Frag Tank Design

[migs]

I am looking to clean up my display tank and move my small frags (that my wife is bugging about) to a new tank. I am looking to build a frag tank, but I thought I would ask about experience and thoughts people might have... What is the depth of the frag tank - 6" or 8"? Also, would LEDs be sufficient? Any substrate needed? What about clean up crew? Any experience and thoughts would be appreciated... Thank you.

[JamesL]

I don't have any direct experience with building/owning a frag tank, but here is what I have seen in others:

- Barebottom .. not much need for sand.

- Various levels of egg crate

- Minimal clean up crew... maybe something to eat some algae. I have seen 6 line wrasses added to eat other bugs.

- Generally shallower than a normal tank.

- Lighting is still pretty important, as you generally are trying to grow out the corals.

- Flow depends on what you are putting in there (i.e. SPS like more flow).

[fishypets]

LED'S would be more than enough and I'd skip the clean up crew.

[cmanning]

If you're planning on attending the next meeting....our meeting coordinators will have extra "Reef Hobbyist Magazines" from the last meeting. Great magazine to get your hands on. In it, there's an interesting article on "Refined Culture: An Acrylic System--Frag Tank. Very clean look and it seems to have work for Jim Adelberg. Or you can go online to view: Reef Magazine

-Cindy-

[mdavis735]

i saw that article.that is some really clean,neat stuff he is doing.

[DaJMasta]

Snails would be OK but with no substrate they're not really all that necessary - no crabs in the CUC certainly. I'd say:

6" depth is all that's needed, but if you want multiple levels for different light levels (mid and low on eggcrates under higher) they could probably get close to 18" deep (I've seen biocubes and other deeper tanks used with just several levels of crate). If I were going to do it I'd probably go 6-8", dunno why.

No substrate, this is mainly mechanically filtered, you want to minimize the hiding spots for bad bugs and thus LR and sand isn't great choices. Keeping a clean looking barebottom tank means you can see possible infestations or other problems in their infancy.

Flow should be varied, ideally variable. You want enough so that detrius does not settle on the bottom, but you definitely want lower and higher flow areas on the egg crate level(s).

I'd look into using a canister filter, carbon may be somewhat optional (though with heavy feeding it's probably not), but filter floss changed regularly and chemipure would be good choices. A skimmer is also advisable and regular water changes are a must. Basically you need water with the quality of natural established live rock filtration, but without any of the rock or associated critters.

LEDs can be sufficient for any system, per watt they are the most powerful options availble. That said, low depth means wide optics, and you still want a variety of lighting conditions (unless you're doing all SPS for example) - multiple egg crate levels can do that, so can the 'spotlight effect' of less wide optics.

There are lots of people with frag tanks and custom built ones at that who have their designs documented well online, there's also pictures of some really amazing large tanks which can help a bit. Try to find an online coral retailer who shows their show frag tank - it won't show you everything, but it will show you something that works.

Edited February 22, 2010 by DaJMasta

[Brooks]

If you're planning on attending the next meeting....our meeting coordinators will have extra "Reef Hobbyist Magazines" from the last meeting. Great magazine to get your hands on. In it, there's an interesting article on "Refined Culture: An Acrylic System--Frag Tank. Very clean look and it seems to have work for Jim Adelberg. Or you can go online to view: Reef Magazine

-Cindy-

+1... that Acrylic is a very nice look. And it is very cheap to make the rack and plugs.