What's the perfect frag tank depth?

[DudeBoy]

I have a 210g display and am going to have a frag tank custom made to sit right beside it so I can share the sump and keep all water in one loop (easier water changes/paramater checks/etc). We are either going with 48"x24" or 72"x24" but I haven't decided on the depth. Since the cabinet will be custom made, I really can go with any depth I want and just have the cabinet built shorter.....my wife is 5' nothing but is so excited, she says she'll stand on a step stool every time she needs to.

Side note....we were thinking maybe some of the fish we don't have in the display could reside in the frag tank....so maybe going a little deeper on the frag tank would help?

opinions/advice?

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Personally 12-16 inches as I like to take photos and with depths of less than 12” it really limits the type of lens and quality/ability to take good pics.
If you plan to have racks of any type them that also adds to the height which compounds the depth issue- granted that’s from a picture perspective

Another consideration is what you’ll use for flow, the more shallow the tank the more chance corals will be getting more a direct flow from the power heads/gyre etc.

I have 2 frag tanks at 10” deep that making picture taking difficult- both have gyres so flow isn’t much an issue but my other 2 (4 actually since my QT tanks hold frags) are 14” so the water depth is closer to 10-11 that’s a pretty depth for flow and pics

Also depends on what you’ll have for frags, zoas vs LPS type like torches etc that the later will benefit from a little deeper tank

HTH somewhat

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

12"

 

[solitude127]

12" get's my vote. I would put fish in there that would help with algae and/or pest. A six line wrasse and Kole Eye tang would be my fist choices.

 

[Ef4life]

When I get my frag tanks eventually I want the height to be about 16” and the water depth only about 12-13” to hopefully help prevent any fish suicide by jumping.

 

[Pntbll687]

I have a zoo med low boy which is 48x24x10, and i wish it was taller. Not for lighting, but for flow like other have stated. I think 14in tall would be a perfect height for frag tank

 

[Brandon Smith]

12". We move are frags onto a frag rack about 2-4" below the surface of the water to take pics as well. The racks are roughly 4" off the bottom of our tank.

 

[DudeBoy]

you guys rock.....thank you! I guess I'm leaning on
- rimless
- 13" tank
- ~11.5" water depth

 

[DudeBoy]

any particular frag rack/system/design you guys would recommend?

 

[Pntbll687]

any particular frag rack/system/design you guys would recommend?

Lighting difuser/eggcrate with pvc feet zip tied together. I keep my frag tanks as simple as I possibly can, and as cheap as I can. I'm not spending $$$ on a frag rack when $20 at home depot will do the same thing.

But I also understand if this is a "display" frag tank and you want something really nice.

@FishOfHex makes some feet that fit eggcrate, check his website out www.fishofhex.com

 

[Lousybreed]

you guys rock.....thank you! I guess I'm leaning on
- rimless
- 13" tank
- ~11.5" water depth

I would vote against this. 14” water depth is amazing, 11.5 just isn’t enough. FYI I have 6 frag flats and I am transitioning all of them over to 14” of water.

 

[DudeBoy]

I'm torn.....I'd like to have a deeper frag tank but I'm balancing tank depth with wife's 5'0" stature. Since this frag tank will be right beside our 210g tank, we want both cabinets to match (36" tall R&J cherry finish blah blah blah).... A 13" tall frag tank on the 36" tall stand will already be at her shoulders. At some point, she's not going to be happy....

I may be stuck with the 13" tall tank. I'll run it by her...maybe mock up something to let her really see what it would be like....


thanks everyone for helping me figure this out.