15G Frag Tank

mlove · Oct 23, 2010

Alright guys so I was looking around at all these awesome frag tanks and decided, "I need one too!" So I went out, got the equipment I didn't already have, and set it all up. The tank is a 15G, has 4x24W T-5 lighting, filtration provided by Penguin Bio-wheel 350, maxi-jet 600 for extra movement, Jagr heater, etc. Hopefully this tank will help me gain some knowledge in the propagation aspect of our hobby, get me some nice corals for the display tank, and God please... help pay for itself a little haha. Let me know if you have any suggestions or comments. I left a shrimp in the tank for about 48 hours to cycle the tank and now I'm just waiting on some coral. The first specimens will be some Captain America palys and some purple and gold zoas. Thanks for looking!

- Miles

underwaterfirefighter · Oct 23, 2010

Looks like a great start. Looking forward to seeing some livestock in there!

Dave

mlove · Oct 23, 2010

You and me both brother! I've actually got a trade setup already :wink:. I'll update each time I add something new and, if anyone's interested, keep tabs on the budget (including maintenence) in case anyone has wondered appoximately how much it might cost to start up something small-scale like this. Thanks for looking!

Troylee · Oct 23, 2010

agreed... nice start....

skinz78 · Oct 23, 2010

Looking great, I'm pondering on how to set mine up as well.

mlove · Oct 24, 2010

Thanks guys. I've been keeping up with the costs of setting the tank up. I know I had questions about the approximate cost so I figured this might help some people.

Frag Tank Investment (excluding livestock) as of October 24th, 2010

-15G Tank -------------------------------------------------------------> $24.05
-Penguin 350 BIO-wheel ------------------------------------------------> $36.40
-Tank Stand -----------------------------------------------------------> $34.35
-Eggcrate, Pliers, 100pack Razor Blades, Ceramic Tile, Glue ---------------> $36.80
-75W Jagr Heater ------------------------------------------------------> $33.98
-4x24W T-5 Wavepoint Lighting -----------------------------------------> $130.00
-16Gal Distilled H2O ----------------------------------------------------> $16.37
-2Gal Distilled H2O ------------------------------------------------------> $1.76
-Maxi-Jet 600 ----------------------------------------------------------> Had It
-Thermometer ----------------------------------------------------------> Had It
-Mag Float -------------------------------------------------------------> Had It

Total: $313.71

Livestock Investment: October 24th, 2010 (Prices include shipping where applicable)

-Captain America Paly x2 -------------------------------------------------> $100.00
-Pink and Gold Zoa w/ Baby ----------------------------------------------> $10.00

Total: $110.00

Total Frag Tank Investment: $423.71

mlove · Nov 1, 2010

Livestock arriving wed. morning! I'm excited! I'll post up pictures of the captain americas and pink/golds when they go in the tank. I also have a trade setup so I'll post up the other corals I get out of the deal.

Gerber77 · Dec 21, 2010

Any updates?

Alabama Reefer · Dec 21, 2010

How's the growout?

dougers31 · Feb 2, 2011

So are those tiles in your picture safe? What about the the pieces that join them together? If so looks like an ideal way to save a few bucks.

btkrausen · Feb 2, 2011

So you cycled the new tank instead of using water from your display? Any reason you did that? I'd personally think that with using display water, you would get to skip the entire cycling process and get the corals in immediately.

btkrausen · Feb 2, 2011

dougers31 said:
So are those tiles in your picture safe? What about the the pieces that join them together? If so looks like an ideal way to save a few bucks.

Yeah if its ceramic, than its safe. Thats what a lot of frag plugs and tiles are made out of.

dougers31 · Feb 15, 2011

btkrausen said:
Yeah if its ceramic, than its safe. Thats what a lot of frag plugs and tiles are made out of.

Sweet! I was also wondering about the rubber type stuff that joins the pieces together, would that also be safe to use?

mlove · Feb 15, 2011

Hey sorry guys, I've been studying for the MCAT and taking 15 hours at UGA. Got the tank up and running and it looks great so far. I will be adding some rock to introduce some coraline seeds into the tank and will be changing the T-5s soon to 3 Blue+ and 1 Aquablue Special. I didn't use the water from the display tank because it's about 200 miles away haha. This is the college tank, while the display is at home. I'll post up some pictures when I get home. Doing weekly water changes of two gallons and dosing two part usually daily. The growth is fairly slow but some of the SPS frags are encrusting nicely.

tangboy · Feb 15, 2011

I look forward to some pics! G/l with school and study hard (this coming from a teacher!)

MimicOcto8 · Feb 15, 2011

Mlove- sweet setup bro. how do you like those wave point T5s? update pictures would be sweet!

mlove · Feb 15, 2011

Honestly, Wavepoint is my first T-5 experience but it seems to be fitting the bill. Like I said, some of the colors could be better but that is mainly due the bulbs that currently reside in the fixture. Thanks for looking! So far the list of livestock includes:
- Captain Americas
- Pink and Gold zoas
- Orange Monti Cap
- Green Slimer
- Valdella (sp?) Tricolor
- Bonsai Acro
- Pink Birdsnest
- ORA Green Birdsnest
- 30+ eye Miami Hurricane mother colony chalice
- Bubblegum Monster chalice
- War Coral frag
Will probably be fragging some neon torch (thing grows like a **** weed!!!), kryptonite candy canes, whammin watermelon zoas, armor of god palys, and maybe some sunset monti and pokerstar monti from the display tank soon (old display tank shot below).

mlove · Feb 16, 2011

Update Pics

mlove · Feb 16, 2011

Pictures were taken with my droid so sorry they kind of suck. Had a major algae outbreak in the beginning and now it's dying off pretty quickly with the help of the CUC. Like I said, I plan on adding some seeded rock to get the coralline going and also plan on changing the lights to help bring out some better colors with the corals. I'm also thinking about adding another powerhead to increase the flow of the tank. It has good flow right now but still has a few deadspots underneath the bottom layer. Once everything else in my life slows down a little bit, I should be able to get this thing right on track and grow-out some fairly nice colonies.