Frag growout system...design idea

carym · 10-21-2007, 02:59 PM

I have started planning out my new frag growout tank setup and wanted to get your thoughts on the system.

Currently I have a 125 gallon in wall setup with sump, frag growout tank and refugium. The frag growout tank is a 17 gallon acrylic tank. I have tried to draw some plans and just wanted to get everyone oppinion on the design itself, what you might do differently.

Let me try and briefly describe what I am thinking of and then I will add the pics.

1) 2 17 gallon acrylic tanks hooked together.
2) 2 input from main system
3) 2 output to main system
4) a CLS system that has sprayer bars to help move detrius from the bottom of the tank and also just give good water movement.
5) Tanks will be glued together and holes will be drilled between them, at least 3 holes moving water between them.
6) Currently planning on lighting with 2 t-5 lights but might use 1 t-5 and one MH.
7) The blue in the first pictures is the holes between the tanks.

Ok here are the rough drawings, if you have questions about what I am doing just ask.

carym · 10-22-2007, 09:26 AM

bump...any thoughts on this design.

ckusnierek · 10-22-2007, 10:23 AM

Tying it into the main system is a good idea as far as getting the volume. But if your main crashes so does the frag system.

Also make sure since your feeding your sump from 2 sources you have plenty ov extra volume incase of a power outtage.

The other Idea would be to make your frag tanks your sump.

carym · 10-22-2007, 11:49 AM

Yes, I understand that if the main crashes then it would crash everything else, going more for volume here. Also, my current setup has the frag tank plumb'd into the main system. As far as the 2 sources, I currently have 3 sources going into the sump and with the new setups it will be much easier to maintain the proper levels without extra water flowing into the system.

As far as replacing the sump that really isn't an option, I spent to much on that and really don't have the extra room below the tank for these dimensions, also by doing that I wouldn't have a place for the skimmer, heater, etc.

I am making use of the few areas in the room that I have spots to place tanks.

Thanks again for your input, any thoughts on the design itself, the CLS portion etc...

Cary

Harry_Y · 10-22-2007, 02:54 PM

I actually like the idea of totaly independant tanks

Less chance of wipeing everything out on an oops.

I had a opps about a week ago and I though I killed my mushrooms,
they are comming back slowly.

M I N I O N · 10-22-2007, 03:46 PM

I would make it a different system personally. I may makea frag tank sometime and put it in our basement which stays cold all the time, it wouldn't need a chiller. Being that the tank would have hardly any nutrient import, you would be able to get away with just a skimmer,sock, heater and maybe some carbon depending on what you are raising. The idea behind a long skinny tank is that you can have one large pump in place going from one side of the tank to the other. This would give you a constant strong current from one end to the other giving no chance for any source of nitrate to deposite on the bottom. With the tank being shallow, you could also easilly run maybe four T5s from one end to the other.
With a frag only tank, there isn't much possible to go wrong to warrant a huge volume of water.

carym · 10-22-2007, 06:17 PM

I am really trying to keep the tanks in the same room (I have an in wall system and the frag tank will be on a shelf above the tank in the same room). Doesn't really make sense in this case to make it a seperate system, I already have a single one of these tanks already plumbed in.

If I had additional space I wouldn't even be considering this, I would do a seperate tank but we already have a fresh water tank upstairs and really no other place to put one.

Thanks again for the input.

carym · 10-26-2007, 07:36 PM

Any other comments on the design? Want size pump would be recommended for a system this size?

Geoff · 10-27-2007, 09:22 AM

what kind of frags? i would design a SPS frag tank differently than a softie frag tank. they are totally different biotopes.

G~

bogey · 10-27-2007, 10:34 AM

Carym,

Have you considered a single frag tank? Plumbing the two small tanks is more complicated than just replacing the frag tank with a single tank. The picture below are frag tanks that shared a common sump with with my 90 that was located on the other side of the wall. These are 33 longs - 48 X 12 X around 13 high. The plumbing was rather simple. There were two 1" holes drilled at each end for water exit to the sump and two 3/4 holes drilled for water in. The main pump feed was split to feed the frag tanks and lines had ball valves to adjust the water inflow. These single shallow tanks were very easy to get in and out of. If others would post pictures of their frag setups, you might be able to get some ideas you had not thought of. Perhaps this should be in a different thread so that your original thread is kept intact. Hope this helps.

carym · 10-27-2007, 11:41 AM

As far as what I was planning on growing, it was going to be a mixture but with having 2 tanks, I figured I could change the design slightly for growing different types. Since SPS require more flow and better lighting I thought I would put a 150 w MH over that portion and I could do the CLS returns so there was more flow in the one tank over the other. The other tank would be more the softies or LPS's.

The foot print that I have for the area is about 34" x 34" so the two tanks would fit the foot print better than one tank that is longer.

tdwyatt · 10-27-2007, 11:58 AM

K.I.S.S. ( Keep it simple)
shallow (about 12 to 15 inches)
flat
wide, but not so wide you cant reqch the bottom glass from the opposite side.
waist-high so you don't have to bend over to work in the tank on corals
flow to match needs of the type specimens you intend to propagte.
lighting to match the type specimens you intend to propagate , but shallow makes lighting easy.
Use easily removable lights, best suspended above the prop system on pulleys so you can work under the lights by lifting them.
Don't mix biotopes in the same water column.
make water changes easy (will affect how you do your sumps and pumps)
make supplementation of Ca and alk easy and consistant (will affect how you do your supplementation)
Keep this system separate from your main water column (prevents disease and potential alleopathic issues with new frags and will act as a lifeboat for your corals should either system develop issues).

Get a copy of Anthony Calfo's book on the subject, it will give you many tips and suggesetions on how to aaccomplish this effectively depending on what your actual goals are for the propagation system, as there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.

benzzz · 02-26-2008, 08:47 PM

Carym,

Did you decide on what your frag tank design is?
Just looking at your thread because I was thinking of starting a frag tank myself soon.

benzzz · 02-27-2008, 09:58 AM

tdwyatt · 02-27-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckusnierek

Tying it into the main system is a good idea as far as getting the volume. But if your main crashes so does the frag system.

Also make sure since your feeding your sump from 2 sources you have plenty ov extra volume incase of a power outtage.

The other Idea would be to make your frag tanks your sump.

One of the main reasons for most folks to maintain a frag system is to have a lifeboat for your difficult-to-obtain specimens. (If you want more volume in the display system, then make a bigger sump.

Separate your frag system from the main system, it will pay off in the long run.

I might also add that if you are fragging corals, then you will want a bare-bottomed tank for isolating new specimens that you bring in from swaps for a week or two, It needs to be totally separate from your other systems as well.

HTH