New 15 gallon frag setup, Gonna start a small journal here!

Lingwendil

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This last year I got back into seriously reefing, and decided to supplement my 40 breeder with a more utilitarian "working tank" in order to limit equipment and racks in my display. The 40 has been running for a few years, but I haven't been working on too much in the way of new additions. The beginning of this year I started actively picking up frags again, and Valentine's day my lovely, supportive partner (she is a fish head too- we met while working at a mom and pop pet store while I was the aquatics manager) ordered me an Aqueon 15 gallon from a local store since it was on special, and the dimensions worked well to place under the 40 breeder on my DIY stand. The 15 gallon is perfect, as it is approximately 24x12x12, the same footprint as an Aqueon standard 20 gallon high. Prior to this I was using a 5.5 gallon Aqueon tank as my frag holding tank/quarantine before anything went into my main display, and I pulled it out to put the 15 in it's place.

I DIY all my lighting, so I put together a fixture in an older RapidLED 20" t-slot enclosure, with two BlueAcro halfmega 24 watt pucks, running at 700mA per channel for about ~36 total watts of light for now- I'm going to add some more additional LEDs soon to supplement additional ~420nm violet, some ~460nm, and some cyan as I find them to work very well for coloration and growth.

Overall plan is mostly LPS- Echinopora, Micromussa, Cyphastrea, Leptoseris, Duncans, Euphyllia, and Faviid type corals- I'm not a huge fan of most advanced SPS personally. Some softies will also end up in there too- I have lots of GSP to move soon to make room for more in my display anyway.

For equipment I fitted a Fluval P50 heater, Hydor Koralia nano 240GPH on the left, a Sicce voyager nano 200 530GPH on the right, and an already cycled Fluval Aqua clear 50 HOB for mechanical filtration. Some Live rock from the 40, complete with a pile of established live rubble, and some old plugs from the back of the 40. Some egg crate for a rack, greenhouse panel for a lid, and its ready to go. It's been running for several weeks now without the light, and I finished up and fitted the light this weekend.

The light is hanging from the shelf above the tank, and the shelf flips upwards to provide plenty of room to work over the tank. I'm going to set up a latch or similar to hold the shelf up while working on the tank, and I should be set. I am, however, finding that the Koralia may be underpowered for this tank- I may be changing it out for a second Sicce Voyager.

(ignore the 5 gallon bucket impromptu stand under my 5.5 gallon, that's temporary until I find a better place to put it, or make a stand for it to sit there better!)

a0924623-899e-4929-ba05-0dbe887d0465.jpeg
 

Johnd651

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This last year I got back into seriously reefing, and decided to supplement my 40 breeder with a more utilitarian "working tank" in order to limit equipment and racks in my display. The 40 has been running for a few years, but I haven't been working on too much in the way of new additions. The beginning of this year I started actively picking up frags again, and Valentine's day my lovely, supportive partner (she is a fish head too- we met while working at a mom and pop pet store while I was the aquatics manager) ordered me an Aqueon 15 gallon from a local store since it was on special, and the dimensions worked well to place under the 40 breeder on my DIY stand. The 15 gallon is perfect, as it is approximately 24x12x12, the same footprint as an Aqueon standard 20 gallon high. Prior to this I was using a 5.5 gallon Aqueon tank as my frag holding tank/quarantine before anything went into my main display, and I pulled it out to put the 15 in it's place.

I DIY all my lighting, so I put together a fixture in an older RapidLED 20" t-slot enclosure, with two BlueAcro halfmega 24 watt pucks, running at 700mA per channel for about ~36 total watts of light for now- I'm going to add some more additional LEDs soon to supplement additional ~420nm violet, some ~460nm, and some cyan as I find them to work very well for coloration and growth.

Overall plan is mostly LPS- Echinopora, Micromussa, Cyphastrea, Leptoseris, Duncans, Euphyllia, and Faviid type corals- I'm not a huge fan of most advanced SPS personally. Some softies will also end up in there too- I have lots of GSP to move soon to make room for more in my display anyway.

For equipment I fitted a Fluval P50 heater, Hydor Koralia nano 240GPH on the left, a Sicce voyager nano 200 530GPH on the right, and an already cycled Fluval Aqua clear 50 HOB for mechanical filtration. Some Live rock from the 40, complete with a pile of established live rubble, and some old plugs from the back of the 40. Some egg crate for a rack, greenhouse panel for a lid, and its ready to go. It's been running for several weeks now without the light, and I finished up and fitted the light this weekend.

The light is hanging from the shelf above the tank, and the shelf flips upwards to provide plenty of room to work over the tank. I'm going to set up a latch or similar to hold the shelf up while working on the tank, and I should be set. I am, however, finding that the Koralia may be underpowered for this tank- I may be changing it out for a second Sicce Voyager.

(ignore the 5 gallon bucket impromptu stand under my 5.5 gallon, that's temporary until I find a better place to put it, or make a stand for it to sit there better!)

a0924623-899e-4929-ba05-0dbe887d0465.jpeg
I saw your note, but first thing I was drawn to was the 5 gallon bucket diy stand. Best bang for the buck.
 

Looking for the spotlight: Do your fish notice the lighting in your reef tank?

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  • My fish seem to occasionally respond to the lighting in my tank.

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  • My fish seem to rarely respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 7 6.9%
  • My fish seem to never respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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  • I don’t have any fish in my tank.

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