# Setting up a cheap frag tank.



## badxgillen

So i need to make room in my nano reef and dont want to part with any of my corals so i need to expand. I dont have alot of room or money to fuel this addiction so i am just gonna do it with whats available.i am starting with a 33 long for the floor plan and shallow depth for light penetration.i have MTS "multiple tank syndrome" so bad that this is getting set up on my head board to my bed.SWEET RIGHT.anyhow i would like to shoot some ideas with you folks.questions and suggestions?


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## badxgillen

*33 long*

got the 33 long ..48" length,12" width, 12" hight.although i am probably gonna do a deep sand bed for the nitrate reducing qualities so it will be more like a 9"-8" depth.sweet for the coral.I have to get a board in place on top of my head board as the tank has a little overhang.not a big problem.I picked up a piece of wood from a friend.


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## badxgillen

*tank in place*

got the tank in place and filled. i went with instant ocean as this was the cheapest salt available to me that i have also had positive experience with.i am going to go with a fine aragonite sand bed to benefit from better nitrification do to the fact that i will not have a sump,and to promote buffering and calcium levels.


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## badxgillen

*temporary lights*

as far as lighting goes for now i have picked up a basic 48" shop light for $8.99 and some 6500 kelvin 48" T8 flourecent tubes for a temp light and it looks real good for the price.at the far end i have an aqua clear filter i will probably use as a refugium as well as added flow.


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## badxgillen

*sand and rock*

went with the fine aragonite.and about 8 lbs of live rock to help seed the tank.


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## badxgillen

*blue*

and my spiny blue lobster.


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## badxgillen

*uh oh*

well it looks like i am taking things a lil to fast..i added a yellow tail damsel 15 hours after setup as well as my spiny reef lobster.its been a week and suddenly an algae explosion.so much though that the water apears to fizz with the oxygen being produced and the fall of the granular substrate after the bubbles rupture.so now i need to reduce nutrients and add a clean up crew..feelings about sally light foots maybe?


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## badxgillen

*a crew*

so i went with sally light foot crabs and some calcinus elegans hermit crabs allong with two turbo snails for a starter clean up crew.i also put some live sand and rock from another system to help diversify the benificiary inhabitants.or cycle the tank faster.it seems to have worked over night.but to be sure i added phosgaurd to my filter and some macro algaes to the tank.built a frag rack from old egg crate.as you can see it is very close to the lighting as well as flow.


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## badxgillen

*flow*

so i am adding a power head to one end of the tank to circulate the water twards the aquaclear filter at the oposing end...as well as some more macro algae to help with the nutrient uptake.for some reason i am still having a mild bloom of algae.


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## badxgillen

*starting*

found a person willing to trade some colonies of pachyclauvularia and xenia elongate for some stock..i hope to frag from this tank to help pay for itself...and these two corals are usualy prolific and in demand so this should be a good start.at least i think so..i wouldnt mind a second opinion.


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## badxgillen

*a start*

and a couple more frags on the crate rack..


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## badxgillen

*uh oh*

so obviously this thread is for my own personal amusment.....but i suppose it will be something of a log as well..i just got a bubble tip anemone to add to the mix...i couldnt pass it up as it was $8.00 and i couldnt convince a trade of corals this time around..it will be nice for any possible future clown fishes.
Bubble Tip Anemone-Entamacea Quadricolor...
an anemone that is variable both in colors and in tentacle shape.sometimes the tips of the tentacles will lack bulges for a period of time.the colors can vary from red,green,white.
hailing from the Indo-Pacific To the Red Sea this anemone likes its flow and good lighting conditions.mostly photosynthetic but will eat large meaty foods weekly.
this particular specimen has been eating my guppy culls.


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## trukgirl

Sorry I have not been on a lot lately. I just saw this. Cool idea but not so sure I would want it on the headboard of my bed LOL!! The gsps and xenia's are a good start! The anemone looks a little bleached though???


