Frag Tank Opinions Wanted!
 

I am going to set up a small frag tank and need some opinions on what I should get. The frag tank will be mostly zoas, and rics, but i MIGHT want some rare sps in the future...

its gotta be small, relatively cheap and easy to take care of.

I was considering going with a glasscages 1/2 15g tank which measures 24"x12.5"x6.5" which sounds like it could make a good frag tank. Another option would be to use just a spair 10g AGA I have lying around. but i do also like the dimensions of an AGA 20 long tank.

Lighting is my biggest debate right now. I was thinking about going with a 24" 4 bulb T5 fixture.. but i also already have in my possesion a 16" 175w MH fixture I dont like that much, and it would need to be suspended.

Filtration will rely on a HOB filter full of LR rubble and a HOB fuge, and weekly water changes. If you can think of a different way of this let me know, im not looking to get really tech. tho.

All of you out there with fragtanks, let me know, and if anyone has stuff they could sell let me know!

Try and do whatever you can to tie it to your main system. It makes the whole process a lot simpler, no worrying about aclimation when moving pieces back and forth between tanks. Also, you don't have to spend money on a whole new system: skimmer, heater, sump, etc. Try and keep your lighting simuliar to you main tank as well. If you don't have a common sump to tie it to you could make the frag tank itself a sump.

Glasscages.com sells frag tanks. You would not believe how cheap (cost wise) they are. They have them starting at I think $40 on up. They are perfect frag tanks. And like Nick stated, if you tie them into your system it's all the easyer to handle.

I agree with adding to your system now. So both tanks match.

The only thing I don't like about the 6" tall tanks is it does not give them corals much growing room, if you have large plugs. But other than that a 175 watt MH would give them a lot of light even if you got a 12" tank.. I was looking at one, but wanted to go 8" tall, for that purposes.

Oh yeah and the Rimless glasscages would be the way I would go. I love there tanks. I have had 2 of them now, and my next one will come from them as well.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11490301#post11490301 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Im Lon 2 [/i]
[B]I agree with adding to your system now. So both tanks match.

The only thing I don't like about the 6" tall tanks is it does not give them corals much growing room, if you have large plugs. But other than that a 175 watt MH would give them a lot of light even if you got a 12" tank.. I was looking at one, but wanted to go 8" tall, for that purposes. [/B][/QUOTE]

I agree with the height issue. My frag tank is 6" and I would like it to be a little taller. Figure the water line will be 1" or so lower and the plug rack 1.5" high you really only have 3.5" inches to work with. this is fine if your just growing zoas and shrooms but limits the height you can get on SPS. It also makes powerhead placement trickier.

Yea I was also concerned with the height issue... and I cant tie it into my main system anymore, I downgraded to just a NC24

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11492224#post11492224 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jarob [/i]
[B]Yea I was also concerned with the height issue... and I cant tie it into my main system anymore, I downgraded to just a NC24 [/B][/QUOTE]

Sure you can. Place the frag tank above the main tank. Use a small power head in the main tank to pump the water up to the frag tank and gravity feed back down.

Hmm, I do like the idea of them being tied together. Im thinking maybe create a refugium for the main tank and the frag tank can be tied into that...? I would rather not have the frag tank above the NC or I would have to use a step ladder to even look in it.

Yes I agree that 6" tall is rather too short, IMO the best height for me would be 10" even and rimmless. I'd love to do a frag tank like that and I could easly add it into my system but I'm just to busy right now with work.