Future frag room set up help
 

Have decided to set up a room of tanks dedicated solely for frags and need a little help with the layout.There will be 2 possably 3 racks with 4 tanks on each rack.I was thinking of running either NO or VHO(24 inch bulbs).If I was to run 3 over each tank,would I need a ballasts for each tank or could I use fewer ballasts(just bigger).I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the idea of how things should be set up.
The frag tanks would be mostly zoos,rics and other softies.

I am thinking of doing somethign similar. I was looking at 48" NO, 1 actinic and 1 10K over each, just using regular T12 fixtures.

Are you making these tanks a custom size or anything Jim? You might be able to get away with even N.O. lights if the tanks are shallow enough. Or you could get about 3 or 4 WH8 ballasts and run 2VHO bulbs/tank.

I would like to have them made shallow if I could find a place locally to make them.Have them all drilled and maybe do some kind of closed loop for each rack of tanks with an in-line filter system?(not sure if that would work or not)

Why not just make some custom acylic tanks?

That's what I would do as well. Get some 24x18x9 tanks made up. 4 stacked on top of each other, each tank draining into the tank below it and finally into a common sump where you can put your filter socks, heaters, UV, whatever and all run on one pump (like a Mag 18 depending on height of the rack).

If I can find a place that would do all the tanks I need for a fair price,I would definitly go acrylic(easier to drill)

Jim, why not try making them yourself, could be a fun project?

Jim,

With all your glass cutting/tank making experience, you may just find it easier to get 1/4" glass and make the tanks yourself. You could look at Architectural Clearing House that sells recycled glass for a cheaper source of glass.

Or you could have Dez make 'em for you :)

And Harvey to drill em....

Or that :lol: :mrgreen: :razz:

Been there and seen what they have for glass,but I have no real work spce to start cutting glass.Thought about having everything cut and just assemble them myself.I like the idea of using acrylic.

Hey!! sounds like a great idea!

I would stay away from acrylic. I have fish room with 4 tanks, one is home made 1/4" acrylic. I hate to clean this one the most. Go with 14" to 16" depth as anything less is realy hard to move water around without blasting some corals too hard.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/fishroom.jpg

Old picture, bottom right tank has been cleaned up and is BB.

Denis, what lights are you running on those tanks?

Nice fish room,was also wondering what lights you are running? I've been going cazy trying to figure out how I can get the most use out of the small room,and how many lights and pumps,and heaters,and.........:( (good thing I'm already bald,:) )

The top two tanks share dual VHO ballast with Actinics plus two NO daylights from Home Depot on each. Bottom left just has 2 shop lights with 2 daylights and 2 03 Actinics. I'll be replacing this fixtures soon with waterproof sockets, just like the ones above. Last tank (bottom right) has 4 VHOs on IC660.
My logic behind the upper setup is that I reuse VHO actinics from my main reef upstairs and the daylights are cheap. Ultimately I'll replace dual VHO ballast with IC660 and share it among all 4 tanks. All bulbs are 4'.
Bottom right tank is 53"x35"x20", but will be replaced by 48"x24"x16" just like the others. For circulation from the sump I run Ampmaster 3000. This is completely separate system from my main reef system. Room was prewired for all the outlets (4 circuits), I hate extension cords and power bars.
Hope this helps.