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## badxgillen

*oh*

the anemone is not to bad it has a green tint to it that doesnt showup on the camera..wich as you can tell is a terible camera..maybe one day i will spend some money on a camera instead of the tanks..someday.i have the tank on the headboard due to space and i enjoy looking at corals all the time.running water bothers me not.i must say i did rig up a maxi jet 1200 pump to a syphon hose to help with water transport.


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## trukgirl

Ok!! I just wouldn't want a tank on my headboard...if we had another earthquake I would be afraid it would crash on my head LOL! Believe me I understand the space thing...its why my reef is a 65g and not a 300g KWIM??


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## badxgillen

*65*

well the headboard is attached to the wall and i do worry so i have been sleeping opposite facing the headboard...wich is fine as it gives me more viewing time.


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## badxgillen

*macro*

caulerpa serrulata from the great barrier reef to fiji south pacific and spread elswhere that i aquired during last frag swap.i was getting some chaedomorpha thrown in and this tagged along maybe on purpose?i didnt ask..anyhow it has been growing and its stolons have been trying to attach..it looks much nicer than the pic.the bright green serated leaves are nice.i believe the common name is razor grass.


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## badxgillen

*Rose*

and yet another entamacea quadricolor but of the red variety and much smaller..though i am sure that it will grow soon.looks like mysis,brine shrimp,and blood worms.


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## trukgirl

Sweet!!!!!

I do like the idea of going to bed watching my tank...I would rather go to sleep watching it than the TV


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## badxgillen

*TV*

yeah it is awsome watching the tank before bed with the actinics on...i did lose some sleep the first week thinking the filter wasnt running right or leaking..or dont shake the bed..but all those things were just in my head.the headboard isnt even atached to the bed and the filter is proped so that if it was to overflow it would be back into the tank.i am having an algae issue again and i think that may be why my macro algaes are growing so quikly.time for another water check.


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## badxgillen

*molt*

my spiney blue lobster....after a shedding of old exoskeleton his antenna has regrown.and he has put on some more size.he definatly loves fish..i think he has killed two banghai cardinals so far..mixed reviews from other owners....he hasnt harmed my sixline wrasse or my damsels.time will tell i suppose.


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## badxgillen

*calaustrea*

i managed to trade some red motipora capricornus that i had broken off of the main plate for a few heads of some neon green calaustrea.i also fragged a piece of my other calaustrea with radial stripes and put them in this new 33 long just to see how they hold up.some starter LPS.pardon the terrible pics i have to use whats available as far as equipment and i am not adept at photography as well.i suppose it doesnt matter much anyways.


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## badxgillen

*molting*

Calcinus Elegans....i caught one of my electric blue hermits molting and managed to get the camera only after he had reaquired a shell.cheap thrills.


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## badxgillen

*polyps*

and here is a couple of nice zoas i salvaged from a piece of live rock..i attached them to a frag plug with some rubble in hope it will propagate more readily.


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## trukgirl

Nice zoas! That blue lobster is kinda scary if he's been killing cardinals!


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## badxgillen

*yeah*

well i am not entirely sure it was him but i am placing the blame on him..so i suppose you are right..i removed the blue reef lobster to be safe...he was knocking over some of my frags as well and he is only getting bigger..disapointing as i have to choose between animals but seeing as he has theoreticaly eaten a couple of bangais and ruined a frag or two it seems clear...you reasure that thought.


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## trukgirl

That is exactly why I now have 2 tanks. 

Wanted to keep my starfish, urchin, etc... my kids just love them. No way am I putting them in my reef. LOL!!!!! My dumb hermits do a good enough job knocking over frags sometimes. Little turds!

