The cheapo Frag tank.......

reefforbrains

Active Member
Seen quite a few folks looking to build frag tanks.
I am certainly no expert but I just wanted to post a video of a cheap frag tank ANYONE can build. Get a taste of growing before spending rediculous amounts of money or time trying something you might not even like.
You can see in the video all the parts, nothing fancy.
Built from Wal-mart and Home depot misc bits.
Egg Crate
Rubbermaid tub
PVC pipe
Homeade overflow/drain
HOB for carbon (not actually needed)
Old Skimmer (not actually needed)
Let the critics have at it.............. Praise it or tear it apart please.
I was happy with a few cheapo innovations I used, embarrassed by others but see the video and judge for yourself.
Its Ghetto, but it works
 

jaymz

Member
Does the set up always play that music? I think the frags would find it soothing and grow quicker in the more comfortable environment.
 

nano reefer

Active Member
can you describe the plumbing? like how the water drains out of the tank and stuffs. maybe a more detailed video for those of us who are interested.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I only have "questions" with it... One is the depth. Your frags don't have much grow out room before they are out of the water, or at least that's what it looks like.

And my other is, what kinda lighting do you have on it? I ask cause I have an eggcrate high in my tank to set frags until I find a spot for them, and I've noticed that they don't like being that close to the light at all! All their blues and purples brown out.
Oh but I do love the music.
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
Depth-
Since it drains from the center mounted pipe. I made it a slip fit into its home so it is adjustable just by pushing it in or slipping it back out to adjust depth in grow tank.
Lighting-
Lighting was 10 48inch T5. Just mounted in cheapo OSB box mounted from plant hook on the ceiling. Box was painted black outside but inside I got lazy and didnt even touch it. Lights all individual reflectors.
Someone was asking about the plumbing route.
There was two different methods I used. First was a larger rubbermaid tub filled with live rock and sand. Folks complain about the rubbermaid tubs bowing and being unstable but to correct this keep the lid on. Cut holes as needed for plumbing but keep outside rim intact and they are much more stable.
Second version was a 20g homeade sump.
Pump is the Little-Giant about 2k GPH. Since it was not submersible I used it to pull from the sump like a misquito and push to back to the tank through the skimmer. Since all the equip was total overkill, the drop in flow from having to pull its flow was not even noticable. Ridgid plumbing prevented the pump from collapsing the intake or hurting anything.
There is a gate valve between the pump and the skimmer that runs BACK to the sump so flow could be diverted for hard plumbed waterchanges with ease.
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2684610
How much did all this cost you? It doesn't look ghetto at all! It actually looks very nice.

It is hard to put a pricetag on something since I had so much misc laying around.
The skimmer was from the closet, the Pump was leftover from another tank. Even the lighting was left over from something else.
The tub for display was like 8 bucks and the tote for the sump was around 5 bucks. (clearance shtuffs)
I build the bulkheads myself and the PVC is dirt cheap.
Oh yeah. 12 bucks for a sheet of eggcrate.
For the rock, remember my little reef with rockwork to the waterline? I just pulled rock from it.
 

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by ReefForBrains
http:///forum/post/2684621
It is hard to put a pricetag on something since I had so much misc laying around.
The skimmer was from the closet, the Pump was leftover from another tank. Even the lighting was left over from something else.
The tub for display was like 8 bucks and the tote for the sump was around 5 bucks. (clearance shtuffs)
I build the bulkheads myself and the PVC is dirt cheap.
Oh yeah. 12 bucks for a sheet of eggcrate.
For the rock, remember my little reef with rockwork to the waterline? I just pulled rock from it.
Oh, ok. Hey, where did you get the eggcrate? I was at wall-mart and IKEA for a few hours looking for it and didn't find it.
 
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