Talk to me about frag tanks.consodering starting one.

southerntnreefer

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Hey all. I have a biocube 32 in my office. My wife has high love of acans and zoas. There's only so much room in my reef. We're trying to make a choice on the biocube anyways. Talk to me about starting say a 40 breeder frag tank. What's the best start? I'd add her set of clans and the 40 lbs of reef rock that's been in that tank for over 3 years.
 

xxkenny90xx

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If your adding your established live rock then you should be in good shape. Did you have a specific question?
 
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southerntnreefer

southerntnreefer

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If your adding your established live rock then you should be in good shape. Did you have a specific question?
Also skimmer or no see or just fuge? I'd like to mostly allow her collection of zoas to grow as well as possibly acans and other such items
 

xxkenny90xx

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Good size etc. Considering a 40 breeder or something, as I can get it cheap at petco etc.
40 breeders are great tanks. Very popular. I personally would prefer a very shallow lagoon type frag tank so I could look down on the corals but you won't be getting one of those for $40.

Also skimmer or no see or just fuge? I'd like to mostly allow her collection of zoas to grow as well as possibly acans and other such items
That really just depends on how your bioload/parameters are looking once the tank is up and running. For filtration I like live rock, fuge, and a skimmer (in that order). But you may not end up needed all 3 if your levels are looking good.

Refugium would be fun and is a good place to breed pods and maybe even keep a critter that wouldn't work out around your corals.

Also a good skimmer is very easy, low maintenance, and effective.

So basically imo fuge=high maintenance and fun

Skimmer=low maintenance

Both are very effective and if you pack a bunch of fish in there you might want both
 
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southerntnreefer

southerntnreefer

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40 breeders are great tanks. Very popular. I personally would prefer a very shallow lagoon type frag tank so I could look down on the corals but you won't be getting one of those for $40.


That really just depends on how your bioload/parameters are looking once the tank is up and running. For filtration I like live rock, fuge, and a skimmer (in that order). But you may not end up needed all 3 if your levels are looking good.

Refugium would be fun and is a good place to breed pods and maybe even keep a critter that wouldn't work out around your corals.

Also a good skimmer is very easy, low maintenance, and effective.

So basically imo fuge=high maintenance and fun

Skimmer=low maintenance

Both are very effective and if you pack a bunch of fish in there you might want both
Mostly I want an easy ish to take care of tank. Something that won't crash if I leave it in !y daughters care for the week. Not wanting alot of fish in it, as I hsve a reef already. Just somewhere to put zoa's and acans ando other things my wife wants that I can't fit
 

Imaexpat2

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Im using a rack system with 2 x 20H tanks. I am kinda tight on space and 24 inch lights are pretty cheap to come by and a very common size as such. One is set up for LPS/Zoa's the other is SPS only with much higher flow and is hooked up to a 10 gallon sump, no skimmer but large macro algae section instead. The LPS tank has a single LumiLite Pro Actinic light and the SPS tank has 2 x Lumi Lite Pro actinic and one of their 50/50 light strips. If I had the space I would have rather went with 40 Breeder if a Low Boy wasnt a option.
 
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southerntnreefer

southerntnreefer

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Im using a rack system with 2 x 20H tanks. I am kinda tight on space and 24 inch lights are pretty cheap to come by and a very common size as such. One is set up for LPS/Zoa's the other is SPS only with much higher flow and is hooked up to a 10 gallon sump, no skimmer but large macro algae section instead. The LPS tank has a single LumiLite Pro Actinic light and the SPS tank has 2 x Lumi Lite Pro actinic and one of their 50/50 light strips. If I had the space I would have rather went with 40 Breeder if a Low Boy wasnt a optid be after
Id be after scans, zoa's and other lps really for a frag tank. At that point is a skimmer really worth it?
 

Imaexpat2

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With proper filter maintenace and water changes I say no. But unlike a lot of reefers I aint dumping boat loads of foods into my tanks to try and get my corals to grow a milimeter faster either! As long as you can keep your water chemistry in acceptable ranges and as stabile as possible to be more important than if I have a skimmer or not. That being said....I only have a pair of Banggia's in two of my tanks the rest are fishless and corals only, so very light bioload. I am sure that line of thinking puts me in the minority here.
 
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southerntnreefer

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With proper filter maintenace and water changes I say no. But unlike a lot of reefers I aint dumping boat loads of foods into my tanks to try and get my corals to grow a milimeter faster either! As long as you can keep your water chemistry in acceptable ranges and as stabile as possible to be more important than if I have a skimmer or not. That being said....I only have a pair of Banggia's in two of my tanks the rest are fishless and corals only, so very light bioload. I am sure that line of thinking puts me in the minority here.
I'd likely just put a pair of clowns that are in my wife's tank in there, and maybe a wrasse
 
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