Coral Farming at ACI Aquaculture, and the Role of REEFreshments® Live Feeds

​The theme of the September/October 2023 issue of CORAL magazine was “Modern Aquaculture”. This issue of CORAL magazine featured articles that highlighted all manner of current marine aquaculture practices and recent accomplishments within the industry. In this issue of CORAL Magazine, Amanda Meckley’s article “Coral Aquaculture the ACI Way: Modern land-based ex-situ RAS farming in Plant City, Florida” dives into the specifics of ACI Aquaculture and the importance of coral farming that takes place at ACI, and she gives us a look behind-the-scenes at some of the equipment, tools, and practices that they utilize at their facility to successfully farm corals for the aquarium industry. One of the secrets to their success that she unveils is the use of our (Aquaholic Aquaculture’s) REEFreshments® product line for their regular live planktonic feeds.

CORAL Magazine: Modern Aquaculture
​© CORAL Magazine

The family owned and operated ACI Aquaculture was established in Plant City, FL in 2007 by Chris and Amanda Meckley. While coral farming has always been a part of their wholesale livestock business, in 2018 (following the Indonesia Fisheries cessation of coral exports) ACI refocused their attentions to make coral farming a more integral part of their business operations. Over the years, ACI has grown into what is now over 20,000 gallons of mixed reef recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). And, their coral farming efforts are absolutely inspiring. Currently, ACI is farming more than 15 families of hard corals, including 45+ genera and over 130 different species, with even more phenotypic and genetic diversity at the cultivar level. Additionally, they successfully farm a variety soft corals and corallimorphs, including numerous zoanthids and mushrooms.

Coral Aquaculture the ACI Way
​​© CORAL Magazine

Aquaculture facilities that are located inland like ACI Aquaculture face particular challenges trying to replicate and maintain ideal marine environments for their livestock. One of these challenges is providing their livestock with consistent planktonic live feedings. For over seven years, ACI has relied on us (Aquaholic Aquaculture) to supply them with a steady supply of planktonic live feeds. At ACI Aquaculture they understand the importance of regularly dosing their systems with live phytoplankton and zooplankton. Multiples times per week they supplement the microflora and microfauna populations of their recirculating systems with routine additions of our REEFreshments® REVIVE™ (i.e., our live zooxanthellae product), our live phytoplankton, our live copepods, and our BRINE BREW™ (i.e., our decapsulated Artemia product).
 
While REEFreshments® live feeds play just a small role in ACI’s coral farming success, it shows how coral farming and plankton farming work hand in hand. While not as eye-catching as other staples of aquaculture, plankton farming is just as essential, playing a critical role in the greater scheme of marine aquaculture. In fact, without plankton farming, most other marine aquaculture efforts couldn’t exist, as plankton is vital in rearing marine larval fish and relied upon for shellfish and coral farming.
 
It has been amazing watching ACI Aquaculture’s coral farming endeavors flourish over the years, and we are so proud that our REEFreshments® live feeds have contributed to their success. We believe that aquaculture is essential in order to make the aquarium industry sustainable. ACI’s coral farming accomplishments illustrate that mass coral farming is attainable. Especially with growing concerns over the future of coral imports, ACI’s coral farming efforts give hope that our industry will continue to persevere.