My 20L frag tank build.

[glennr1978]

Since my 40g is completely packed full of corals i figured it would be a good idea to start up a frag tank. I want to keep this one as simple as possible while keeping the maintenance low too.

What I've come up with is a 20g "long" tank. I'm using a Tunze 9002 skimmer, a Tunze nanostream 6025 powerhead that is modded to produce 1100gph output, and a Sundial 4x's 24w T5 light fixure. I haven't decided on an exact combo to replace the stock bulbs with, but they definitely will be replaced before the first frag is ever dropped into the tank.

The only things I'm currently lacking is a heater, and an ATO.

I probably should dub this tank "the black tank" since alot of it has been painted. All of the equipment, the frag racks, live rock shelf, back of the tank, and bottom of the tank have been painted black with Krylon Fusion.

The tank will be set up BB with very little actually touching the bottom of the tank. Even the LR will be suspended.

Here's a few pics.

This is what I'm starting with..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01101.jpg

Only going to be using one of these..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01099.jpg

Skimmer..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01111.jpg

Frag racks..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01125.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01124.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01123.jpg

Black racks..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01173.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01177.jpg

As recommended by quite a few people on another forum I added a little security. Frags falling under the racks will not be a problem now.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01259.jpg

Live rock rack..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01266.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01267.jpg

Back painted black..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01176.jpg

Bottom painted black..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01273.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01272.jpg

Everything painted black!!
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01270.jpg

This is where I'm at so far. The tank will be up and cycling by this weekend w/ approximately 20ish lbs of live rock. My light should be here by early next week too. If any of you have any suggestions for a bulb combo I would appreciate it. I'll be housing mainly SPS and obviously I want to maximize growth and coloring.

[glennr1978]

Here's the reason for starting this tank..
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01178.jpg

and there will be plenty more to come once I have the room available.

[rockmp]

nice setup. keep us posted.

[Rychek]

If any of you have any suggestions for a bulb combo I would appreciate it. I'll be housing mainly SPS and obviously I want to maximize growth and coloring.

If it were me, I would go with a bulb combo along the lines of (front to back)

ATI Blue Plus (~336 par)
UVL Aquasun 10K (~345)
UVL Super Actinic (~210)
ATI Blue Plus (~336 par)

Actual par may be a little lower with the light fixture you're using, but you get the idea.

[cpreefguy]

Looks awesome!

[olaggie01]

If you are looking for strictly growth, go with more 10k temp lamps, if you are looking for good color, go with more 20k. I really like the 22k lamp from AquaScience. I'd skip the actinic though. T5 actinics are terrible IMHO.

[glennr1978]

Looks awesome!


Thanks!! If I don't add a HOB fuge I will just use a little soapdish chaeto holder. Of course, I will carry on with the theme of the tank and paint it black too, lol.



I appreciate the input on the bulb selection guys, keep it coming!!

[cpreefguy]

I have always liked the modded aquaclear-refugiums:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=679159&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

http://mini-reef.blogspot.com/2008/06/photos-diy-aquaclear-refugium.html

[glennr1978]

I have always liked the modded aquaclear-refugiums:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=679159&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

http://mini-reef.blogspot.com/2008/06/photos-diy-aquaclear-refugium.html

Thanks for the link, I've heard of the AC fuge mod, but never really looked into it. It seems pretty simple and will fit my application perfectly!!

[cpreefguy]

Plus, it looks easy to spray paint black! :D

[glennr1978]

Plus, it looks easy to spray paint black! :D


Think I should, lol!?!?!?!

[Gseclipse02]

nice looking set up

[glennr1978]

nice looking set up

thanks!

[LoneStar]

Thats a nice looking setup. :)

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

cool set up ,that aquaclear fuge works good for me ive been running mine for about 4 years now and i like its very easy to mod. good luck

[glennr1978]

I made a little more progress today...

The stand is built, and I took a little different route than the norm. The stand itself is 48" tall, and with the tank the whole thing tops out at 5'. I wanted it tall for two reasons. First and foremost being that I need to be able to keep the tank well out of my two year old daughters reach. Secondly, I wanted the tank up fairly high so that I won't have to bend over much (or at all actually) to look inside. The third reason is that the tank will be going in my laundry room that links in between my house and my garage. The path through the laundry room is pretty narrow so having the tank up high helps in that department too. If someone were to walk through carrying a bag of groceries osr something like that they will most likely only bump the stand and not the tank itself.

