grow out/frag tank

[Allmost]

hello all,
need some help with a frag tank/grow out tank, so I can have a place for new frags to settle in, grow a bit before I put them in DT.
the frag tank will be connected to DT ... and I have foot printof 24x24 beside it.


need your opinion for following questions,

how high should I make the tank ? 18 " ? what is the norm for frag tanks ?

what do you advice for lighting ? 24x24 " foot print ... 6-8 T5 ? [to get best growth] I also have a 150W MH pendant sitting around, 10K....

thanks in advance.

 

[chrishayes]

I think 18" is good but you could save costs by going shallower and using your existing 150w. Theres no need for vertical water column. No fish and little to no rock work, right? VOlume means nothing since you are attaching to a large healthy reef.

If it were mine, I would go 12" and use the 150w then use frag racks or have a custom tray built by GEO or others to keep them off the bottom then you can put PH's under the shelf to keep detritus from building up or make the tray modular so you can move sections out of the way to siphon.

ALso, make sure your reflector is a good one like a large lumenmax or similar so that you can cover the 24" sqaure. I use one with a 250w radium along with modded stunner strips on the fixture to provide actinic. It works well on my 45 cube that is 24x24x18, fyi. GOod luck

 

[Allmost]

perfect appreciate it.

yes going to be nothing in it. [but frags]

Im gonna use a seaswirl for flow.

very good point about the reflectors, gonna look for a better one.

thanks

 

[MammothReefer]

I've had a few tanks this size currently my frag tank (or now LPS tank) is somewhere around 20x20x12. My older frag tank was 24x24x16 I believe, and I had one that was 24x20x20 or something like that. If you are going to have it right next to your DT. I prefer a shorter tank so you can still see into your DT from that side. In terms of light if it's a true frag tank I try to run the same as I run in my DT. Now I just have a neat LED fixture I'm playing with over it for the LPS (don't need much more).

In the end height doesn't matter. I've found you can make a decent frag rack out of egg crate to whatever height you need with a bit of pvc. Then just toss a large power head under it so nothing is directly blasting the frags. Also double up the egg crate so your plugs don't wobble.

 

[dzhuo]

the frag tank will be connected to DT

If possible, I would not connect the frag tank to the DT for better pest control. This will likely increase the complexity of your frag tank setup due to the need of extra set of equipment but I think it's worth the effort.

 

[collie man]

I agress with dzhuo, a tank connected to a display should only be another display. A frag tank should be treated the same way as a hospital tank. just my two cents.

 

[chrishayes]

I think for what hes wanting to do with it that hes on the right path. His OP says he wants a place to grow out frags to get them acclimated and ready for his DT. What better way to do that than to give them the same water and color temp bulb at the least. I mean if he were gonna add these corals normally right to the display then whats the difference.

He may be better to clear that up though.