Setting up frag tank questions

zoalander1 · Jan 13, 2020

Im going to setup a 29g biocube as a frag tank. Bare bottom, no rock, and no fish.

Should I use water from my current setup to fill the new tank?
Do I need to cycle?
Should I add a little live rock?
should I have a few snails for algae control?
Do I need a skimmer?

christianleo · Jan 13, 2020

Following because I'm about to do the same thing and have the same questions

Sethm · Jan 13, 2020

I added a little bit of rock to the corners so the (utility) fish had somewhere to go and then I added a small box of the marine pure spheres to the sump.

The tank is a 50g lowboy, bare bottom, 20g sump/ refugium, no skimmer or filter socks and nitrates stay around 5-10 and phosphates at .04

If you are going to have anything other than coral and water in the tank I would cycle first

phatduckk · Jan 13, 2020

I’m gonna setup a similar system. I’ve stashed a media bag full or marine pure spheres in my main tanks sump and plan to relocate those to the frag tank. I figure it can’t hurt.

I also plan to toss in some Dr Tims and have a few rocks under the racks to give the bacteria a place to chill.

if you start feeding the coral, a snail dies or a moth drowns in there and rots it’s totally possible to get an ammonia spike. I figure it’s best to be cautious and grow a bio filter.

William Robinson · Mar 3, 2020

Not trying to hijack a thread and if you'd rather me create my own I will. Just let me know.
Back Story: I drilled a 40B peninsula paired it with a 20g sump with socks, refugium, reactor, tiny nano skimmer (just to monitor nutrient levels visually), pump is a 1,320gph dialed back to about 500gph, 1x sicce nano powerhead below the low profile internal/external overflow (drilled pass through) just to keep from having a dead spot. Opposite end is a IceCap Gyre 1K. Needless to say lots of flow.
This tank was a mixed reef, rock, coral, fish you name it... My daughter has made the decision to become a Marine Biologist and would like to start studying by growing frags. She is a teenager so this is step one in seeing if this is truly something she wants to make a career of with her love of corals and ocean life.
So what we've done so far;
We have removed all sand, rock and inhabitants. All the live rock that could fit was placed into the sump. Also, put some sand in there to stabilize the rock a bit although I am not sure that was the best idea. I put some nassarius snails in there (2) to keep the sand stirred to help. Put 2 (for now) mexican turbo snails and 1 acclimated molly into the DT for algae control. By the way, an acclimated molly will blast through algae on frags and stuff that clings to walls like crazy. Be care to get them properly sexed because they will breed like rabbits in a SW tank.... Ask me how I know... lol I also made a frag rack from a light diffuser and PVC.
Any other recommendations or ideas to make this a successful venture? I see people with frag tanks all the time but rarely "sustainable" frag tanks. They use water changes mostly for nutrient export and supplements but I have the ability to do that.

JBKReef · Mar 3, 2020

If you have a tank currently up and running I would suggest adding a box of the marineland gems to the tank to "marinate"

They are a perfect size to wedge into an AIO like the biocube where the spheres might not always fit. Let that sit in there for a couple weeks to get some beneficial bacteria.

You might not need a full cycle but I would definitely recommend at least dosing some pure ammonia and testing how quickly it moves to nitrate. I would expect to happen quickly if your gems were marinating for awhile.

If you can put some liverock somewhere in the tank that would help any of the cleaning crew you drop in there. Are you using this for a coral quarantine system or like you said specifically a coral frag system? I would recommend different livestock for each. A Coral Quaratine system I would treat like an invert quarantine with no fish. If this is a pure frag system then some fish to help pick off any pests and control algae is a good idea.

This is my Coral QT tank (no fish inverts only) IM 14 peninsula