Frag tank systems, lets see those systems.

thejuice24 · May 21, 2020

Just wanna say this thread is great and appreciate everyone showing and sharing!

thejuice24 · May 21, 2020

Added a 40 gallon HDX tube to my 40B as the consolidation effort of systems begins....

Reefermadness775 · May 22, 2020

ScottB said:
Very nice. Dimension & volume? Brand of tank and stand?

When you add that second tank to the system, take care to control for the dilution of NO3 & PO4. Further, I would suggest that you run it separate for a while. Let a little film algae and bacterial film get started.

Further up in this thread you will see my 3 tank frag system that I built incrementally, one at a time. Each time, the new tank developed dinoflagellates. Kinda sucks the fun out of it for a month or so. Take care.

SCOTTB its made by mode aquarium. dimensions are 6' x 3' x 12" volume with sump is around 135 I think, I have not done the math tho. My intention is to get the new tank running with just the captive loop going and letting the diatom work itself out before topping it off and introducing it to the established system.

ScottB · May 22, 2020

Reefermadness775 said:
SCOTTB its made by mode aquarium. dimensions are 6' x 3' x 12" volume with sump is around 135 I think, I have not done the math tho. My intention is to get the new tank running with just the captive loop going and letting the diatom work itself out before topping it off and introducing it to the established system.

Awesome! I like your plan. I will reiterate to nutrient match your water before tying in.

So the new tank will share the new (larger?) sump? If you want to keep volume as high as possible, you could run both sumps with a "water bridge" (which is just a connecting 1.5" or 2" hose) between them. So each tank overflows down to the respective sump below, then the return lines are criss-crossed, returning to the "other" frag tank. I have a diagram a few pages earlier on how I tied together 3 tanks and sumps. My sumps contain roughly 100lbs of old live rock in addition to the usual skimmer, refugium, socks etc.

LRT · May 22, 2020

ScottB said:
Awesome! I like your plan. I will reiterate to nutrient match your water before tying in.

So the new tank will share the new (larger?) sump? If you want to keep volume as high as possible, you could run both sumps with a "water bridge" (which is just a connecting 1.5" or 2" hose) between them. So each tank overflows down to the respective sump below, then the return lines are criss-crossed, returning to the "other" frag tank. I have a diagram a few pages earlier on how I tied together 3 tanks and sumps. My sumps contain roughly 100lbs of old live rock in addition to the usual skimmer, refugium, socks etc.

Been think of adding another equalizer hose between all my tables for better flow as you described. It is hard to keep flow correct on a loop the way I have mine I had to add a couple pumps to keep levels proper from table to table.
Could probably do away with those as well.
More flow up. Equalize. Better flow down.

Always more projects. Lol

ScottB · May 22, 2020

LRT said:
Been think of adding another equalizer hose between all my tables for better flow as you described. It is hard to keep flow correct on a loop the way I have mine I had to add a couple pumps to keep levels proper from table to table.
Could probably do away with those as well.
More flow up. Equalize. Better flow down.

Always more projects. Lol

I'd thought about using pumps but was advised not to do so. Gravity does seem to be more reliable.

I've sometimes been concerned about the sump levels remaining constant, so that my ATO keeps salinity stable, but so far it has not been a problem thankfully. Been steady for 5-6 months now.

LRT · May 22, 2020

ScottB said:
I'd thought about using pumps but was advised not to do so. Gravity does seem to be more reliable.

I've sometimes been concerned about the sump levels remaining constant, so that my ATO keeps salinity stable, but so far it has not been a problem thankfully. Been steady for 5-6 months now.

For sure I do worry about one of the pumps failing and it's just not practical if I can allow nature to do all the work.
Another thing I need to tackle is adding an ato and getting rid of rodi on float valve in sump.
So far so good tho I have 6 stage and checking rodi being feed to sump and its consistently been reading 0ppm.

ScottB · May 22, 2020

LRT said:
For sure I do worry about one of the pumps failing and it's just not practical if I can allow nature to do all the work.
Another thing I need to tackle is adding an ato and getting rid of rodi on float valve in sump.
So far so good tho I have 6 stage and checking rodi being feed to sump and its consistently been reading 0ppm.

I could also stand to upgrade my float valve driven ATO. It stuck open the other day. My optical sensor picked it up and shut the solenoid just before my APEX would have alarmed on salinity. So I have just enough backup hopefully to get by.

Reefermadness775 · May 22, 2020

LRT said:
Been think of adding another equalizer hose between all my tables for better flow as you described. It is hard to keep flow correct on a loop the way I have mine I had to add a couple pumps to keep levels proper from table to table.
Could probably do away with those as well.
More flow up. Equalize. Better flow down.

Always more projects. Lol

I dont get to hang around the store all that often. The wife runs it so the less complicated the better, the neptune has made things way easier seeings how I can control it from the office at work.

jsak1976 · May 25, 2020

Three 80 gallon frag tanks tied into a 125 gallon sump all controlled by apex.

Dlealrious · May 25, 2020

Daniel@R2R · May 26, 2020

Some beautiful systems here!

Kullas · May 26, 2020

Here is my frag tank 50g low boy set up as a aio

mdumet · May 27, 2020

Will be setting up mine as soon as it arrives, but this is the design I made for the guy making it for me.
I'll build the stand for it and plumb it into my display and also considering building a canopy for it.