Frag Tank Advice

[Broke2Broke]

Looking to setup a frag tank(cheaply) for now. Thinking about some type of plastic/rubber bin. Anyone have any advice? Anything you would have done differently? All in one setup or have a sump with it? Mainly for soft corals probably. Also on the low height style tanks whats the benefits? Is it for more par or something?

Thanks!

 

[T-J]

When I had a frag system, I had it plumbed in to my main system. I did this so that it would have the benefit of stability being connected to approximately 200g of water, instead of a small independent frag system, which is harder to keep stable.
Low height is typically for lighting benefits as well as flow, so if you're doing softies, then depth shouldn't be much of a concern IMO. But you'll still need good flow.
I had mine plumbed so that the overflows from the main fed into the frag system first, then that flowed into the fuge/sump. I used plastic Rubbermaid horse troughs for my frag and fuge/sump setup.

 

[Broke2Broke]

Thinking about doing a stand alone. Not in a hurry to setup it up so I could let it cycle. I guess I could take some sand or filter sock from the main tank to help it along. Just trying to decide on what to use as far as a tank. Leaning on toward Rubbermaid horse troughs unless I can find something cheaper. The Zoo Med 50g low boy is cool but don't see it in stock around my neck of the woods.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

What lighting are you going to use? More specifically, how much area is your light going to cover? If you're going to use 4' t5 bulbs, then a stock tank would be a good choice. If you're planning to use a single black box led from china, there wouldn't be enough par to cover the entire stock tank. You could still use a stock tank, but it would be near impossible to use all available space for growing coral. If it works with your lighting, the petco $1 per gallon 40 breeder tank is hard to beat as a frag tank.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Thinking about doing a stand alone. Not in a hurry to setup it up so I could let it cycle. I guess I could take some sand or filter sock from the main tank to help it along. Just trying to decide on what to use as far as a tank. Leaning on toward Rubbermaid horse troughs unless I can find something cheaper. The Zoo Med 50g low boy is cool but don't see it in stock around my neck of the woods.

I picked my Frag tank up from Glass Cages. They have a ton of form factors you can choose from and were definitely the cheapest option I could find for frag tanks.

You can also just go the Rubbermaid route, or find something from Tractor Supply. In that case I think you would just need a power head and an ATO, oh and a heater.

The benefit of the Frag system is that you don’t need a light to penetrate 24” to hit your corals on the sand bed.