Korallen Farm - Germany

by **40+** on 02 Mar 2011 12:58

Operation Grab a beauty was a complete success. The commando's gathered at terminal 2 in Dublin yesterday morning @ 05:30 insulated boxes and all.

On arrival a certain person had a spot of difficulty convincing German passport control that the picture in the passport was indeed him and that he hadn't had plastic surgery in the mean time.

As we were in a controled area we were unable to take a picture of T-sport without the cap, yes he did have to remove it... :lol:

To the train we headed and what nice trains they are. After an hour and a half we arrived in Witten-Annen, right on schedule.

Here we see a group of commando's taking stock of the their surroundings and having a well deserved break.

On to the Korallen Farm....5 Min walk

Our host Joe, opened the shop for us and we had the place to ourselves for the afternoon.

Pictures speak louder than words - So here's a few.....

Continued...........

by **40+** on 02 Mar 2011 13:05

Continued.....

by **40+** on 02 Mar 2011 13:12

Continued....

Some very happy commando's

The boxes are full and time for some R&R - 4 Pints for €10.40 - Well worth the trip...... :lol:

by **Haggis** on 02 Mar 2011 14:31

I'm not jealous (much) :mrgreen:

How were customs on the way back? Any problems? Was it worth the trip price wise? (certainly looks like there was plenty of choice). When are you going again and can I come?

G.

by **Nige** on 02 Mar 2011 14:38

Lucky Bastards! Would love to go on the next trip!!!!!

What sort of system do they run on all their tanks? Zeo?

Any pics on what you guys purchased? Did anybody buy any large colonies?

by **40+** on 02 Mar 2011 14:58

Haggis,

Cultured coral is not covered under CITES. We got a cert of orign from Joe. Customs was not a problem. Having said that I did make contact with German customs - zoll.de, German Wildlife - BFN.de, Irish Customs, Irish Marine Health unit, Irish Parks & Wildlife, dept of Agri and Aerlingus all before we went. Was armed with mobile numbers of all the various people on the Irish side, just in case.

Nige,
Here's the thing, Not a Zeovit system. I think T-Sport or Robbie can expand that further.

As far as price wise, I reckon half the price but more importantly variety. I got a couple of pieces that you would never see here in any of the shops.

I'm sure there will be another commando raid, when the flights are right......

by **robbiesreef** on 02 Mar 2011 15:14

Heres a couple more pictures....

by **robbiesreef** on 02 Mar 2011 15:16

A fiew more...

by **robbiesreef** on 02 Mar 2011 15:19

And the rest.......

I also got a video of the display tank ill post it up later on

by **Andy** on 02 Mar 2011 15:49

Well done lads. I am glad everything went well and they allowed Robbie'sreef back into the country :lol:

Pictures look great. It must have been unreal to see and get your pick of some of the best corals in Germany.
Well done and well deserved! 8-)

by **silverdollar** on 02 Mar 2011 16:32

looks like a great trip, thinking of doing the same shortly myself

by **ArtaneAquatics** on 02 Mar 2011 18:15

frikin awesome.

by **redpower** on 02 Mar 2011 21:40

Outstanding lads, any chance you can post what corals you all bought and make us even more jealous :mrgreen:

It was obviously well worth it just for the four of you to head over on a lads trip but how'd it work out financially, what size was the average coral, would they be centre piece quality? also did anybody ask about delivery to Dublin.

Looks like a great trip, well done.
Red

by **robbiesreef** on 02 Mar 2011 21:57

Nige wrote:Lucky Bastards! Would love to go on the next trip!!!!!

What sort of system do they run on all their tanks? Zeo?

Any pics on what you guys purchased? Did anybody buy any large colonies?

Hi Nige no zeo on the tanks just large systems 11000l live rock and a skimmer thats not that big they use T5s on for 12 hours a day the corals are so large they keep the water quality perfect they feed the corals and fish heavy too.

I brought back 10 very nice frags and you can buy large colonies too

by **robbiesreef** on 02 Mar 2011 22:02

redpower wrote:Outstanding lads, any chance you can post what corals you all bought and make us even more jealous

It was obviously well worth it just for the four of you to head over on a lads trip but how'd it work out financially, what size was the average coral, would they be centre piece quality? also did anybody ask about delivery to Dublin.

Looks like a great trip, well done.
Red

Hi Red the corals ranged is sizes ill get some pictures up tomorrow of what i got i just bought large frags the quality is unreal and the choice too. You can see the mother corals these corals came from and there centre pices alrite

its cheaper to get a cheap flight than paying for a box to be deliverd plus you can hand pick your corals