planning a 30 breeder frag tank

[eric b 125]

once i get a couple of vortech mp40's for my 125 (probably wont be until august) i plan on setting up a 30 breeder frag tank. i already have the tank, a light ( 1 X 250 MH, 2 X 96 PC) and will have tons of flow with the 2 korallia 4's and 1 korallia 2 from my existing tank. do you think i will need a skimmer on this tank? i thought since it won't have any fish i could probably do without a skimmer. maybe just a HOB filter? i'll probably add a tunze osmolator to the system too, because there will most likely be a ton of daily evaporation.

 

[nikesb]

your corals,especially lps, will suffer without a decent bioload

 

[btldreef]

I agree, I'd add at least one small fish.

 

[eric b 125]

i suppose you are right. i thought about that last night. it will need to be a small fish that doesnt need sand or rock work. i'm still not sure on what to build the rack with (either egg crate or acrylic) and whether to stagger different shelves or just make a flat rack.
so do you think i will need a skimmer with this set-up?

 

[btldreef]

I don't think a skimmer would be necessary.
There is a guy in our local reef club who used very flat and thin shelf pieces of rock and drilled it out to fit frag plugs and that's what he uses for his frag racks. It's nice to not see the generic plastic rack and it gave him a little extra filtration with the live rock.

 

[spanko]

I would stay away from the eggcrate. There are enough posts out there about some eggcrate leeching phosphates and fueling hair algae outbreaks that it makes me nervous.
Agree with some bioload for the tank though. Maybe an algae blenny?