New Frag Setup

Manic

Manic

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So after my mushrooms in my main tank started multiplying like crazy and popping up everywhere, I thought to myself how hard can it be to set up a tank to grow only corals in. So after much thought I decided to just take the plunge. So here is what my setup consists of so far. Any comments would be appreciated.

Main tank: 800mm X 800mm X 300mm Deep (Water Level at 250mm)
Sump: 900mm X 300mm X 350mm Deep
Total water volume is about 220L

Sump has 4 compartments: First with filter floss and Heater (Will add purigen or chemi-pure elite at a later stage), Second Live Rock, Third DSB (15cm Deep), Fourth return pump

Lighting: Got a lighting unit with the following lights built in:
1 x MH 250W 20 000K
2 x T5 39W each 10 000K

Would've prefered a 10000K MH and actnic T5's but it is what the unit come with. Will swop the globes when they need replacing.

Not going to run a skimmer as I have heard that soft corals will grow faster with some nutrients in the water.

I'll post some pics tomorrow, just waiting for the camera to charge.
 
Your lighting is a bit blue especially if you want corals to grow fast which is the aim of a propagation tank. Try and get 1000K lighting or lower.
 
Thats what I thought. Although I have heard that the 20000K MH helps coral to obtain a more vibrant colour. I will change the MH to either a 10K or lower though. It's first on my list of things to buy.
 
pics !!!!
 
So haven't posted anything about my frag tank in a while but here is where I am at the moment.

My one frag tank (800mm x 800mm x 300mm) which has a 3ft sump with a 20Kg Live rock, dsb, purigen, filter floss, return pump and auto top up unit.
(Busy building my algae scrubber)

The lighing for the tank is a 150W MH (20 000K) and 2 x 10 000K 39W T5's.
Changing globes to 10 000K MH and one 20 000K T5 and one actinic T5.

So now my frag tank is pretty much fill with zoa's, Xenias and mushrooms, so I'm busy piping in a 3ft tank to give me more space.

So I can get a sky light for free. Has anyone had any success with using a skylight to grow corals. I want to use the lighting unit I have on the 3ft and the skylight for my other tank. Looks aren't really important so don't really care if the tank looks yellow (Will supplement the light from the skylight with 20 000K T5's)

Just wanna know if a skylight will work. The room that the tanks are in is north facing so it gets a lot of light all day.
 
I skylight will definately work. You may have to add blue light now to compensate but not a lot and keep an eye on the tank temperature
 
pics please
 
So here are some pics, been running around all day trying to get a 3ft tank and a daimond coated holesaw. Still have to plumb the 3ft in, just waiting for some silicon to dry.

17284a40f41421009.jpg


17284a40f437aee19.jpg


Excuse the wiring, gonna tidy it up tomorrow. All my mushroom frags are on my dsb. Find they grow faster with the low flow and energy saver light. They don't really like my MH in the main tank.

Not using a skimmer as all the corals I have at the moment prefer nutrient rich water. When I move over to sps I'll get a good skimmer.

I'm building my algae scrubber and will put it in on the weekend.
 
Nice looking setup you have there.
 
Tony said:
Nice looking setup you have there.
Click to expand...
Thanks man.

Another question. Should I get the tube of the skylight put in so that it goes further down past the roof, because I was thinking if the tube stops at roof level then the light will be dispursed to much. If the tube stops about a meter before the tanks water level then the light will be more concentrated.

I want to move the the current light unit in the picture over to the 3ft tank and use a skylight for the other tank.
 
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