My first Frag Tank

Collins6542 · Aug 15, 2019

Ok all, here’s the story... my hubby is an avid reefer. Over the past 6 years I have gotten into the hobby. I am a complete novice. He is teaching me how to set up a small tank. I figured we would start with a frag tank. That’s something I feel comfortable in doing because I help him frag so I do know how to do that. Right now we are starting out with Zoa frags and they’re pretty sturdy Corals. We went to petco and bought a 10 gal aquarium (dollar per gallon sale) and I found a deal for a AI prime HD so I picked one up. We had an extra pump/filter and heater laying around. So we got it set up. Let it cycle and now I have got my egg crate in and added my first Corals! For the lighting I have gone heavy in the royal blue, UV, and violet lighting since I’ve read they like that. If you have suggestions on lighting schedules I’m all ears. It starts at 8am with a very slow and gradual climb to 6 pm. Runs with my blue and UV at 100 with violet at 50 between 1800-2000 hours then gradual decent til 2300 hours.

Peach02 · Aug 15, 2019

Goodluck! Im not too say with lights, and once the tank is established you could add a wrasse of some sort to control potential coral pests

little_sardines · Aug 15, 2019

Nice, good start! Our frag tank runs about 6 hours with full power LEDs, and a 1-hour blue lead/tail on that so a total of 9 hours of light.
One thing to watch for with frag tanks is parameter stability w/ alk/calcium - if you plan on keeping stony corals. Since there is no aragonite sand or rocks helping to buffer the water those can swing more than a normal tank would.
Also, a good idea to keep a couple of fish - one that will eat algae, which can grow like crazy in a frag tank (it does in ours), and maybe 1 to eat bugs like peach02 mentioned.

WallyB · Aug 15, 2019

Good luck. A Regular tank is much easier than a Frag Tank (That's my experience FOR LONG TERM).
I've been running Both LPS and SPS Tank for over 25 years.

I've tried 3 times to get a (SPS) Frag going, and each time I have failed.
Maybe easier Corals like (LPS and Soft COrals) woud work.

I see you are starting with Zoa's, and if you get nutrients in there, they should do well.

SPS are more sensitive and the swings on Water Chemistry have caused damage.

I tried again with Some Fish, some Live Rock and Daily Water changes from Display Tank.
Still had problems since I needed to Watch Alkalinity more closely for manual dosing.

Also the 35 Gal Frag tank started having some Macro Algae Growth that got out of control and started covering Frag plugs.
So I got some snails, and emerald crabs.
The Algae Problem started under my Radion XR30 using mostly Blue Light, and roughly 6-8 Hours of Peak Lighting time.

My Frag Tank is becoming a Regular Tank to keep it going. And more work.

I hope your Frag Tank works out.
If it does let's say 6 months from now. Post here, since I'd love to learn your secret for success