Starting a SMALL frag tank. Suggestions?

[Brock Fluharty]

I have a 20 gallon high sitting empty, and I want to turn it into a frag tank. To start with, I just want everyone to know that this is not for profit. I hate it that people sell named zoas for in the upwards of $10s / polyp. That is why I am going to start with the few zoa colonies I already have, and get some frags from them. Once the frags grow out (in a month or two hopefully) I will trade them for different types of zoas, or other types of corals. I will continue this until I have a good selection, then I will start selling them. No matter what color, size, name, whatever, all of my zoas will be $3.00/polyp. I cannot do this with other corals that do not grow in the "polyp" form. I do have a few ?s though.

For lights, I am going to TRY LOA lights. I know that these have bene used for macro, etc., but I have never seen them used for low(er) light corals, such as softies, zoas, etc. These lights are cheap, and are supposed to put out more light than the watts they use, if that makes sense...I will try these lights out on macros, then softies, then zoas, then LPS, then SPS, and see which ones will "thrive" under them.

I am not goingto use a skimmer right away, but I probably will later on. I currently have...orange with blue center zoas, yellow polyps, green with brown skirt zoas, lavender with red ring around mouth, and some other smaller frags. I'm not gonna list macro, as I have a lot of different kinds. I'm also going to have a few peppermint shrimp in the tank, so that they can hopefully breed, and the palys, or zoas can eat the fry.

The frags will be placed on eggcrate racks. There will be about 4 shelves that can be utilized for placement of the corals. If these lights turn out to be extremely bright, then the softies will go on the bottom rack, and (if possible) SPS on the top.

It will be BB, with 1, maybe 2 powerheads (probably Maxi-Jets) to keep the flow up. I'm going to paint the back, sides, and bottom blue, or white. I like the look of blue, but I would think that light would reflect better off of white than blue.

Now I just need to find someone who sells frag plugs made of acrylic, or plastic.

Brock

[Brock Fluharty]

Anybody?

What do you guys think will be the highest (lowest being softies, highest being SPS) that could thrive under LOA lights? I might get 2 fixtures if they are not too bulky.

[Brock Fluharty]

*sigh*

[Brock Fluharty]

Are you kidding? Nobody has anything to say? Anything you would change if it was your tank? C'mon, reply please!

[fast94m]

im following this thread as i hae a spare 20L and a loa light laying around. My feelin is the loa light won't be in the right spectrum to bring out the best color in the zoas and it may not be bright enough to penetrate the depth of a 20H due to inefficent reflector, wattage, etc. But i'd say just try it w/ a frag or 2, placed high up in the tank, and report back. The best way to get your answer is to answer it yourself. At worst the frag wont do as well as it could and you can just cease operations or upgrade the lighting. I'm excited to hear your results.....

[Salamander]

A 20g long would work better. Shallower with less need for ntense light to reach the bottom.

Not too sure how succesfull you'll be with LOA (Lights of America Like at the hardware store?) will be. If those lights sufficiently sustain coral why are we all spending so much $ on the lights we use now. Try a MH pendant.

If you have success let us know.

[Brock Fluharty]

Lol, the whole point of this is to try new things...I don't WANT a MH pendant. I don't want a 20l, as I have a 20high sitting empty.

[alexinfla]

Brock,

Check out http://www.edensgatecorals.com/

Larry sells some very nice ceramic plugs, fully inert, no curing needed. Very affodable and just may be what you are looking for.

I have a hundred showing up early next week, but have only heard great things about them.

Good luck, I grew Xenia under the LOA 65 watt lights for a year back in 01'-02' so I don;t think you'll have any probs with zoanthids/softies etc.

Though you may want to pick up a normal output actinic bulb to checl with every now and then and see how the colors are holding under a more "hobbyist" friendly spectrum.

[Brock Fluharty]

Ok, well since veryone seems to think that the LOA lights will not work for SPS (what I wanted most), so I think i'll get a MH pendant, or small fixture. From where is the ?...

[alexinfla]

What happened to the $3 zoas! :) Everyone does SPS, dare to dream! :)

[fast94m]

why not try the loa fixture first and THEN upgrade if needed? start w/ softies/zoas etc? get the tank nice an stable first and your lighting sorted out and then do sps?

