My name is Levi Peterson and a few months ago I made a decision to work closely with corals at ACI Aquaculture. I formerly worked at a local pet store and personally worked very closely with Non-Photosynthetic corals. However, when the opportunity presented itself at ACI, I was beyond excited for a new adventure and considered it the opportunity of a lifetime!
Now, I wake up everyday, and I am thrilled to spend my whole day observing and working with corals of multiple species. Working for Chris and Amanda Meckley of ACI has been a fun, exciting, and wonderful experience. Each day is an opportunity for me to grow and learn more and more about how certain corals grow and develop.
So, what does my average work day consist of at ACI? It generally starts with a morning walkthrough of the farm and wild systems taking careful attention to make sure that all of the corals are happy and healthy. On certain occasions, when an issue is noticed, I run the issue by Chris, and we assess what needs to be done to fix the issue with the coral. I also spend a good portion of my morning making sure the frag system is neatly organized. I really enjoy this part of the job because I get to look at so many different species of coral that we have for sale.
Keeping the system condensed and organized makes it easier for us to decide what needs to be cut to fill in the open areas and to occasionally add a new coral. I also enjoy and have the opportunity to frag up corals to put out for sale. Chris has been a tremendous mentor in my journey and in teaching me how to frag corals that I have never cut before.
On my first week one evening before a shipment arrived me and Chris cut hundreds of Acro frags. Fragging is one of my favorite things to do while working at the farm. Certain corals are more challenging to cut than others. For example, the most challenging coral I have cut so far was definitely aTurbinaria宝塔杯 - 精确度绝对是他们的关键。
After I complete my morning tasks, I tend to help pull orders as needed or jump on a project that usually involves thoroughly examining the farm systems for any sort of issues with the corals, there is generally dipping involved to help target whatever is wrong with the corals. We have recently started using a new dip from Captive8 Aquaculture called Anticip8. We have noticed tremendous success using that dip against monti nudis! Another task I often do in the morning or early afternoon is feeding the NPS corals which are my specialty.
现在,野生的印度珊瑚已经开放了,我倾向于发疯,并在拆箱期间变得非常兴奋。在ACI接收货物非常有趣,但也可能很累,尤其是在深夜发货中。通常,当从印度或澳大利亚拆箱时,所有员工通常共同努力,以解开珊瑚,而克里斯将他们拒之门外。
Unpacking coral shipments is definitely one of the most fun parts of the job. I really enjoy seeing all the nps that come in as well as all theBernardpora和阿甘怀氏菌。尽管有些货物可能在深夜,但我通常会回家,迫不及待地想回去第二天早晨,直到有人露面地瞥见所有新珊瑚。我认为我永远不会疲倦地观察和倾向于珊瑚!