Size of frag tanks?

[ALBERTA REEF]

I like seeing frag tank setup and pluming. Helps with ideas on how I could set things up. If Anyone have pics of there frag tank setups that they like to share them would be great. I and other that are fellowing this thread would like to see them too.

 

[jimicasper]

my frag tanks:

 

[The Big Tuna]

A few pics of my frag tanks...

Joshua

 

[madean]

nice work big tuna- i will definately keep you in mind when i have a frag question, im sure you have a wealth of knowledge on the subject.

 

[ALBERTA REEF]

jimicasper nice tank.

 

[ALBERTA REEF]

Big tune great big set up. I will keep it in mind when I have the space for it. great job.

 

[The Big Tuna]

Thanks,
I started off fraggin in a 20L like most folks, then something kinda weird happened, a little voice in my head said "A greenhouse, yeah a greenhouse, your wife won't mind!!!)

Luckily she didn't

Joshua

 

[ALBERTA REEF]

Joshua you have a very understanding wife. Luck you!

 

[madean]

thats awesome. I dont think my wife would mind either, i just dont have the time or money fo that kind of a project. But the thought has crossed my mind.

 

[tanks2u]

nice frag tanks big tuna; looks like pics of tanks I've seen Anthony Calfo set up. very impressive. i agree with madean, I'm keeping you in mind when I setup my frag tank. I purchased the tank already (31 x 46 x 10 acrylic), but I'm trying to figure out the rest of the setup.

 

[Reefer08]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15132353#post15132353 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Big Tuna
I don't understand why some people think that fragging should be done in such small tanks. Frag/farming tanks are put under MUCH more stress than display tanks, esp if your really doing some fragging!! It's not just the toxins that are released when corals are cut, but the toxins that are released just by having alot of different corals in the same system, even if they are similar. I believe the bigger the better.I also strongly reccomend that you run an appreciable amount of carbon in frag systems as well to help alleviate chemical warfare btwn corals. Even if you hook up a bunch of little tanks together they are not as temp stable as a large volume of water in a single container. It is also more expensive to have to purchase a bunch of seperate lighting systems for smaller seperated aquaria than lighting a single larger tank/vessel. I would reccomend that you go to a farm supply/livestock store and look at the watering troughs/tubs that are made out of plastic. You should be able to get a 100-150 gal for around $100.00 US, or 300 gal for around $200.00 If you use 250 - 400 watt Mh wt Lumenarc reflectors(wich throw a 3' x 3' light spread) you will only need 1-2 lights.

I reccomend that you try to keep similar species of coral in a system. Shrooms wt shrooms, Zoas wt Palys, etc. Mixing Sps & softies together is a terrible idea. In my greenhouse I use 300 - 400 gal water troughs and seperate the corals btwn 4 independent systems.

Just a couple of observations,
Joshua

+1.

If you want to successful in your fragging venture then a larger water volume will obviously be an advantage. Stability is key for growth of any coral in this hobby.

 

[Reefer08]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15150396#post15150396 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Big Tuna
A few pics of my frag tanks...

Joshua

Wow Joshua, very nice prop. set up! Im very jealous!

One question I must ask because im dying to know, is your profit margin greater than your operating costs of running the prop. setup? A simple yes or no would satisfy my curiosity . Thanks

 

[leslie hempel]

wow thats rather large looks like the abalonefarm i worked at

 

[The Big Tuna]

Reefer08,
Yes.
Joshua

 

[Garage1217]

Some random thoughts....

When designing a smaller frag system, it is all about total floor area vs. Price vs ease of lighting.

20L has about 319 square inches @ $25-$30.00 Downside, it is hard to light a 30" tank evenly with a single MH. "I am not a t5 person so will not go there"

30 breeders come in right around 612 square inches @ $90-$100 total price. Two 150w or 250w pendants would work excellent on this tank. My setup will have 2-3qty of 30 breeders.

For those that want a quick and easy, you can use 30 breeders on the metal wire shelf systems from Lowes. They have the 72Tx48Wx18D for $79 on sale right now and it can hold 3qty of 30 breeders / supports 350lbs per shelf. Just spray each shelf with rustoleum & buy the all black unit. Water comes just under 9lbs per gallon so with the tank weight + water, you would be 40-50lbs under the weight limit per shelf.

Last, if you want some real bang for the buck & have the room. Buy a 48x48x8 coral tank. Around 2209 square inches of frag area that can be lit by a single 400w MH.

All quicky calculations are made deducting a guesstimate of actual internal volume vs external volume of the tanks.



With the 30B's, I calculated that I can have around 392 frag disks per tank if I use the smaller ceramic BAF disks. That is leaving room for a magnetic glass cleaner as well. If I used a thin magnet, I could actually have 400+ frags per tank. If I go with the larger coral cradles, I can have around 162 frags per tank which would be good for larger / mini colonies.

 

[zebrashark]

wow nice setups!!

 

[ALBERTA REEF]

Keep it coming more the better. I have to put my frag tank on hold. A Buddy of my need to sell His 90 gal tank with everything. I could not really afford another tank, But I bought it. I had to save the fishs. I could not see them suffer. I moved the tank with my buddy with in 6hrs and running. Spent the rest of the week bring the tank back to life. My friend split with his girl friend over two mouths ago. The tank has been neglected. Sorry no pics. I will post some when the tank is back to its former glory.

 

[ALBERTA REEF]

Joshua question. In one of the pics I see some leather and devils hand coral held on with rubber bands to the frag disc. How long does it take for them to latch on? I tried several attemps so far nothing is works. Any tips?

 

[madean]

Garage1217- will the wire stands hold the tanks with the MH light mounted above the tanks? I would think that you would have some heat issues with using MH with a 30B. ALso where will you put the filtration for the tanks. Ideally you should have seperate filtration units for each tank unless you plan on fragging/propping one single type of coral in all the tanks. Often mixing different types of coral for propagating within the same system causes great stress on the frags and growth is inhibited and the loss of the frag insues unless the sytem is huge. I would think t-5's would be a perfect application for the system you proposed. There would not be as much of an issue with heat. I think people underestimate the power of t-5's. You will get a significant amount of PAR from the t-5's which in my opinion is what people should be looking at and not how many watts per gallon your getting. I kow you did not mention anything about PAR, but your suggesting using 6x 150w or 250w MH pendants. You might be able to only use 2 4' t-5's depending on what type of coral you want to prop in said tank. If the person invested in a PAR meter they could play with the height of the lights above the water as well as the tank placement of the frag to give exactly what the coral needed. Plus the t-5's potentially give a more consistent level of light from the left to right side of the tank. Where as MH will vary from the distance of the center of the bulb outward. Plus if a t-5 setup can be expanded to increase PAR levels to accomidate more light loving corals and turned off for less light loving corals. So you have more options to change your mind Also a single 400w MH on a 48 x 48 x 8 is crazy. I have come across many diagrams that show how much the PAR level decrease with these type of setups. It can work but a MIX of corals will ensue to use all of the available space to maximize productivity and this idea will hurt the growth mainly due to the chemical warfare. If you read or talk to coral farmers that are succesful and making a profit generally they have complete seperate systems set up for different types of corals, and its more that just all sps or lps. They are more broken down then that. to rap this up t-5's will give you more options and a PAr meter will save you money in the long run. Also a PAR meter will let you know when the bulbs are dieing. Ok im done.

 

[madean]

Garage1217-please dont think that I'm attacking you in any way. just offering up a different opinion. By all means if anyone else wants to chim in it can only help. Someone else might think of a better idea and this is how we can improve our techniques. I am always up for saving money in this hobby.