90% of the stand is built out of 1"x4"s, and the way it's all put together it's very solid. It will definitely be strong enough to hold a 200lbs tank. The only thing I was concerned about with having the center of gravity being so high is the tank crashing to the ground if the stand was bumped hard enough. So I added a couple of cross beams that will be anchored to the studs in the wall for a little added insurance. It should work out pretty well if you ask me.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01359.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01362.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01365-1.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p103/glennr1978/DSC01366.jpg

Don't mind the disaster that I call a garage. I swear, I WILL get it in order one of these days!!!

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

cool DOS EQUIS SIGN LOL ,what are you gonna be ***ging

[glennr1978]

mostly SPS from my 40g. maybe some zoos too if I can find some decent ones at a good price.

[aggman]

hey glenn, eric got some of those mean green's at the haven all fragged up. i think he said they were like 15-20 bucks. and they got some nice red ones, don't know what they are called though...

~alex

[Calvert13]

Holy crap Glen I just noticed this thread ..FREAG'N AWESOME!


Can't wait to see the updates on this thread.:bigsmile:

[sharkboy]

Nice indeed!!!! What are you doing for calcium upkeep?

[glennr1978]

Nice indeed!!!! What are you doing for calcium upkeep?

nothing yet. i will probably be dosing B-Ionics manually, or i may rig up another dosing pump system like I did on my 40g.

[jc]

Very nice. This thread has got me daydreaming about my own frag tank. I have some questions. Why do you need a skimmer? Do the corals give off enough waste that a skimmer is necessary? I can't imagine that coral frags would suck up that much calcium. Would a 2-part system be enough? Why can't you add some cheato off to the side instead of modding the filter? Does anyone else have a frag tank they can share pics of?

[glennr1978]

I really need to update this thread with some ics, I'll get on that soon. Concerning the skimmer, I'll put it like this....I've had it running for a few days now, and it has already pulled some decent skimmate. It's not the darkest, nastiest skimmate ever, but considering my nonexistent bio-load, it's pretty good.

I plan to have a decent amount of SPS in the tank (I already have about 20 frags waiting to go) once it's ready. Since the water volume is so small, and housing as many Ca depleting corals as this tank will, yes, I think dosing will be a must. Obviously Ill be testing whatever I dose, and if dosing isn't necessary than I won't dose at all!!

I bought a little AC30 from a member of another forum for $10. I put a little bag of ROX carbon and GFO in it, with a little golf ball size chunk of cheato.

[reefer man]

man thats really nice good luck

[jpond83]

nice setup

[tony]

LOVE it!!!

[aggman]

I really need to update this thread with some ics, I'll get on that soon. Concerning the skimmer, I'll put it like this....I've had it running for a few days now, and it has already pulled some decent skimmate. It's not the darkest, nastiest skimmate ever, but considering my nonexistent bio-load, it's pretty good.

I plan to have a decent amount of SPS in the tank (I already have about 20 frags waiting to go) once it's ready. Since the water volume is so small, and housing as many Ca depleting corals as this tank will, yes, I think dosing will be a must. Obviously Ill be testing whatever I dose, and if dosing isn't necessary than I won't dose at all!!

I bought a little AC30 from a member of another forum for $10. I put a little bag of ROX carbon and GFO in it, with a little golf ball size chunk of cheato.

got any updates? this tank should be rockin' right about now. can't wait to see what how the finished product turned out...

~alex

[ErikH]

Holy cow that looks so clean! Nice cha-ching on the Tunze stuff!

[BioCube14]

How is the black paint holding up on the eggcrate? I have always wanted to do this but not sure how it holds up

[glennr1978]

How is the black paint holding up on the eggcrate? I have always wanted to do this but not sure how it holds up

so far so good! I've had a little GHA outbreak that I'm about to tackle. Also finally added a few more frags to the tank. Pics coming soon.

[kenny01]

looks amazing, wish I had the room

[Troutmasters02]

Looks great! Now that you've come close to finishing would you do anything different?

Thinking of starting a frag tank when I get a little extra money. :hypnotyized:

[Jarob]

Nice frag racks, i like that stye. I just/am building a 20 long prop tank, might make a thread. cant wait to see yours all set up

[joelb]

good job! i have a 20g long just lying around. :)

[glennr1978]

Due to the new addition to my family something had to give and unfortunately, it was the frag tank. Chasing a 2 year old while taking care of a newborn is alot of work. So much so that I've decided I only want to have one tank to take care of!!

[aggman]

aww, that sux. but way cool at the same time. yeah i can see how need to scale back a little. my 1 tank is difficult enough-i can't imagine what it's like with two babies in the house. well, hopefully all is well with the mrs.'s and your kids. good luck with everything.:bigsmile:

~alex

[Goofball310]

i was totally looking forward to an updated pic.

congrat's on the new addition to the family!

[alliedag85]

sweet looking tank. what kind of skimer is that?