History: "Isolated" frag tank experiment (trial and error) for almost a year.
Equipment
1.) Frag Tank: Advanced Acrylic dimensions approx 24" x 21" x 12"
(Water volume initially 10 gallons but now maintain it around 15 gallons--now just about an inch below the top of the acrylic)
2.)Lighting: initially with LED's and then switched to ATI 6 bulb fixture
3.) Plumbing: None
4.) Powerhead: WP25 Jebao
5.) Filtration: Santa Monica Uphill Algae Scrubber, Japanese Ceramic super duper cylinders (I could not acquire detox blocks)
6.) Auto Top Off: Tunze osmolator
7.)Doser: Bubble Magus, E.S.V. Bionic 2-Part (Alkalinity and Calcium)
8.) Bare Bottom: only kind of, I have two small tupperware containers with sand about 4 inches deep that sit in two corners of the tank And can't forget that the japanese ceramic cylinders sit on the tank bottom.
9.) Livestock: no fish, three snails and a gazillion new babies, one very recently placed emerald crab. Otherwise, sps and lps frags on acrylic frag racks (Blue Glow)
10.) Sump: None
11.) Water changes: 5 gallons of new saltwater weekly (1/3 water volume)
12.) Feeding: A few NLS pellets daily and I just started (this week) with Acropower
The goal of the frag tank was to be a separate system where I could raise frags for profit and fun. To trade, swap, sell or give away frags that were nicely encrusted, healthy and colored up.
I was unwilling to place the frag tank next to my display because I wanted to maintain the room decorum (its a game room, not really a fish room). So the only place for this frag tank was on the top of a bathroom counter, and way to remote to connect to the display (at least given my plumbing and construction skills)
I started with LEDs because I wanted to be cool with the latest lighting. Problem is I could not photograph anything with all that blue, so I gave up the LEDs pretty quickly and bought the used ATi 6 bulb fixture. I started out by hanging it high, then brought it down to about 8 inches over the frag tank and now I have moved it up about 14-16 inches above the water line. I do not have a par meter but thought I might be just hitting the coral with too much light. Keep in mind that the coral are anywhere from an inch to just a few inches below the waterline.
Water circulation is by a Jebao WP25 powerhead (set on ELSE, full blast) and I am not sure if I am getting laminar flow, random flow or what not, but I do have a lot of flow with some dead spots nonetheless.
Filtration is by an UAS (uphill algae scrubber) and my 1/3 weekly water volume changes. I just did not want to add a protein skimmer and thought maybe this UAS would be really cool. Plus the 1/3 water volume exchanges would hopefully remove all the yuck that a protein skimmer would. With the bare bottom, I find piles of detritus that I suction out weekly. The UAS grows primarily hair algae as well as this really hard red and green algae that remains quite short. I trim the hair algae every two weeks, not a ton of it but some (I just yank on it to remove). The really hard red and green algae does not really lift off well and it seems to not allow hair algae to impede on its space. I initially used old display water for my water changes but prefer new saltwater now. I could not get happy corals until I added the two tupperware containers with sand. Whether it was the age of the tank or the sand, the difference has been remarkable. The sand (10 pounds) was added I think just a couple months ago in the containers. The japanese ceramic cylinders seem to provide the same biological filtration as live rock, at least that is what my thought is on that topic.
I tried manually dosing but threw the towel in months ago and switched to a bubble magus doser with ESV Bionic 2 part
I don't have any fish because the Jebao WP25 literally cuts the tank in half with flow and I did not think that a nice environment for fish
I feed a few NLS pellets daily because there is no fish poop to go around so I thought this would make sense. I have read some of the reviews on Acropower and although I have been resistant to supplements decided to add this to the sump in hopes it would improve everything from polyp extension, growth, color and water flow. Just kidding on the water flow. What really happened is that I got caught up on hype and now that I bought the stuff, I will try it out. I have seemingly had great growth, color, polyp extension and water flow in my display with only feeding my fish and not using amino acids or any other type of food supplement.
Well, I have been experimenting with this frag tank for a year and am finally beginning to see growth, color and polyp extension. It is not fabulous but it is improving. I am intrigued by nano and pico reefers, I really do not know how anyone can do that.
As the weeks and months go by, I will start adding more frags and share some pictures. I have a decent amount of frags in there now but I really want their colors to pop. I am still hopeful that they will eventually. Oh, in terms of LPS, I have a few chalices but they really have not grown all that much in the tank. As for some other LPS, my space invader frags are really happy in there, puffed out and growing. Not sure if it is too much light for the chalices (which I assume it is) or just water that may be too clean.
