BeeGriff
Active Member
So I've been bitten by the bug. Got an itch to set up a frag tank and found a 80 gallon glass 6 foot tank for pretty cheap and jumped in. So now here I am trying to figure out how to get this thing setup. The frag tank would be predominantly acro as I am a total stick head. I currently have a 220 in my kitchen with a 75-gallon diy sump.
The frag tank however will be in the basement and I dont think I'm going to connect them together. Reasoning to myself I would like to have a separate system in case something happens to one that I can place things in to keep them alive. Also I would like to tear down the 220 and start over with new rock work and trying to get rid of some pest that are in the 220 now ( blue clove polyp, aptasia, trash pallies) . So I need to get the frag tank up and running so far what I have to work with are the tank a stand that is way to high and a sump that is quite old and not really sure how to make it work for this setup. Here is the tank on the stand it stands about 5'6" way to tall. I do have someone lined up to cut it down and weld it back. Thinking about taking about 13" out of the stand should put it at a good working height for me.
Another issue I think I have overcome is the preexisting hole that was drilled in the back for I'm assuming a overflow. Had modular marine build a custom overflow which I will have to drill another hole for by there design
So I have the drain somewhat figured out just need to work on the plumbing. Next onto the sump.
I'm not quite sure how to make this work. I'm thinking the chamber to the far right is supposed to be the input side which then flows under through a sponge type filter then overflows into the next chamber where the protein skimmer is. It then would flow under the next divider and over the last short divider into the return pump chamber which seems to be very shallow and would probably suck a lot of air through a whirlpool. The last divider is only 5 3/4" tall and I was planning on using a cor 20 for the return pump. I'm pretty sure its not gonna work so I'm on the fence of trying to raise the last divider a couple of inches or just scraping the sump all together and just do it right with a bashsea sump 48 or 60. With plans to maybe add another display tank to the frag system would going big on the sump be a problem with only the 80 frag on it? My thought here is it would allow me to get some more water volume into the 80 system and be able to handle an additional large display in the future.
Since it is a frag tank there won't be any room for live rock in the tank so do you place a bunch in the sump or can you just run a bio pellet reactor and an algae scrubber? I already have a reef octopus ps 2000int protein skimmer which I figured would be okay to start with and I have a vertex alpha 200 that I could use if I add another display. For lighting I have 2 orphek Atlantik v4 gen 2s already and was think of adding some of their or3 blue bars. So any advice/ constructive criticism from someone who has some experience with a frag system would be greatly appreciated thanks and happy reefing.
The frag tank however will be in the basement and I dont think I'm going to connect them together. Reasoning to myself I would like to have a separate system in case something happens to one that I can place things in to keep them alive. Also I would like to tear down the 220 and start over with new rock work and trying to get rid of some pest that are in the 220 now ( blue clove polyp, aptasia, trash pallies) . So I need to get the frag tank up and running so far what I have to work with are the tank a stand that is way to high and a sump that is quite old and not really sure how to make it work for this setup. Here is the tank on the stand it stands about 5'6" way to tall. I do have someone lined up to cut it down and weld it back. Thinking about taking about 13" out of the stand should put it at a good working height for me.
Another issue I think I have overcome is the preexisting hole that was drilled in the back for I'm assuming a overflow. Had modular marine build a custom overflow which I will have to drill another hole for by there design
So I have the drain somewhat figured out just need to work on the plumbing. Next onto the sump.
I'm not quite sure how to make this work. I'm thinking the chamber to the far right is supposed to be the input side which then flows under through a sponge type filter then overflows into the next chamber where the protein skimmer is. It then would flow under the next divider and over the last short divider into the return pump chamber which seems to be very shallow and would probably suck a lot of air through a whirlpool. The last divider is only 5 3/4" tall and I was planning on using a cor 20 for the return pump. I'm pretty sure its not gonna work so I'm on the fence of trying to raise the last divider a couple of inches or just scraping the sump all together and just do it right with a bashsea sump 48 or 60. With plans to maybe add another display tank to the frag system would going big on the sump be a problem with only the 80 frag on it? My thought here is it would allow me to get some more water volume into the 80 system and be able to handle an additional large display in the future.
Since it is a frag tank there won't be any room for live rock in the tank so do you place a bunch in the sump or can you just run a bio pellet reactor and an algae scrubber? I already have a reef octopus ps 2000int protein skimmer which I figured would be okay to start with and I have a vertex alpha 200 that I could use if I add another display. For lighting I have 2 orphek Atlantik v4 gen 2s already and was think of adding some of their or3 blue bars. So any advice/ constructive criticism from someone who has some experience with a frag system would be greatly appreciated thanks and happy reefing.
