Frag Tank

[Rcpilot]

It's just a rough idea now. I'm not sure if I'll even do it. But, I was thinking about building a frag tank to propogate corals.

I have some old parts lying around, so I think I can do this relatively cheap.

I have a CPR HOB refugium that I'm not using. I have a Current Nano Skimmer. Several powerheads. Eggcrate. 1/4" plexiglass. 10g tank. 5.5g tank.

This my first draft. Neither tank is large enough to use the HOB refugium. BUT, if I drilled both tanks on the side and installed some piping to connect the tank, THEN I could use the refugium. The refugium is outlined in red in my drawing.

You can see the 5.5g tank would be on the left. This is where the refugium would discharge back into the system. The purple lines would be eggcrate shelves. This would be the main propogation tank.

The yellow line is the PVC tubing to connect the two tanks. Obviously, I'll be making a custom stand to keep the top of both tanks at the same height.

On the right would be the 10g tank. The brown tube is the skimmer with powerhead attached on the bottom. I think this skimmer might work beter in this configuration. Worth a try, but I may end up buying a much better one, so that compartment will have to be large enough to accomadate some of the better skimmers on the market.

Then a couple baffles for a bubble trap.

The green square is a sponge filter. Mechanical filtration thats easy to access. Sitting on an eggcrate tray.

And finally as much live rubble as I can stuff in the rest of the 10g tank. The HOB refugium intake and powerhead is on the right.

The whole thing is 36" long. I might just buy a T5 light for this.

I think all I gotta buy is a light, a few plumbing pieces, whole saw and some wood.

Tell me what you think of the design. Help me improve it, using the equipment I already have.

 

[hibye]

you dont have to drill it you can just have a u pipe on the back than pvc or tubing syponing the water into the fuge.then you can buy a pump that shoots water out juat as fast the water comes in.then over the puump put a backflow preventer so when the power shuts off not to much water can get into the fuge.for the lighting i would suggest a t5 off aquatraders or ebay ill post a link later.then for the eggcrate silicone that midlevel in the tank then have a shorter one high level for things like hard cpral.

 

[hibye]

36" 78W (2-39 watt) Dual T6 Fluorescent Light Fixture(W/W) - 506031
or this
36" 192W (2-96 watt) Dual Strip Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture - 501021

 

[reeffreak]

Here is what I would do:

1)Run a completely separate frag tank from the display

or

2)Have the frag tank sit higher than the DT,use a pump/powerhead to draw water from the DT and have it drain back to the DT via a drilled hole.Make sure the hole can drain faster than the flow coming in.This is a common method for separate sumps and refugium so it work for frag/DT also.

I have no idea on drilling glass or tempered vs non tempered glass.I hope you know how.All I know is you will need a diamond bit.

 

[MikMcgyver]

From what I have heard you cant cut tempered glass...

HANDLING AND INSTALLATION

Tempered glass should receive the same care as annealed glass. Unfortunately, familiarity with the greatly improved strength of tempered glass may mislead people to exert less care in handling it. Careless handling and improper installation sometimes produce edge damage. Delayed breakage can ensue when edge-damaged tempered glass is subjected to a moderate thermal of mechanical stress. Full penetration of the compression layer will likely produce instantaneous total fragmentation of tempered glass. Hence, tempered glass cannot be cut or modified following heat treatment.

 

[Rcpilot]

Here is what I would do:

1)Run a completely separate frag tank from the display

or

2)Have the frag tank sit higher than the DT,use a pump/powerhead to draw water from the DT and have it drain back to the DT via a drilled hole.Make sure the hole can drain faster than the flow coming in.This is a common method for separate sumps and refugium so it work for frag/DT also.

The pic shows a 5g and a 10g hooked together with a pipe. (yellow line)

This is completely seperate from my DT and DT refugium. Not connected in any way.

The reason for the HOB refugium on the back of both the 5g and the 10g tank is because it's too large to fit on just one tank. So, I'll connect the tank with the pipe and then use the refugium.

I don't think I explained it very well in my first post.

I can have the tanks drilled for $10 apiece at the LFS.

 

[reeffreak]

What you wanting to do is exactly like my refugium and sump.

As long as the drain(yellow line)is higher on the frag side than the DT side than it will work.You will need a baffle chamber right before the yellow line in the frag tank.The baffle should be as high as you want to run the water level.

 

[reeffreak]

Maybe this will help better.........

You should be able to see the drain hose at the bottom and the one baffle for the drain inside the refugium.

 

[Rcpilot]

That makes sense about the baffle.

I'll need to run the tanks a little low incase of a power failure. The fuge will drain back if it looses power, so I need some room for that water. Maybe 2" low would be enough space for the fuge to drain back and not overflow.


The green line shows direction of flow through the system.

One of my worries is that it's not big enough to be worth the trouble. I've seen a lot of really BIG frag tanks. Is 5g really worth it?

Maybe the bigger question is:
Is a frag tank really worth it? Can you make any money selling frags? That's my goal--make some money with my hobby. I know--it's nothing romantic, like trading frags with your friends. It's more of a capitalistic opportunist attitude.

 

[reeffreak]

Can you make some money?
Sure,don't quit your day job though.Even the LFS will buy things but they won't pay much.Many do it for the joy of it and trading purposes.

Back to your drawing.The second baffle isn't needed and don't forget the drain on the frag tank side needs to be higher than on the DT side.Mine is about one inch higher.

 

[Rcpilot]

The dual baffles in the frag tank are so that it forces the water down and under the frag tray before it can escape the tank.

I don't understand what you're saying about the drain between the frag tank and the DT.

The way I have it drawn--I would think it would all work. I'll need to run both tanks about 1" or 2" from the top incase the fuge looses power and drains back into the DT and frag tank.

The outlet on the fuge dumps into the frag tank. Water flows down, through the eggcrate and up over the baffles. Then it should drain across the pipe and into the 10g tank.

If the refugium intake is on the far right corner of the DT, then it should all flow. Water goes over the live rock and into the powerhead on the far right side. Up the tube and into the refugium. Then it travels through the refugium and out through the black pipe in the 5g tank. The yellow drain line will connect the two tanks and essentially make them one larger body of water.

Total volume of this system would be:
5.5g frag tank
10g sump/DT
3.6g refugium

19.1 gallons if I run them all full. Probably more like 17g for safety.

What am I missing?

 

[reeffreak]

You are so confusing me Rc.

Let me if I can get this straight,this is how the flow will go.

A pump draws water to the fuge
Water gets dump into frag from fuge
Water drains to display via drain hose(yellow bar)

You need to have the frag bulkhead 1'' higher than the display bulkhead or have the frag tank sit higher.GRAVITY Rc,otherwise the water will find the easiest route which would be straight over the top.I'm not quite sold on why you want water flowing toward the bottom of the frag but okay.All I see is it taking away valuable space.

 

[fishbait]

have you thought about drilling the bottom instead of the side? you could install a standpipe to drain it, then you can adjust the height of the pipe to control water the water level in the tank. it will also keep the second tank from overflowing when the power goes out.