starting a frag tank

[maxone]

I am going to attempt to start a frag tank with a 40-gallon breeder and wanted to know if you guys had any tips or recommendations on equipment and things to run or filtration I should use

 

[blaxsun]

Are you planning to run it with a separate sump? (this will help narrow down what equipment)

 

[maleks.reef]

following

 

[maxone]

yes I will probably run a DIY sump or a cheap sump if I find one by cheap i mean price not quality

 

[Stone Tree]

Do you have your tank already? What lights are you using? Will you have leathers? SPS?

 

[maxone]

So far I only have the tank itself which is a 40-gallon breeder and I don't have lights yet and I do plan on keeping SPS mostly want to keep SPS and LPS

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

So far I only have the tank itself which is a 40-gallon breeder and I don't have lights yet and I do plan on keeping SPS mostly want to keep SPS and LPS

whats your main system, i didnt see a build thread. starting a frag tank from scratch with non drilled tank is a tuff one. whats your main system consist of?

 

[maxone]

I have a 20 gallon tank with ai prime hd hydor korralia 600 gph wave maker hang on the back filter with rubble filter floss chemi pure and gfo and i got a purple stlyo 2 ricordea and 2 acans 2 zoas and a candy cane kryptonite a bunch of smal green btas and a mocha storm paired with percula clown lepord wrasse and mandarin dragonete

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I have a 20 gallon tank with ai prime hd hydor korralia 600 gph wave maker hang on the back filter with rubble filter floss chemi pure and gfo and i got a purple stlyo 2 ricordea and 2 acans 2 zoas and a candy cane kryptonite a bunch of smal green btas and a mocha storm paired with percula clown lepord wrasse and mandarin dragonete

Nice you got allot going on in there it sounds good,, theres no way to connect them?

Is there a way to make a build out of the 40 and drill it? Or even siphon overflows are ok if you maintain them.

I've done a few hob tanks and there is just to many benefits to a sump, check out my 20gL build thread I just went thru that.

For making a frag tank I would want heaters, ato, skimmer, reactors and any other equipment not in the tank to have max frag space.. if you take your time and plan it out it will save you in the long run. Good luck!

 

[Tamberav]

Best thing you can do is used aged live rock... not that dry crap. It makes keeping a frag tank so much easier.

I would then just put the same lights over it as your display tank.

 

[maleks.reef]

I have a 20 gallon tank with ai prime hd hydor korralia 600 gph wave maker hang on the back filter with rubble filter floss chemi pure and gfo and i got a purple stlyo 2 ricordea and 2 acans 2 zoas and a candy cane kryptonite a bunch of smal green btas and a mocha storm paired with percula clown lepord wrasse and mandarin dragonete

Off-topic but what does your mandarin eat? If it eats pods how do you maintain a continuous population of pods?

 

[maxone]

Off-topic but what does your mandarin eat? If it eats pods how do you maintain a continuous population of pods?

I guess just a bunch of rock. Every night when lights goo out you can see all the pods floating around which might be due to me sometimes feeding baby brine

 

[Pntbll687]

ok, so here's my take

If you want a frag tank to save frags from your system, connect the two if possible. You could even make the 40 breeder the "sump" with one baffle for a return chamber and the rest is the frag section.

If you want it separate to bring in new frags and quarantine them before going in your display, then keep it separate.

I have a 33 long frag tank sitting beside me in my home office. It's live rock, frag racks, one powerhead, and t5 lights. There's a lawnmower blenny and a chromis in it to keep some bioload. Lights are on a simple timer, and maintenance consists of a 15g water change every week. Theres probably 100 frags in there at the moment, a mixture of lps, zoas, softy, and some montipora. It's simple, grows coral, and enough room to have a good amount of frags, but not large enough to be a burden doing the water changes.

Frag tanks don't have to super complex.

 

[maxone]

what are some cheap t5 fixtures I could get also if I don't plan on keeping anything other than a 6 line wrasse and some shrimp what equipment should I use like reactors things like that?

 

[maxone]

Also, I plan on getting a smaller tank to go under it like a 20 gallon to make a sump and have marine pure blocks reactor with carbon maybe gfo maybe a fuge or not if its overkill also plan on doing t5 lights like coral plus and blue plus and a couple of jebao powerhead and probably have a sicce for a return pump and yes I can drill the tank

 

[Pntbll687]

what are some cheap t5 fixtures I could get also if I don't plan on keeping anything other than a 6 line wrasse and some shrimp what equipment should I use like reactors things like that?

I found a 6 bulb TEK fixture for sale on facebook. You can probably find a cheap one labelled for hydroponics on facebook.

I don't use any type of reactor or anything like that on my frag tank, so I can't provide much help there.

 

[maxone]

why 6 bulb just out of curiosoty

 

[Pntbll687]

why 6 bulb just out of curiosoty

Cause that's what the fixture was. It's over a 33 long, and there's plenty of light that spills out onto the floor. A four bulb would have worked fine.

A six bulb would work better over a 40 breeder since it's wider and you shouldn't lose as much light out the sides.

 

[maxone]

dose any one know the best cheap gfo reactor to use