I WANT A FRAG TANK! but i need your help... plz

so i got the ok from the wife to make a frag tank...

i have a tower frag rack like this:



and she doesn't like it.. i also showed her pix of frag racks and such that i want to make for the back wall and she also doesn't like that...

i'm happy that she doesn't because i like more of a natural look as well, plus everyone that comes over is like,, oo nice tank, what's that thing for lol

so anyway she said fine set one up in the other room..

i have two options... 10gallon or 40gallon probably go with the 40 gallon my question is easy

what do i need?

i know the following obviously..


lights
heater
thermostat
powerheads for circulation
saltwater duh
and rack probably egg crates..

my question is how do you cycle this thing if nothing is in it?

during after cycle what will the filtration be?
i want to do a naked bottom for cost and also i like frag tanks with no sand

but i'm use to running all natural filtration and nothing else.. ie deep sand bed live rocks refugium good flow and thats it

and anything else.



here's my mental plan:

1. fill up tank with old water from my current setups waterchanges
2. put light 4xt5 on
3. insert heater and thermostat
4. drop in power heads
5. setup frag racks
6. start fragging

it can't be that simple

let me know thanks guys

 

Don't use old water. There is nothing in that water, other than nitrates, that brand new water won't have. I would have some sort of sump with LR in it for some sort of bio filtration.

 

+1
I would set up a DIY 20L sump with at least some live rock for filtration

 

wouldn't putting some live rock actually in the tank do the exact same thing as running a sump with live rock only?

if so i would much rather just put some live rock in because of the price of building a sump, actually not the sump but the return pump lol

 

I opted for a turtle tank. It is 24"x24"x12". It's now got a 2" sand bed and really has no need for a frag rack. If I need things up high I can put them on the rock but most frAgs are on the sand.


For filtration I have a skimmer. Other accessories include an Aquacontroller jr., heater, fan, Tunze nanostream 6045. Water parameters are maintained by water changes from the display.

 

Yup. I just figured that you didn't want live rock in the actual frag tank

 

ok i like this... same way i ran my 46 for almost two years other than the sand

so in theory if i add live rock to my list of things to go in the tank we're good to go...






another question... so i fill the tank up with new clean saltwater, a little bit of live rock will i still need to let the tank go thru the cycle? because once again in my head the cycle is basically growing bactiera to break down fish waste but if there's no fish......

then do i necessarily need to cycle?

 

you need some form of biological filtration. Biological filtration can be made/found in rocks, sand, bioballs, biowheels, old filter bags, etc. You need somewhere for bacteria to grow to convert ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates and nitrates to nitrogen gas. I would recommend a small piece of live rock and some white reef rock in a corner of the tank. The live rock will supply beneficial bacteria that can move onto the reef rock. When a tank cycles its not the water that is neccesarily changing but it is the stages of bacteria growth in different parts of the tank. That is why there is an ammonia then nitrite spike. Thats why you look for the nitrite spike to see that the first stage of bacteria has grown and then it being gone which is the second stage of bacteria. So in the end of this you still need this because nitrates are bad for corals along with nitrites and ammonia.

 

Also the first two forms of bacteria that change ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates are in places that have oxygen and water. Bioballs and biowheels are really good places for these bacteria to grow although sometimes you end up with too many nitrates. (Like in my case lol)

 

Here's what I did: tank size doesn't matter, it's whatever you can afford and have room for. I used 25% of a large water change from my established system and the rest new water. I used a rubber maid sump. I took one rock from my system and put it in the frag tank and then put the rest of the pounds o necessary rock in the sump with the heater and a pump. Since ibis not a full blown reef you really so not need a huge return pump and I actually used a mj 1200 on a 30 for 8 months no issues. Just make sure you have flow that the corals need made up in power heads. Even toss one in the sump with or under the live rock. Skimmers can sometimes slow growth IMO ... Sometimes. Some corals like dirtier water but if you have fish they will appreciate the o2. Mollies are a great addition to a frag tank. They eat algae better than my cuc.

Frag issues I have ran into you may consider: toppling over from the cuc. His can be prevented with a dab it super glue gel on the plug or rubble where it contacts the rack, or rock. You can easily break them off the rack when they are ready to move.