Frag tank

[Hinds04]

All of my corals are growing like weeds and I have been having pretty good luck selling frags. I would like to set up a frag tank. Luckily I have everything laying around to set another tank and sump. Is it possible to do a coral only tank if I feed it a small amount once a week or so? Or do I need at least one fish? The whole point of this is quality water and no bad algae. It will be a 20 tall frag tank, cpr overflow, 30 gallon sump full of live rock, mag 9 return, and a koralia 750.

 

[MikeYQM]

Will you have a skimmer?

You don't need a fish. A few snails would help though.

I have a 24 gal running now, Koralia PH, 4 bulb T5 light, Fluval 405 (circulation only) and some LR rubble/Matrix and a heater. Clean water, good flow & good light is what you want. Simpler the better for a frag tank.

 

[Hinds04]

No skimmer, its in the sump for my main system

 

[MikeYQM]

You should be good with regular water changes & light feeding. I don't use one either yet, will probably get one once I go Zeovit/Biopellet on it down the road.

 

[MikeYQM]

You might want to add carbon, either in a bag or better yet a reactor - keep the chemical warfare to a minimum. Otherwise I think you are ready to rock.

What are you going to light it with?

 

[Hinds04]

not 100% sure yet, I have a 40 watt fixture w/ 1 10k and 1 actinic. I dont think that will support much more than low light stuff so I will prob add another light of some sort over the tank. I don’t want to buy a nice fixture for it because I am in the process of a 8’ 240 gallon build and I will probably be buying 2 48” nova extreme pros for that.

The 20 frag tank is now running in the basement. Needs a big water change because the water is a mess. I have the 30 gallon long sump completely filled with live rock and my return. I’m gonna get some egg crate for the frag racks in the 20.

 

[Hinds04]

I think I will put a green chromis in the tank.

 

[PrettyFishies]

You should add a small tang to graze the algae. I get some corals from a frag farm and that's what they use

 

[MikeYQM]

20 tall frag tank. No tang.

 

[Gti_Leo]

who cares if there is algae in a frag tank. its to grow corals so the more algae the cleaner the water will be resulting in a nicer glowth for the corals

 

[Hinds04]

tank is up and running, I picked up a chromis today at my LFS for 4.99. Just trying to do the lighting as cheap as possible. I have a 15 watt light that I used for a refugium once. Its just a cheap light (looks like the heat lamp style). Will that sort of thing work if I were to put four of them over the tank? 60 watts is 60 watts right, no matter the light? or no?

 

[MikeYQM]

Wattage is only one aspect to lighting. Spectrum & intensity are what you are looking for. I'm not a lighting expert by any means, so hopefully someone else can help more, but I doubt it will work.

 

[MikeYQM]

who cares if there is algae in a frag tank. its to grow corals so the more algae the cleaner the water will be resulting in a nicer glowth for the corals

I would think the frag tank should have cleaner water, limiting the algae growth rather than the other way around.

 

[Gti_Leo]

no doubt it would be, why why bother with a CUC i would put maybe a few stars or hermits to lean up any detritus on the bare bottom