Necessary equipment for frag tank?

[telsonman]

Just trying to make sure that I have all of my ducks in a row, and I'm pretty sure I'm thinking right.

Ok, well its a 30g frag tank. I have it going to a eshopps RS-75 sump, with 4in filter sock, reef octopus skimmer, and then a jebao dcs3000 return pump. I'm going to use a eheim 100w heater, that won't fit in the sump, so it may go in the overflow or just attached to the back wall of the tank. This tank will be a frag growing tank, and it will have a cleanup crew, and maybe 2 clown fish and a diamond goby. It won't have a lot of fish, as I don't really want a huge bioload. Just enough to get some nutrients in the water.

So I have a good grasp on all of that. Its the other filtration aspects I'm curious about. I have a spare BRS dual reactor for GFO and carbon. I'm running one on my 75g display tank, and its fine. My issue is that the stand for this tank is a Deep Blue stand, and its cramped for a 30g tank. The sump takes up about half of the side, as I have it pointed front to back. I'm not sure if there is enough room for that reactor, as the BRS dual takes up some space. I also thought about doing a bio pellet reactor since I won't have a fuge on this set up. That, to me, is a lot of extra equipment to toss into that stand. I thought about going with a BRS mini reactor, but I don't like the idea of combining GFO and carbon, since the GFO won't really have the room to tumble. I'm probably just going to toss a bag of Purigen and Phosguard into the sump to help with the organics and phosphates.

Just curious what the hive has to say if I have my head in the right place or if there are any other options. And no, I'm not going to connect it to my display tank, as the frag tank is in a completely separate room.

 

[brett_schn]

If u don’t have fish in it u won’t need a skimmer so u can use that room for the reactor also the brs ones can be out of the water

 

[telsonman]

Its going to have fish, and sps corals, so I'm not going to do without the skimmer. Also, I know the reactor can be mounted out of the skimmer. I should have clarified. I would put the reactor opposite the sump, with the tubes going into the sump. I would mount it on the inside wall of the stand. I just don't know if room will allow it.

 

[Coronus]

If u don’t have fish in it u won’t need a skimmer so u can use that room for the reactor also the brs ones can be out of the water

Any tank I have ever had with limited fish never did well. Reefs need fish.

 

[ifarmer]

You will also need a good light
Power heads

 

[telsonman]

Yes I got that. I got a 4 bulb t5 and several hydor powerheads sitting in a box

 

[HeulittSalmi]

Here to follow along because I am planning on setting up a frag system shortly too.

 

[brett_schn]

What t5 bulbs are u going with

 

[telsonman]

I got Geisemann 2 aquablue + and 2 actinic +. I plan on getting something else to take the aquablue spot. They are just too white for my liking. I need to find something with that coral pop effect.

 

[JP79]

Everything sounds great. Go with the mini reactor. GFO needs to tumble so it doesn't turn into a brick unless you run carbon with it. The carbon adds space between the GFO. Just mix together and if you use the spacer sponges just make sure it packed tight. If not just fill up the whole reactor. Remember that carbon if tumbled will grined the GFO to dust. So Get the control value that can come with it. You don't need to run a lot of water through it. Just a slow steady stream. In a 24 hour period you want all of the water volume to go through the reactor about 3 times. So that amount water would be a very little stream. One of thr reason people don't like to run them both together is that Carbon only last about a month pending bio load. But yours it it should last longer. But this is the set up I use in the full size reactor. It works fantastic. I just change the carbon about once a month. It's a 2-1 butt well 2 parts carbon to 1 part GFO. It's always better to be less on the GFO and add it over time. Good luck with whatever you go with.