[Brock Fluharty]

No, no, don't get me wrong. I am doing zoas, at $3/polyp, but I also would like to get some nice SPS frags, grow them out, then put them in my 75 gallon mixed reef.

Fast,

I thought about trying that. Still debating.

[Brock Fluharty]

Oh, how much flow should I shoot for for SPS, and zoas being the main thing growing? How many GPH would you guys recommend? I'm not gonna be able to get a wave make or anything fancy like that in a 20high, but i'll get...darn, what are those things called? You put them on the outflow of a powerhead, and it rotates to give good flow to the whole tank...

[fast94m]

in my 75g i have my powerheads in the upper half of the tank where all my sps is. Seems to keep my zoas and softies happy down below while providing enough flow for sps to prosper. you could try something similar being its a 20H and have the depth to work with. I know the powerhead thing your talkin about, hydor-flow or something??? Try 20x-30x tank volume to start w/ flow and go up in needed is my suggestion. Maybe 3 aquaclear 301s or maxi 600s ??? 3 ac 301s is about 525 gph which is what 26x turnover?? and their semi-small and cheap to boot. put one of those flow things on each and youll get some random flow to help with dead spots too. Good luck!

[c.rob]

I am using the LOA on a 55g.The corals sit just below the water line on egg crate.I keep mostly softies andf LPS on this.I do have some monties that are growing well.I use the 5500k flor. tubes from Walmart.They are labled Daylight bulbs.

[Brock Fluharty]

Wait, you use the LOA lights, and are having success with LPS, and SPS, alog with softies?

[Brock Fluharty]

Where can I buy egg crate to make shelves with? Preferably online.

[RobinsonFam1]

i have a 15 gal with 3x55 w pc. i can grow anything in there. my acros litterally grow 1/4" atleast per week. the pc ballast are workhorses which you can buy for a few dollars. the bulbs are 2X10K and one actinic. they are so old its not even funny. they came free...the age would keep some reefers from sleeping at night!
if the loa lights dont work for you then maybe what i said will help you upgrade cheaply before you go halide.

[Voltekker]

3 dollars a polyp is still alot for zoa's IMO

[Brock Fluharty]

Then don't buy any from me. I'm not talking about ordinary eun of the mill browns, and greens. I'm talking about the nice ones, that have several different colors in one polyp. $1 is just not worth any of my time. If i'm gonna do that, I would only get the smallest bit of money if I sold a whole colony.

[RobinsonFam1]

i agree. i work at a rather costly LFS and we dont even sell that high.
i also think it depends on the rock/frag size too though.

if its only the size of a coin with 10 polyps then i can see spending $30. but if its a decent size with 75+ on it well now we have a completely different story, thats $225. would i spend that much....no i would not. there has to some break in there somewhere.
but then with just a 20 gal your labor/investment is minimal and you can help recover and or pay for maitnence.

size does matter! lol.....

[Brock Fluharty]

Yes, I will be selling frags, not colonies. I probably won't sell anything over 20 polyps or so, and that would be a pretty high amount for me. I was thinking maybe 10 polyp frags or so, depending on polyp size.

[Voltekker]

just dont forget that if your charging 3 dollars a polyp and somone buys 10 thats 30 bucks plus shipping which is lets say will be 10 dollars. Thats 40 dollars for 10 poylps. I personally wouldnt pay that. The only time i spend lots of money online for corals is on big orders.

[DragonFish]

I've also got a 20H i'm making into a frag tank, but I'm going to cut the side off and trim it to fit on the top, basically turning it on its side and making the dimensions 24"L x 16"W x 12"H. I'm debating on either a DIY 175W mh or I found a 96w quad retro for $30 plus shipping. Add a couple powerheads and a cheap diy fuge and no need for a skimmer.

[smp]

You want to grow 'nice' zoas under a worklamp?
I have a hard time believing that you will get 'nice' colours from anything without the proper lighting. Please prove me wrong, I am curious.

[Brock Fluharty]

Who's to say that LOA lights aren't the "proper lighting"?