Thinking about starting a frag tank, have a few ?????

[Reefdad]

So I am thinking about starting a frag tank and wanted to get some questions answered. specifically in regards to filtration and lighting.

1. filtration... do you need the same type of filtration as you would in a reef tank (refugium/skimmer/extensive water turnover)? I realize the water quality needs to be good but how does a frag tank differ from a reef tanks filtration? Would a HOB fuge with carbon and micro alge be sufficiant? What are the differences?

2. Lighting... If I were to use mh lighting (what I have on hand) with a low spectrum bulb I assume I will get the fastest growth..Correct? but will using a low spectrum bulb damage or physically take away from the frags colors. Do they need the high spectrum (10k/20k) to mantain their colors or is it just what our eye precieve. so it the frag was moved to a tank with T5's or 10/20k mh would they still have their color?

 

[Vincerama2]

I would think that a frag tank needs exactly the same requirements of a display tank. In fact it might need even better conditions because your are packing it with frags, so there will be less live rock in there to help filter (Unless you put LR on the bottom and place an egg-crate over it to place the frags on).

The frags are small and generally have been recently "fragged" so they need healing. Having many frags in a tank probably means a fair amount of chemical warfare.

I suggest that you still need a QUARANTINE TANK to QT your frags BEFORE they go into the frag tank, unless of course, you are just fragging things from your main tank an trying to grow them out in your frag tank. But incoming frags ALWAYS NEED QT!

As an example, I picked up two Mexican Turbo snails from a fellow reefer to help rid my office tank of red algae...a month later and the tank was INFESTED with flatworms! Two swaps ago, I put my frags in my QT tank and it became flatworm infested! It's a lot easier to dose Flatworm Exit on a 10g QT tank than your massive main tank!


OK, enought about QT. I would put good lights on your frag tank, and definitely a skimmer if you can. HOB with carbon is a good idea too.

I think if you put low K bulbs on for growth, the frags will do fine... I think when they go to a tank with higher K bulbs, they should colour up again.

I'm no expert, but I'd think that a frag tank has the same requirements as a display tank, since you are housing and nurturing corals there. A QT can be less demanding because typically the corals only stay in it for a few weeks. Yes WEEKS. I had some corals QT'ed for a fricken YEAR once...but that was due to laziness on my part, luckily, the QT had MH lights an HOB and a skimmer.

V

 

[nanocube-guy]

Fragging tank is simple, it's like your main tank, but holds frag only. Depends on what you hold like sps, you might need a little intense light for it.

Lighting depends on coral needs, with the right light for sps, if you holding those, you can run metal halide or vho lighting.

Filtration, you can just run the basic like skimmers... Hang on will do... I wouldn't invest too much, just the right stuff to run it right.

That's about it besides finish ogg with eggcrates.