There's a guy that lives in my town that is in the same saltwater hobby club and he has like 5 tanks, 1 pico, 2 biocubes, 1 med tank and a 125g! LOL


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## badxgillen

*urchins*

yeah i have a few urchins i have one in a nano reef that has yet to harm anything that i am aware of aside fromthe bulldozing action..and yeah kids love the stars i have a couple of nice green and yellow serpent stars that just move so fluid like in the water for foods it is awsome..i wish there was some kind of club here but ther is not ..the closest one is far away and it seems that the people that pursue this hobby tend to not be the same that i would prefer as my company...some cool reefers are far and few.i love my inverts so much i have my sump loded with cool stuff and i have the rim lined with acrylic specimen containers that fill and overflow into the main sump so i can have as many inverts in the same space without competion..to much cool stuff..as far as my new 33 frag tank..i put in a nice bunch of 
Halimeda a calcerous macro algae that has a nice bright green and pretty cactus like leaflets.


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## trukgirl

Oh, that is pretty! 
I just have caulerpa in my sump, the tiny green grapes LOL.

So far everyone in my club is pretty cool. A few of them are snooty because they have way more money to blow on all kinds of expensive gadgets, but for the most part they are all down to earth.


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## badxgillen

*ahh*

sorry about the delay on the posting..i agree about many of the salt creeps i have met being nose in the air type peoples wich i find funny...i spend as little on the hobby as possible and try to help others in the process.but then there are others that are as you say down to earth reefers that just make my day not just because the hobby relation but as something that happens between the people that keep the aquatic inhabitants not just as status symbols or prestige but as a release ,a pass time and want to be closer to these animals.if you would like some of this and possibly other caulerpas let me know.i have a few.and wouldnt want any money.


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## trukgirl

I couldn't agree more. 

Thanks for the offer!! I will let you know. I thought about ordering a Mermaid's Fan plant to put in my fowlr tank.


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## badxgillen

*grrrr*

well i am sick of having things such as frags and food items fall between the cracks of my giant frag rack and have decided to opt for several much smaller ones that i have desighned for this tank and my preferances of propagation.live and learn.and i have much more of the calaurpas so if you change your mind i am usualy around.


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## trukgirl

Ok


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## badxgillen

*I.c.u.*

so i had a nudibranch disapear in another of my tanks and a day or two later the tank went right down hill as in all the snails died and alot of corals..i had to take what i thought might make it and redistrubute it..i hope this system can handle the additions..and good thing i had just made all those frag racks to help keep things from fighting.things are a little chaotic now.sorry about the bad camera.its both me and the machines fault..really.


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## badxgillen

*zoas*

so fraged up some calaustre and am fragging some zoas now..i plan on doing alot of very small frags in hopes to grow them out a little bit prior to trading for more types of corals..


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## badxgillen

*blue and red*

all apologies about the long wait on an update...oh thats right not to important.so i traded some of the zoas that i had taken of the rock i had wich ended up being eagle eye zoanthids for some fire and ice zoanthids wich i fraged in half and hope to grow out as well.i like the red and light blue.i have some blue tubbs zoas that i need to frag but they are on an acrylic plug and i am not to sure about cutting that.once i do that i will have more trade.


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## trukgirl

Yikes!! I've heard about nudibranch's poisoning tanks when they died, sorry. 
Sweet zoas!! All those designer zoas I had? I'm pretty sure my leathers killed them. Boo!!


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## badxgillen

*oh*

yeah ...it was quite a sight when i looked at the amount of damage caused overnight.i wish i took a picture but i was in such a panick.things have settled down in that tank but i am not sure how long until i feel safe with another nudibranch in any of my tanks.as far as your zoas if you have a skimmer and regular carbon changes it usualy stays on top of the toxins released by the soft corals.but sometimes you win some you lose some.do you have any zoas left.have you tried palythoas.they are even tougher.or maybe you had a bad run..if you want to try again i have a few extra green bays.and some electric greens.


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## trukgirl

I had a phosphoros pad and my skimmer works great. I have some palys that sort of still look alive, but they haven't opened in weeks. Ehhh. I have all leathers and softies now, mostly leathers.


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