I have been thinking about starting a frag tank a lot recently. I have a nanocube 12dx but want something like a 20L frag tank. I was just wondering what you all think as far a lighting and filtration? Do I need a Skimmer? Bare bottom? Anything info would help. Going to start off with zoas first bur might venture into other types of corals. What is the best type of lighting for rapid zoa growth. Thanks for any input.

i dont have a frag tank but i know alot lighting get a mh pendant but definetly would get mh.... maybe t5 but mh is way beter.... filter i would get a diy hob fuge u dont need a filter if u got a goof cuc and a fuge. u should get live sand it helps with bio filtration. also if its frag only get some sort of diy eggcrate structore black eggcrate looks the best

I would go barebottom, and I would get some type of sump/fuge/skimmer to help keep the water clean particularly if you aren't going to be having live rock in the frag display. Are you going to have live rock in the main display?

I tend to disagree with the lighting suggestion up above. You can do T5 lighting and have alot of lighting with it also. It all depends on the type of lighting fixture you get. In addition with a metal halide if you don't put it high enough then you will have low light at the ends of the tank, particularly with a 20L unless you get two metal halide pendants.

Really you can have high lighting with T5s and MH, it just depends on what your preference in lighting is, metal halide has a lot of shimmer, but like I said may not reach well to the sides of the tank, with T5 you can get alot of different bulb combinations and have different color combinations very easily, however you have multiple bulbs to replace instead of just one and no shimmer although you get more of a glow with T5.

i realy just ment mh is the best also if u do bare botom u should put lr or ls in fuge it helps to have either for biofiltration anyway i was saying dont go bare botom because it looks beter and helps with filtration

im kinda thinking about doing the samething. I have a 50 gallon breeder and an old 20L. I was thinking of upgrading the lights on my 50 and moving the current MH setup to my would be frag tank. I was hoping to just direct water from my display to the frag tank then to the refugium/sump. Im kinda worried about the actually fragging process tho because ive never done it. How fast to frags grow? Im sure it depends on lots of things.

Also im no LED expert or anything but 48 leds seems a little low to me. Again i could be totally wrong on that.

Troy you are pretty hard to understand with no punctuation.

sorry but im lazy! hapy? im using punctuation! do not wory about fraging ive only done it 2ce but the first time i was nervous then i got the hang of it lol.. that sounds good about the sump though.

So you don't think I would need any filter floss or carbon or anything? Should I just mod an ac with lr and cheato?

i have several frag tank
i run them with no skimmer
i run them with MH or T5HO lighting
they all have a little bit (1-2") of sand and a couple small pieces of LR
then i use pvc pipe to suspend the egg crate over the sandbed and viola!

also, i dont use a HOB on any of them, just a couple power heads to keep the flow and a heater.
i do add some chaeto to them for N export...


HTH

Carbon is useful depending on corals (some can wage chemical warfare).

What type of lighting do you recommend and how many Watts?

4x t5
but thats just me
i'ma starting a 10 gal frag "tub"
i'll use ethier haliogens(u can get these from any home depot i think but not shure as i live in Australia but they cost me $15 each) or 4x t5

Is 2x 39w t5 ho enough for what I am trying to grow. Its 36" ling which I know will over hang?

Yes i think so i have a cheapy 2x24 watt on my 15 gallon (2' long) and that can keep my LPS happy
so it.s probaly allright.

i run a bare bottom, no sand and have it set uo with no skimmer.
So far so good.