Adding a frag tank to a already existing system

[Rmckoy]

We’re thinking of purchasing a frag tank roughly 60 gal ....

Wanting to run it off of the same sump and skimmer .
but Looking for suggestions on lighting
We will be keeping lps and sps in the frag tank .

 

[Dilan Patel]

Literally just did this on my tank but only about 15gallon but is still run off the same pump and skimmer as my main display super convient to not have to test multiple tanks for parameters. I am using my new g4 pro xr15 radions on that tank but I run sbreef lights 16inx6 on my main display. I can say for a fact that the sbreef lights grow coral but I just got the radions up and running so I have no input on those yet except for the fact I let them sit on my couch while trying to program and put a nice size burn mark on my couch lol.

 

[Rmckoy]

I’m leaning towards t5’s as they have never done me wrong when it comes to coral growth.
But with so many different options such as radions .... not really sure what direction to go .

beside my dt where the frag tank will go . Is where the stand I built with our Mrc skimmer on it .
Under the stand I have a dosing station ( buckets and dosing pump )

I’ll have to move it to make room for the new tank

 

[Kyl]

I'm right in the installation stages of this, currently there will be a 300w blackbox over top part of it as I already have it (72 x 22 x 13). Long-term, I'm waiting to see how the release and real world use details on the upcoming coralcare v2 turn out. It's the only LED fixture at this point that I'm interested in.

The fallback would be LED / T5 hybrid again.

 

[Rmckoy]

What are the black boxes like ?

I’m having a very hard time letting go of t5’s

if it’s not broken , don’t fix it right ?

 

[Kyl]

I find the disco look very apparent with blackboxes, but I think that's just a personal sensitivity. For the price, they grow coral, no doubt. I'm going for something a bit more robust for the long term, but shimmer is a deal breaker which is why LED wise I run kessils currently (aside from this blackbox).

 

[Porpoise Hork]

What are the black boxes like ?

I’m having a very hard time letting go of t5’s

if it’s not broken , don’t fix it right ?

They can and do grow coral. You just want to make sure it's one like the Mars Aqua or similar because not all black box lights are the same. To reduce the disco-effect that Kyl mentioned, you can raise the light to about 12" above the waterline and it will blend the light and reduce the disco effect. Another thing you can do is get a diamond shape diffuser for fluorescent lights and cut it to the same dimension as the light. Then mount it about 3-4 inches below the black box light. This will all but eliminate the shimmer if you don't like it.

Another option is either the ReefBreeders Photon V2 or a pair of AI Prime 16's. You might even be able to find a LFS with the older Prime HD's for cheap.

 

[Conrad]

I have an 80Gal Deep Sea blue or what is known as Sea Aquatics now. I currently run a hybrid system which I use on all my tanks. It is the best IMO as it has 4 T5's and 2 xr15 radion g4's on it and everything grows like crazy.