E Lowther`s Frag Tank Project!

After a very long semester at Iowa State, nothing is better then getting my hand wet and messing around with the reef tank! And what better way to celebrate Christmas then to spoil ones self with an new addition to the reef tank. After weeks of discussing it and planning, I have finally convinced my parents to allow me to start my new frag tank project! Over the last 6 months I have been relatively successful selling coral frags out of my display tank but my dad and I are tired of seeing our display tank cluttered with frags so having the frag tank will give us more room to sell more corals and keep our display tank nice and pretty!  I have planned to use my old 20 gallon long (30" x 12" x 12") as the frag display tank, and I just bought a stand for the tank from Aquatic Environments as well as a Giessman 24" Ready Fit T-5 HO fixture which is the lighting I have chosen to use (Thanks Joe!).
Here are some pics of the tank and stand that I got today. Lights wont be coming in til next Friday.

The frag tank will be set up next to my main tank, so aesthetic appeal is going to be important.

Tomorrow I plan on building my eggcrate shelfing unit but I haven't quite decided on the size or exactly what shape I am going to make. I am still looking for ideas and input on this. Also, before I add a thin layer of sand and water to the tank, I need to drill a hole for the overflow, so most importantly I am hoping that someone out there has experience drilling holes in tanks for overflows and would be willing to give me advice on doing it myself. Right now I am still mainly in the planning stages but I would like to get this up and running in the next 2 weeks seeing as how I am going back to school early January. So for all those people who have done this before, please share some of your knowledge and wisdom and help steer me in the right direction.
Sincerely,     Evan L.

 

I have talked with the guys at my LFS and I decided that I wanted to add sand for several reasons. Firstly the tank is right next to my display tank so I want to have a slightly more natural look and I can always take the sand out if I need too. Secondly, I like the idea of having the extra biological filtration in the frag tank and thirdly, the live sand will help with the buffering of the pH which will also be helpful. To answer your question, we are having this tanked plumbed to the main system, so if you have any advice on how to do that I would like some advice.

 

Blackx-runner:
Yeah the frag tank is going to be sumped to my main tank for the primary filtration. It will also have biological filtration from the sand, and liverock. One question I have is what will be the easiest way to combine the water from my main tank and the frag tank together? I have already made salt water and put it in my frag tank (pics later tonight) but is it better for me to slowly mix the two waters together or do it all at once kind of like a water change?

Majohns:
Thanks Merri! Yeah it was a really good semester at school just waiting for the grades to come out tomorrow but also kind of nervous on one class. It's a good feeling when school is over and you can just relax and play around with the reef tank. I still need to come by and see yours because I haven't seen the new additions of yours since MACNA. I might even have to bring by a little frag for you to help with your collection!

 

Is there any reason why I don't want to put live sand or live rock in the frag tank? I talked with the guys at the aquatic enviorments and we both agreed that having the sand in there was not a horrible idea. Is there something I don't know that I should?

 

To be completely honest Mike, the main reason why I added sand was for aesthetic appeal since the frag tank is right next to my display tank and to provide a more comfortable living environment for the fish that are going to inhabit it. I discussed it with several guys at AE and they said it would be fine. As far as the risk about a cycle, I shouldn't have to deal with that seeing as how all my sand was taken from my display tank and is already cycled. On an different note, I am looking for a good return pump to bring water from the main sump to the frag tank. Any ideas Mike?

P.S. Mike, you can come over any time and pick up your coral from me and help me brainstorm more ideas about the frag tank!

 

Some updates on my frag tank project. I took my 20 gallon tank to Aquatic Enviorments and got the tank drilled for the overflow.











Also, that day I bought some egg crate from Menards and put together my frag rack. I wanted to make sure I had a good amount of room for sps frags and things with plugs but I also planned on having lots of floor space as well so I could put chalices, Zoas, and soft corals as well as giving my clownfish some room to swim.











The tank is being filled as we speak, so I will have some more picks of the tank with water in it tomorrow. Still looking for some advice on return pumps and how to sump the frag tank and the main tank together.

 

I am doing two seperate return pumps for more control of the flow rates in both my main tank, and my frag tank. If you look at the picture from the beginning of the thread, my frag tank is 4 ft high, and about 3 ft off to the side of it. I am not quite sure how I am going to judge what size of return I will need since I the returns pump only really give you info on the vertical rise. There is only one overflow in the frag tank and it is a 1' bulkhead ID. And to answer the last question, my return pump is not going to be the only scource of flow, I also have another small power head to put in the frag tank to eliminate all dead spots.

 

Yeah I couldn't agree more on that, what ever pump I get I will probably get one that is rated for more gph then I need and just throttle it back. I was looking at a Rio 2100 at my local fish store to purchase for my frag return pump. Also, how would you go about combining the water volumes together? Do it all at once, or do it is small amounts at a time?

 

I agree with the first part you said very much, it's something my dad brought up but I overlooked so I will definitely do that. Now, when you said "I would run the water from your frag tank and main tank separately in to your sump." are you saying that they both should have sepearte drains into the sump or they should both have seperate return lines? I am not quite sure what you mean there. My sump is a 20 gallon tall, but currently it only holds about 12-13 gallons when in use, so do you think that it should be able to hold the extra water in the event of a power outage?