New frag tank...

[Virginia Reef]

I have finally plumbed my new frag tank into my system. Got lights hung, water movement testing in progress, and plumbing thru my sump so no extra monitoring needed. Also, moved some corals and fragged up a bunch of stuff tonight. Still need to order some new bulbs...the current bulbs appear pretty well worn.

Thanks to Matt for drilling the tank last fall, Adrian for providing the tank, Landen for loaning Coralia 2 and 3 powerheads for testing, and Hal for lighting (250 watt MH with PC actinics).

My sandbed has become SERIOUSLY overcrowded waiting for this move. I moved and fragged numerous zoanthids...still have a few more species to do. Moved a couple SPS frags (sunset monti, monti confusa, green slimer (accidental fragging tonight), and green and orange monti caps). Following are some pics of the tank and newly fragged corals which are still not completely happy with the move.

What kind of fish might you recommend for the frag tank? Needs to be completely reef safe but willing and able to assist in algae control as well as flatworms and other pests. Six line wrasse? Something in addition to this? Tank size is 40 gallon breeder (36" long).

I'll be fragging some SPS as well once I get the new bulbs installed. No sense doing this and moving out of my display tank with brand new bulbs.

 

[PRDubois]

nice - What are the orange Zoas?

 

[Doc's69]

Looks great Paul. Will you be selling any frags?

 

[turbois300]

If so I'll take a sunset monti and the orange centered zoa frag the last picture.... there's a few others that look tempting also. I really like your frag rack. The whole setup is sweet!!

 

[ade]

Paul I would go with a Yellow corris or Four line wrasse, six lines a great but tend to pick on any other fish that you place in the tank thereafter. As far as a fish for clean up I would go with a stary blenny.
Oh great looking frag tank I am glad to see you finnaly got it all up and running.

 

[mike68]

very nice!

 

[Virginia Reef]

Thanks for the comments/questions.

I don't know the name of the orange center zoas. They are my favorite.

I will be selling/swapping or bringing into UA or PAW for store credit. I have enjoyed the swapping within the Southwest VA club.

The Sunset Montis are kind of my brood stock for the time being...need to grow them out first.

The rack was made from 20' of 1/2" PVC...used all but about 10" of it. I put sand inside the lower portion of the structure for ballast.

I'll get some better photos and post them. The camera batteries were too low to use the flash. I am going to replace the MH and PC bulbs in the light fixture.

Ade, thanks for the fish recommendations. Any plans for a group buy in the near future?

 

[stripevt]

Great setup. I like the look

 

[ade]

Maybe Paul, just do not have the funds to put up right now.

 

[Der ABT]

love the set up, cant wait to move into a new house and setting up something similar.

cant wait to see it full of frags and ready to make you money/trades. for once the hobby pays you back hehe

 

[manderx]

i'd put a down elbow (or actually a tee so you can vent it) on the drain to reduce the stress on the glass. otherwise if you can't, make sure the plumbing is well secured to take the weight off it and make sure nothing bumps it since it will act like a big lever and multiply whatever force is applied to it.

 

[Virginia Reef]

Matt,

Thanks for the suggestions. The weight is well supported with a bracket as it rounds the corner of the room. The only stress is from the flex of the hose itself. I didn't have to do much twisting to get things to line up. I'll prolly reevaluate this as it would be a snap to modify.

The internal overflow that you built is outstanding. Hardly takes up any room and does the job of surface skimming.

 

[SS7]

Looks great!

 

[vetdog]

looking good Paul

 

[Virginia Reef]

Got a few new pics...still not completely satisfied but much better than the originals. Mostly zoas in the frag tank at the moment. Got at least 3 other zoa/paly species to add from the display.

 

[WayneY]

Looking great :thumbsup:

 

[turbois300]

Paul.....what is your display tank lighting setup? Great looking stuff!!

 

[Virginia Reef]

Display is 2 x 250w MH with 14000k Phoenix double ended bulbs and 4 T5 bulbs (not sure of the wattage). 2 T5s are actinic plus and 2 are true actinic. This is over a 30" high 225g tank.

The frag tank fixture has a mogul base 250w MH and 2 32w PC bulbs. I'm probably going to get a 14000k Hamilton for the MH and some combination of actinic 03 or actinic 7100k for the PC. Any recommendations on the MH will be welcome since I haven't ordered yet.

Both MH fixtures are magnetic ballast.

 

[Sliver_moon]

let me know if you want to sell some of those nuc greens!

 

[captainshellnut]

Very nice frags

Very nice frags

If you would be kind enough to post when you are ready to sell any of those frags that would be great, I would be very interested in any of your zoa frags. Your frags look wonderful!