Frag Tank
- Thread starter andy51632
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yosemite sam
Active Member
What sorts of corals are you going to be growing in the tank?
reefkprz
Active Member
6 inch deep tank yeah, you could get good growth off any softie, any LPS and even a bunch of lower light SPS as long as you kept your bulbs fresh.
keep in mind throwing a frag of low light LPS that was under the same wattage at a deeper level is going to require light acclimation. water depth Kills light penetration. so moving a frag from, 130w pc at the bottom of a 10g to your new frag tank (6 inches minus rack or sand) is going to at minimum DOUBLE the light they are used to, this can lead to bleaching etcetera. going from 14inches deep in any tank to just under the surface of the water has the potential to shock your frags.. so while you will definatly find PCs the most benificial in shallow water applications (by most benificial I mean the most benificial application for PCs not that they are better for shallow water than any other light.), be aware of transitioning your corals and light acclimate them properly.
keep in mind throwing a frag of low light LPS that was under the same wattage at a deeper level is going to require light acclimation. water depth Kills light penetration. so moving a frag from, 130w pc at the bottom of a 10g to your new frag tank (6 inches minus rack or sand) is going to at minimum DOUBLE the light they are used to, this can lead to bleaching etcetera. going from 14inches deep in any tank to just under the surface of the water has the potential to shock your frags.. so while you will definatly find PCs the most benificial in shallow water applications (by most benificial I mean the most benificial application for PCs not that they are better for shallow water than any other light.), be aware of transitioning your corals and light acclimate them properly.
andy51632
Member
So you are saying if I would raise the frags so they were about 2-3" below the water line the pc lighting would still not have the intensity to grow sps or any coral I wanted?
If not what type of lighting system would I need to get good growth in a 6" high tank? T5? halide? what wattage halide?
This info it very helpful thank you.
If not what type of lighting system would I need to get good growth in a 6" high tank? T5? halide? what wattage halide?
This info it very helpful thank you.
yosemite sam
Active Member
If you want to grow SPS frags, you'll need T5 minimum, you'd be better off with MH.
reefkprz
Active Member
honestly you could probably keep most SPS under that but the growth rate may not be as much as you would want for a frag grow out tank. 6" of water is very little depth penetration. I have never run SPS at 6" under PCs so I cant honestly answer. BUT I can say that with a grow out tank you want to maximize growth rate and reduce cost of operation so your making as much(or more) as your spending on the tank. honestly t-5's would probably suit better for the purpose of a grow out tank as they are more energy efficient thatn PCs (and way more efficient than halides ), you would also be able to keep any SPS under the right amount of t-5s in a 6" deep tank. its really more about the par rating than the wattage.
andy51632
Member
T5's sound good to me. I just had this extra 6x65watt pc light hanging around, that I bought before I learned pc light is not the greatest for corals.
I really did not want to run halides on it because it will be hooked into my main tank which will have 3x250watt HQI. I was worried about a heat issue adding 2 more halides.
Thanks for all the help.
I really did not want to run halides on it because it will be hooked into my main tank which will have 3x250watt HQI. I was worried about a heat issue adding 2 more halides.
Thanks for all the help.
mscarpena
Member
I would go 2 150 halides. It will be cheaper with bulb changes and electric bill. Thats a total of 300 watts and $120 in bulbs per uear and you can grow anything you want as compared to 390 watts of less intesnse light and $210 in bulb changes every 6-9 months. MH seems like a no brainer to me. Especially due to the tank being 18" wide you will need a large bank of T-5's probably like 8 bulbs.
grubsnaek
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
I have that same fixture sitting out in my workshop, I'm going to build a "raceway" filter and use it to grow macros and aiptasia, at some point in the future.
hey reefkprz just wondering why grow aiptasia, arent they the not so good anemones.....
I have that same fixture sitting out in my workshop, I'm going to build a "raceway" filter and use it to grow macros and aiptasia, at some point in the future.
hey reefkprz just wondering why grow aiptasia, arent they the not so good anemones.....
reefkprz
Active Member
they are pests in a display, but they are voracious filter feeders, when properly applied, say in a raceway style filter. slow flow moving all the water through thousands upon thousands of these little stinging eating monsters consuming almost every bit of organics. virtually eliminating the need for protien skimming, thus not depleteing calcium through rigorous skimming (skimmers are exceedingly efficient at removing calcium) run the outgoing water through a UV sterilizer to trap the aip in the filter and you have the best self cleaning mechanical organic filtration ever.
grabbitt
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
they are pests in a display, but they are voracious filter feeders, when properly applied, say in a raceway style filter. slow flow moving all the water through thousands upon thousands of these little stinging eating monsters consuming almost every bit of organics. virtually eliminating the need for protien skimming, thus not depleteing calcium through rigorous skimming (skimmers are exceedingly efficient at removing calcium) run the outgoing water through a UV sterilizer to trap the aip in the filter and you have the best self cleaning mechanical organic filtration ever.
Wow... I'm gonna go ahead and say this wasn't a 'spur of the moment' thing?
Sounds interesting.
they are pests in a display, but they are voracious filter feeders, when properly applied, say in a raceway style filter. slow flow moving all the water through thousands upon thousands of these little stinging eating monsters consuming almost every bit of organics. virtually eliminating the need for protien skimming, thus not depleteing calcium through rigorous skimming (skimmers are exceedingly efficient at removing calcium) run the outgoing water through a UV sterilizer to trap the aip in the filter and you have the best self cleaning mechanical organic filtration ever.
Wow... I'm gonna go ahead and say this wasn't a 'spur of the moment' thing?
Sounds interesting.
grubsnaek
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
they are pests in a display, but they are voracious filter feeders, when properly applied, say in a raceway style filter. slow flow moving all the water through thousands upon thousands of these little stinging eating monsters consuming almost every bit of organics. virtually eliminating the need for protien skimming, thus not depleteing calcium through rigorous skimming (skimmers are exceedingly efficient at removing calcium) run the outgoing water through a UV sterilizer to trap the aip in the filter and you have the best self cleaning mechanical organic filtration ever.
what the hell is a raceway style filter
sorry dont want to hijack this thread, so can u please pm then
they are pests in a display, but they are voracious filter feeders, when properly applied, say in a raceway style filter. slow flow moving all the water through thousands upon thousands of these little stinging eating monsters consuming almost every bit of organics. virtually eliminating the need for protien skimming, thus not depleteing calcium through rigorous skimming (skimmers are exceedingly efficient at removing calcium) run the outgoing water through a UV sterilizer to trap the aip in the filter and you have the best self cleaning mechanical organic filtration ever.
what the hell is a raceway style filter
sorry dont want to hijack this thread, so can u please pm then
reefkprz
Active Member
picture a 6" deep by 2 feet wide by fourt foot long filter like this packed with chaeto and aiptasia with any type of planr lighting you want over it so it can be done really cheap if you dont have a spare set of lights kicking around. the green is chaeto the brown is aip. this is a top view.
reefkprz
Active Member
the brown is aiptasia anemone, thouisands of them. the image is a top view, this makes the water run back and forth so it has to travel MUCH further through the filtration rather than standard sumps/fuges that are just a couple inches travel (say 1 to 3 feet at most for our small tanks)through the fuge section, this is a 36 foot long fuge in a four foot area.