not holding up too well.
The beach water around the keys does not support native coral growth .[only off shore] Why would you think it could support ultra SPS .

Perhaps if you could suck CLEAN water out of the gulf stream........

But that would require an even larger pipe dream :wink:

 

[coralfarmin]

oh well..... but I have seen people posting about water changes dumped in the storm drain were ilegal cause it went to the ocean I think so figured even if it would work that it would be ilegal....btw didnt you get my pm several days back?..I was hoping you'd let me pick your brain a bit

What type corals do you think would last?other than native....none?
(oh I see the native dont even)
and would it even be legal?

would it get to cold in the winter?

I rember back about 15 years ago i seen tons of x-mas worm rocks under the docks and other coral(i thought) and life that seemed to do fine but did not realize that the waters dont support coral near shore now ..........

just exactly how long of a pipe do I need for my dream....??

It has been a long time since I have been in the keys

 

[coralfarmin]

on another note I quess the ocean could be utilized as a geothermal cooler..mabey..but the greenhouse would then have to be pretty dang close to the ocean as well and probably get blown away

could they be farmed offshore or is that ilegal

 

[treeman]

Oh man, Where to start.

1st the price of land in the keys shoots you in the foot. You know the old saying, if you want to make a small fortune in the aqauculture business start with a big fortune... you would need it just to buy waterfront land.

2nd It is ilegal to have any non native species in an open loop system in FL.

There is some native coral growth near shore. Ah, just not like there used to be when I was a wee lad.

 

[coralfarmin]

ya i seen the prices on realtor.com even non buildable land is extreme..but I dont ever want sell my dreams out short...I wish I had that fama mag now .....I bet the same house would sell for alot more than what it sold for then... it even had a adjacent lot for less than $250,000

you can believe one thing if I ever could aquire land in the keys that is were I would reside my life out

I dont never stop whatchin the land prices there...thats one of my other hobbys :lol:

I thought someone had a greenhouse some where circulating the ocean water

 

[spawner]

Kalk,

Pacific corals grow very well in the Keys, just have to pull water from a saltwater well, perfect constant 76 F water year round.

coralfarmin,

If you are really intersted in a collecting business in the Keys I have a friend that is selling his lisense in a few months.

 

[coralfarmin]

I have heard of saltwater wells some....were do you exit the water to
please tell me more...I would love to talk to your friend..is he just selling his lisense
I would not actualy have to be on the water then

 

[spawner]

Normally aquaculture operations have several methods of discharging water. Those that work with exotics will have a drain field or an injection well. Both methods are effective in preventing induction of exotics in local waters. I think they use injection wells in the Keys.

He is just selling his tropical license for now. He will be retiring in a few years and holds other commercial fishing licenses as well. He owns quite a bit of land in the Keys as well. You could be quite a ways in land (for the Keys that means 100 yards from the water). I will warn you if (when) a hurricane comes you would have to have some provision to prevent discharge of exotics. (i.e. kill'em or move'em) The shrimp farms have other facilities they can transport broodstock to in the event of a storm.

 

[coralfarmin]

we have familiy in west palm and fort lauderdale that could help for a storage facility if we needed to transport them...hmm
If I could just get a piece of land without exchanging my arms or legs

 

[Kalkbreath]

Kalk,

Pacific corals grow very well in the Keys, just have to pull water from a saltwater well, perfect constant 76 F water year round.

coralfarmin,

If you are really intersted in a collecting business in the Keys I have a friend that is selling his lisense in a few months.

That would work ......... cool open system water from a salt well would keep the temp during the summer from cooking the livestock in a green house. ......... What happens if your septic tank seeps into the well durring rain weather? Also how much salt water per minute can a well draw? then how much chlorine is required to knuke several hundred gallons per hour of effluent?

 

[spawner]

Kalk,

Salt water wells can produce a ton of water if you need it, if you need more water you just drill more holes. We have two here that we draw about 300 gallons per min. The water (effluent) is pumped into a drain field, and eventrally makes it way back to the ocean (weeks or months). In the Keys you can't really have drain fields like we can (everything is soild rock). They use injection wells and pump the water (effluent) into. Then many months or years after going through layers of limestone it makes its way back. I think they use the same type of injection wells for treated human waste.

 

[coralfarmin]

spawner
where are you located ?

 

[spawner]

Central East Coast of Florida, Melbourne.