Equipment
1.) Frag Tank: Advanced Acrylic dimensions approx 24" x 21" x 12"
(Water volume initially 10 gallons but now maintain it around 15 gallons--now just about an inch below the top of the acrylic)
2.)Lighting: initially with LED's and then switched to ATI 6 bulb fixture
3.) Plumbing: None
4.) Powerhead: WP25 Jebao
5.) Filtration: Santa Monica Uphill Algae Scrubber, Japanese Ceramic super duper cylinders (I could not acquire detox blocks)
6.) Auto Top Off: Tunze osmolator
7.)Doser: Bubble Magus, E.S.V. Bionic 2-Part (Alkalinity and Calcium)
8.) Bare Bottom: only kind of, I have two small tupperware containers with sand about 4 inches deep that sit in two corners of the tank And can't forget that the japanese ceramic cylinders sit on the tank bottom.
9.) Livestock: no fish, three snails and a gazillion new babies, one very recently placed emerald crab. Otherwise, sps and lps frags on acrylic frag racks (Blue Glow)
10.) Sump: None
11.) Water changes: 5 gallons of new saltwater weekly (1/3 water volume)
12.) Feeding: A few NLS pellets daily and I just started (this week) with Acropower
The goal of the frag tank was to be a separate system where I could raise frags for profit and fun. To trade, swap, sell or give away frags that were nicely encrusted, healthy and colored up.
I was unwilling to place the frag tank next to my display because I wanted to maintain the room decorum (its a game room, not really a fish room). So the only place for this frag tank was on the top of a bathroom counter, and way to remote to connect to the display (at least given my plumbing and construction skills)
I started with LEDs because I wanted to be cool with the latest lighting. Problem is I could not photograph anything with all that blue, so I gave up the LEDs pretty quickly and bought the used ATi 6 bulb fixture. I started out by hanging it high, then brought it down to about 8 inches over the frag tank and now I have moved it up about 14-16 inches above the water line. I do not have a par meter but thought I might be just hitting the coral with too much light. Keep in mind that the coral are anywhere from an inch to just a few inches below the waterline.
Water circulation is by a Jebao WP25 powerhead (set on ELSE, full blast) and I am not sure if I am getting laminar flow, random flow or what not, but I do have a lot of flow with some dead spots nonetheless.
Filtration is by an UAS (uphill algae scrubber) and my 1/3 weekly water volume changes. I just did not want to add a protein skimmer and thought maybe this UAS would be really cool. Plus the 1/3 water volume exchanges would hopefully remove all the yuck that a protein skimmer would. With the bare bottom, I find piles of detritus that I suction out weekly. The UAS grows primarily hair algae as well as this really hard red and green algae that remains quite short. I trim the hair algae every two weeks, not a ton of it but some (I just yank on it to remove). The really hard red and green algae does not really lift off well and it seems to not allow hair algae to impede on its space. I initially used old display water for my water changes but prefer new saltwater now. I could not get happy corals until I added the two tupperware containers with sand. Whether it was the age of the tank or the sand, the difference has been remarkable. The sand (10 pounds) was added I think just a couple months ago in the containers. The japanese ceramic cylinders seem to provide the same biological filtration as live rock, at least that is what my thought is on that topic.
I tried manually dosing but threw the towel in months ago and switched to a bubble magus doser with ESV Bionic 2 part
I don't have any fish because the Jebao WP25 literally cuts the tank in half with flow and I did not think that a nice environment for fish
I feed a few NLS pellets daily because there is no fish poop to go around so I thought this would make sense. I have read some of the reviews on Acropower and although I have been resistant to supplements decided to add this to the sump in hopes it would improve everything from polyp extension, growth, color and water flow. Just kidding on the water flow. What really happened is that I got caught up on hype and now that I bought the stuff, I will try it out. I have seemingly had great growth, color, polyp extension and water flow in my display with only feeding my fish and not using amino acids or any other type of food supplement.
Well, I have been experimenting with this frag tank for a year and am finally beginning to see growth, color and polyp extension. It is not fabulous but it is improving. I am intrigued by nano and pico reefers, I really do not know how anyone can do that.
As the weeks and months go by, I will start adding more frags and share some pictures. I have a decent amount of frags in there now but I really want their colors to pop. I am still hopeful that they will eventually. Oh, in terms of LPS, I have a few chalices but they really have not grown all that much in the tank. As for some other LPS, my space invader frags are really happy in there, puffed out and growing. Not sure if it is too much light for the chalices (which I assume it is) or just water that may be too clean.
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