$30 Prop tank

[d.grcich]

If anybody read my earlier post, tank and stand were found being thrown out. So with my Menards bill I got around $30 into this right now.

I came up with an idea for a adjustable rack type Zoanthid prop tank basically because when I sketched shelves out on paper I could not find a way to maximize light for a large amount of frags. The first shelf gets most and reseeds from there. So this is what I came up with.

It has interchangeable sections like the drop down square for lower light propagation as in mushrooms or some zoa's. Also that makes cleaning and maintenance easy being able to remove sections. It raises to the top for pictures or to really bath in light.

I have not decided on a filtration method yet. Probably live rock rubble on the bottom and a canister filter.

I have a MH 175w 14000k or a compact 50/50 set up I can run for lighting. I would like to use the MH for my reef tank but will have to do some research on what zoa's like best for procreation.

Any one have any experience useing these lights for this purpose?

I will update as the tank progresses. Any ideas or sugestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[ficklefins]

Dave,

I think that in terms of lighting there are two different worlds. The show tank and the prop tank.

From what I have heard you will get better growth when your lights are near 6500K. Your zoas will look like crap but will grow like weeds. Keep in mind that I have not tried this myself so this is just what I've heard. I've also heard that people who sell zoas from their prop tank will have "selling lights". They turn these lights on for the last 2 weeks to bring out better colors in their corals before they sell them (aka 14K or 20K).

If you want to get some good ideas on propagation tanks check out the audio or video talk by Anthony Calfo on www.reefvideos.com .

 

[143gadgets]

NIce! I love the rack!

 

[organism]

I'd go with some larger pieces of live rock in there, as large as possible that way you get great denitrification from the anaerobic centers, and they make it amazingly easier to vacuum out the tank when you need to, which should be pretty often

very cool find too, congratulations!

 

[d.grcich]

I found my design is slightly flawed. It works great for my compact lighting since the mount fits between the uprights of the rack. Hanging a MH light is going to pose a problem since the uprights get taller as the rack goes up and hits. I will be doing some tweaking to the overall plan and reposting some pics.