DIY Frag Tank Build

[alyxandria]

Hi there. Boyfriend and I are looking at growing coral and thinking about making our own frag tank with 1/2" acrylic I think. We are both students and we have 10 freshwater tanks for breeding african cichlids and read that corals are good to split and sell. Of course, we are in it more for the fun.

We want to start with easy corals. I have done so much research but there are so many different websites with different opinions so I figured I would ask my questions here.

1) I was thinking 2x4 and 14" deep. Thoughts?

2) I was going to go with two power heads in opposite corners to circulate the flow. Is this good?

3) What kinda of lights are best with which types of corals? I read that there are three different types of corals.

4) What is the best filtration for growing corals?

5) What kinds of corals do you grow and what are your setups like?

Thanks so much look forward to your advice


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[Mebbid]

Wow, first time I've seen somebody take a go at a frag tank in the opposite direction. Usually they start with a reef tank and grow their own corals out before starting fragging

My first thing to point out, is that unless you have a lot of money to drop at the start for corals, getting a fragging setup going is going to take years. Colony sized pieces that are worth fragging can cost upwards of $200-$300+ with very little difficulty. Quick growing coral can take a year or more to reach the size that they are worth fragging if you start with a small frag while slower growing colonies can take significantly longer.

That being said, here are my responses to your questions.

1 - Sounds like a good size to me
2 - Maybe, it depends on the corals you want to frag, size of the powerheads, and how much stuff you will have in the tank.
3 - Taotronic Ebay LEDs are pretty standard affordable lights that can grow pretty much anything. There are 4 main groupings of corals atm. Softies, SPS, LPS, and non photo synthetic.
4 - Live rock, powerheads, and a skimmer
5 - I grow softies, LPS, and SPS in my 90g tank. I have about 80lbs of live rock, 3 powerheads giving me around 35x the tank volume per hour in flow, 240w of LED lighting, protein skimmer, UV Sterilizer, and a 29g refugium growing chaeto and 3 types of caulerpa.

 

[alyxandria]

Thank you. Money isn't really an issue as we have parents that do quite well off and if we can prove we can make money doing this they will definitely cover our startup costs Id we pay them back.

And I know it's a little backwards! We want to do the frags first then eventually build a saltwater reef system. It's more to support our freshwater hobby right now

Ps. Thank you great advice. I'm sure I'll have more questions thought up by morning


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[alyxandria]

Oh! One right now. Which of the four types are easiest and what species of coral do you recommend first?


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[Macscale]

Softies and LPS are the easiest.
SPS are the most needy
Nps just depends.

 

[Mebbid]

The special zoas are probably the easiest and most profitable. They can sell for quite a large amount for each polyp.

 

[Macscale]

The special zoas are probably the easiest and most profitable. They can sell for quite a large amount for each polyp.

+1. If you can get a good group of customers, then you can make some big bucks here. AA has yet to get a real coral seller and I know that a lot of people (including myself) would love that.

 

[alyxandria]

How does this look for a frag tank? I was thinking 24" x 48" x 12" with a built in sump. The circulation pumps would make the water flow from the LS down to the RS with a pump on the end to push it back to the LS through the PVC.

What media would I use? Live rock and some kind of media to keep the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates down?




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[Macscale]

It's called an AIO, if the filtration is in the tank.

I would look into a GFO reactor for a frag tank.

 

[Mebbid]

If youre not keeping any fish in the tank some live rock should be all the filter media you need. You very likely wont even need gfo in that tank. You could very easily get by with just some chaeto to absorb any excess nutrients.

 

[mr_X]

Why not just buy one of these?
Rubbermaid® Structural Foam Stock Tanks, 50 gal. Capacity - Tractor Supply Co.
I use these and they are perfect for frag tanks. No construction necessary. Top down viewing is best anyway. You don't need a sump. Put a few pieces of live rock in it and frag racks for the rest. A small fish or two and you are good to go.

 

[Sniperhank]

A 6-line is a great idea for a frag tank, in hopes it will go after any flatworms and tubeworms that might show up in the system.

 

[alyxandria]

I would go with one of those and I've thought about that but I can't find one in the little Canadian city I live in. Our TSC doesn't have those. I would have to go over to the USA if I had a free couple of hours. I think I am just going to stick with my square plywood and liquid rubber. I like the shape better.

I was thinking about a 6-line. Would I need other filtration media than live rock if I had one?

Also, what gph flow rate should I go with?

The first inhabitant im looking at is a bubble tip anemone.

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[alyxandria]

I ordered 1/4" acrylic to build this instead


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[Mebbid]

I would go with one of those and I've thought about that but I can't find one in the little Canadian city I live in. Our TSC doesn't have those. I would have to go over to the USA if I had a free couple of hours. I think I am just going to stick with my square plywood and liquid rubber. I like the shape better.

I was thinking about a 6-line. Would I need other filtration media than live rock if I had one?

Also, what gph flow rate should I go with?

The first inhabitant im looking at is a bubble tip anemone.

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10x to 40x the tank volume per hour is what is generally recommended for a tank. As for the bubble tip, I would wait and let the tank mature a bit before trying one of those. It's recommended to wait at least 6 months before attempting one in a tank.

 

[alyxandria]

What would be the best option for filtration on a 60G frag tank? I'm thinking zoanthids now.


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[alyxandria]

Going to go with a sump with live rock, protein skimmer, bubble trap, and return pump. What size tank should I use for this? Just whatever it all fits in?

I'm also going to order two circulation pump at 1200 gph. Should I place these to rotate the water around the tank or should I get three and zig zag the water?

Also going to get some T5 lighting. Any recommendations as to which bulbs and colours to use for growing corals?

Also, is it ok to use a protein skimmer rated for 530gph?

Thanks


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