We be fraggin' mon!

K-Dubbs

K-Dubbs

New member
Well my tank is full and I'm looking into fragging some of my corals and I have no room for them.
To solve this problem I plan to set up a frag/growout tank.
I plan to have something simple and easy, I want to keep the cost for setting it up low and keep the required maintenence low.

Tank size suggestions? What have been good frag tanks for all of you guys? Remeber I need to keep it smaller.

I know I have some extra tanks down in the basement, but I know a smaller glass tank isn't going to cost much. I know for sure there are some 10gal, mabey a 29gal, and a 20gal High, might be a 30 or a 40 as well. I was aiming at something like a 20gal long. What do you guys think?

I was also hoping I could use a canister filter I had purchased right around the time I started up the tank, I used it for mabey a week then changed. Its made for up to 100 gal and has a flow rate of 265gph. I was hoping that this would be all the filtration I would need for the frag tank. I was planning on using the spray bar part of it to act as circulation for the tank, mabey add a powerhead as well.
Will this be enough filtration?
Will I need a protein skimmer even though there won't be any fish in the tank?
Will this be enough flow?
What type of media should I use in the canister filter... carbon, liverock, nitrate reducers, filter fibers?

I normally add iodine to my main tank fairly often, and calcium a little less. Any other additives I should add to the frag tank while there are frags in there? Any tips on dosing a frag tank?

As for lighting I was planning on getting a PC hood w/ two bulbs, one actinic and one 10,000k (same I have on my current tank).

The tank would have no substrate, and I would use racks of the white crate(the stuff I see in some fish stores) to place the frags on.

Common frags that would be in this tank would be various mushrooms (including riccordea), leather coral, various zoo's, xenia, mabey a frogspawn eventually, montipora cap., mostly softies.

Any suggestions, comments, tips, and constructive criticism would be apprieciated.

Thanks,
K-Dubbs
 
you can get the eggcrate at places like lowes in the lighting section. I would suggest looking into a local aquarium club and trying to sell/trade frags there. As far as equipment i would aim for a tank with a larger foot print, so you have more room to spread the frags out. If your going to do alot of frags you may want to look into agrocrete and making frag disks yourself.
 
i would use a sump for this. this way the frags dont have to adjust to different water. do you have a sump? if yes then think about redesigning a larger one with an area for these frags. the special chamber can have its own light and power heads if neccessary.
 
I don't have room for a sump, the frag tank is going to be in a totally different location then the main tank, actually on a different floor. Remeber I want to keep this simple, I didn't think a sump would be necessary seeing as I have no large bio-load in the tank that I have to support. I can see your point of sharing water, but with where the tanks would be placed its not possible. Mabey using extra water from water changes from main tank for the frag tank would be a possibility?
 
once my tank is up and running, i plan on fragging coral too. i was gonna use a wide, low, rubbermaid container with powerheads and all. it will have a small form of filtration(no fish) and the lights will probably be PC or VHO if not that, i'll do it in my sump or refugium
 
i think the best (small) frag tanks are those that are shallow with a large footprint. especially if you decide to go with t5 lighting (which sps seem to love and great cost savings).

for example, conisder a 30g breeder and its counterpart 33long. or a 40g bredder and its counterpart 40long.

in either case, when using t5 lighting, because of the pricing, itll cost the same to get 36" kits or fixtures as it will to get 48"s. but youll get 40% more light for the same volume of water!

both are 12" deep (the 40g's are 16" so the same idea holds true)

30 breeder with 4 t5's (at 36") = 156w (watts relative to t5 ligtht)
33 long with 4 t5's (at 48") = 216w (almost like having 6 36" bulbs)

most would usually prefer the "deeper" (front to back) tanks because of aquascaping. but in this case the long shallow tanks provide numerous benefits over anything else.

1. more light for the same buck
2. shallow+big footprint = more room for frags with great light intensity
3. easier to find a spot for a "thinner tank" than a chunky one.
4. looks damn pretty, like a shallow lagoon.

hope i helped

fp
 
hey you know what, if you end up not having room for the frags, just shoot me a PM because i would be happy to pay shipping and take them off you hands haha
 
Heh, the reason i'm setting up the frag/growout tank is so I can have it for just that purpose, making frags to sell/give to others (depending on the specific frag). I just don't have room in my main tank to keep them in there so I need another tank just to grow them out. If anyone in the Midwest area is going to go to the Dr.Foster & Smiths 2nd annual frag swap this year, I plan on having frags ready for that.

Thanks for the input fishypapas, I think I will go with a tank with a bigger footprint, not sure on size.

How about filtration, anyone have any input on that? I'm still debating wether the canister filter will be enough. Will I need a protien skimmer on top of that?

Thanks for the input so far guys
 
id be interested in hearing what type of filtration is needed.

if its an sps frag tank, its going to have to be clean. but does anyone feed sps more than light?

if its just light they "eat", it should be easy to keep the water pristine with frequent water changes, no? the water changes would also, if frequent, keep all the alk,calc, etc, at proper levels and keep them growing well.

i wonder if a "ridge" of frags sitting on top of level of live rock rubble would provide everything that is needed.

may even look like a "mini barrier reef" :0).

hmmmm, sounds like a project to me; that is if one can go without a sump/skimmer in a set-up like this.

"calling all sps people"

fp
 
Actually, there is only one type of sps coral I would be using this frag tank for. Mabey down the road, but for now the only sps I have is a montipora cap. Otherwise if you look in my first post you'll see that all the rest of my corals are softies or LPS.

But, filtration for both types, what would be required?

Just filtration for softies and LPS?

Just filtration for SPS?
 
heres an idea. i just read a post that fraggle reef was looking for reeferws that had their own frag tanks.

they are looking to set up inter-business frag swaps, or the like.

send them an e-mail and ask what we be the proper set-up for the type of corals you want to propogate.

good idea huh :0)

fp
 
40 gallon breeder works GREAT if you are planning on many frags. It is low (less lighting) and wide. And you could prob get away with a single or at max 2 175watt MH.
 
if you go haildes the breeder tanks would be a good option.

but if you go t5's then the long tanks are a better option due to the fact that youll get more light for the same bucks.

take a look at this, it may help to visulaize it:

<img src="http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/5045840g-t5.gif"/>

as you can see, not only do you get better coverage with just 2 bulbs because of the thinner long tank, but you get that extra foot of T5 light . you now have the extra 6" (10 gallons) inches of the breeder tank lit for free :0)

remember, you get about a 40% icrease in T5 watts for the same price. so if you want more bulbs, thats even more "free" light.

if heat and its pals (electric bill, water evap) are an issue, the T5's could be a nice fit, especially for a tank so shallow.

now if i can only find myself an oceanic 55g stand for my 40 :0)

fp
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6676404#post6676404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishypapas
heres an idea. i just read a post that fraggle reef was looking for reeferws that had their own frag tanks.

they are looking to set up inter-business frag swaps, or the like.

send them an e-mail and ask what we be the proper set-up for the type of corals you want to propogate.

good idea huh :0)

fp
Click to expand...

fishypapas, do you have a link to that post?
 
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