Setting up a Frag Tank

[Little_Aquarist]

Hey, Reefland.
Well, as my love for corals, and saltwater aquariums grew, so did my father's. He's now literally obsessed with trying to buy more corals for my tank. However, I told him that he shouldn't waste money on buying too much at a time. So, he decided that he wants a frag tank. His choice doesn't make sense to me, however he is solid in his choice to get one.
I told him to wait until we know exactly what we need for this tank, and thankfully, he agreed.
So, my question is, what would I need for this tank?

• Lighting
• Tank
• Heater
• Filtration
• Sump
• Skimmer
• Coral Plugs

Any advice you can give on this would be much appreciated.


Thanks,
Brooks and Kevin (My dad)

[Little_Aquarist]

Bump.

[Ninong]

You don't usually set up a frag tank until after you have something to frag. In order to have something to frag, you have to first have a mature reef tank with corals that have grown too much and now they need to be fragged (pruned).

Frag tanks are not set up by newcomers to the hobby.

A frag tank is exactly the same as a regular reef tank with the following exceptions:

• It is usually a very shallow tank. Often no more than 12" tall.
• It is always wider than it is tall.
• Because it is a shallow tank, it can usually be lit with VHO or T5 lamps but some people will use metal halides anyway.
• It often has a bare bottom but some people will put sand in them.
• It has a rack, often just plain eggcrate, to hold the frags in place so that they don't blow over in the current.

A frag tank requires the same pristine water quality as a regular reef tank. It's just a grow-out tank for coral frags. It can be connected to the main display tank or it can have its own skimmer, etc. and be set up as a separate tank.

[Ninong]

I googled "frag tank" for you and came up with this YouTube video clip of somebody's frag tank:

This is part of a 300g coral frag system. This tank is 24" x 48" x 14" tall. I added several fish to the system so I could have something to feed and hopefully pass on some nutrients to the corals.

Note that his frag tank is only 14" tall and that it is "part of a 300-gal coral frag system."

Here are pics of somebody's frag tank.

Here is a picture of a small frag tank that somebody ordered. It's only 12" tall.

Here are pics of somebody's 100-gal frag tank.

If you google "frag tank," you will get lots and lots of hits. But you still need to have something to frag first.