20 gallon low budget frag tank.

Well I had all this extra equipment laying around that no one wanted to buy so I decided to make a frag tank. Everything in this setup is made from old set ups I used to have. So far I haven't spent a nickle on this set up.

150 watt metal halide Ushio bulb, heater, koralia 3.





Dry lock left over from other tanks and dead coral skeletons.



Frag rack made of eggcrate and heated clothes hangers bent to shape.



Let the cycle begin!

Sweet! I love it. :-) Looks like it's already been at it about a week and a half.

matt_longview wrote:Looks like it's already been at it about a week and a half.

Nope. You're way off. It's only been a week and 2 days.

What to do.. what to do.. Always seems like theres enough stuff laying around to put together some sort of system. Looks good Gabe!

I took down my 40 breeder and crammed it all into this tank. I went frag crazy and filled up 2 frag racks with softies and sps.

Gabe
You got to much time on your hands now that Deer season is over! Looks good though.

DonnieP wrote:Gabe
You got to much time on your hands now that Deer season is over!

I probably did go a little overboard on the frags. I just hope there's enough people out there interested in them.

Cracks up....pressing my nose to the tank...I WANT one of those, those, those, those, those and those..... do you gift wrap?
And as an update, the frags etc you gave me are all doing really well. I need to find out how to persuade the Xenia to split/move onto another rock to start a new colony. The snowflake has spread by about 3 times the area. The slimer is growing, but stays a pale green/brown, does it need more light do you think?

Yeti wrote:do you gift wrap?
And as an update, the frags etc you gave me are all doing really well. I need to find out how to persuade the Xenia to split/move onto another rock to start a new colony. The snowflake has spread by about 3 times the area. The slimer is growing, but stays a pale green/brown, does it need more light do you think?

Yes I do gift wrap...for a fee of course.

Glad the frags are doing well. Don't persuade the xenia to split/move...force it. If you want to frag it take some wire cutters and snip the rock underneath it and just...pull it apart. Glue the rock down that you snipped off and you now have 2 colonies.

I don't think you got the slimer from me but I didn't have luck with the one I had. Donnie had a frag of mine and did really well with it. Mine browned out also.

Yes, I'm thinking these T5 lights are wonderful for softies, but anything else is showing signs of struggling, I've just noticed bloody coraline growing at the base of one part of my Pink Birdsnest, which I though was doing OK.

All the softies grow like weeds, I've already had to frag the waving hand Jason gave me a small piece of 4 weeks ago, the Atomic I got a week ago has started to creep off the frag, so I've fragged that to a small stone, and one other I've also fragged.

But the SPS, shakes head, I may have to find a temporary home for some of them until I can save up to get a LED kit to give them the light they require.
I'll give them another couple of weeks, as they are now only 9 inches from the T5's with the new rock being added.

How old are T5's when they should be replaced? Just an idea.

The t5 will last a good eight months. Remember Yeti the sps grow much much slower than softies so give them time. I have one in my 28 been there for about eight months with no growth at all and some growing like crazy. I have temporarily put t5 on my pico and my corals are really coloring up. I have a dimmable driver coming for the LEDs. At only 8" deep. I think they were to much for the tank. So I'm. Gonna dim them and see if they look as good as the t5.

Sps can be tricky. Even the best tanks lose sps for no detectable reason. Even when your tank is perfectly balanced the sps will suck the good stuff out of it so you have to dose and if you don't do that perfectly right then they let you know by bleaching, browning, burned tips, STN or RTN. Even if you do everything right they still don't work out like you want. Every sps in your tank can look great and one will not grow or die for reasons unknown.

In summary...sps are a joy when they grow and look nice but they can also be a royal pain in the arse.

When I started keeping corals I swore I would never keep sps....

It's where we addicts all end up at some point.

Hang in there Yeti. SPS may be saltwater crack... But you won't have to struggle alone.