Frag tank lighting... What's the best for growth?

[Jeff000]

Wow, that's an impressive frag tank, I could only wish for something that nice.

I'm already wishing I had made it larger. Even though I know it's big enough for what I need.


Brings me to another question though, what critters and or fish should I keep in the frag tank?

[FragIt Dan]

Thanks, i have been building up the supply of frags for a while I keep a couple of token fish for nutrient cycling (I find the corals are happier with fish) including a scopas tang as they are inexpensive, hardy algae grazers, as well as an assortment of standard reef custodians for algae grazing and detritus consumption. I went bare bottom to make it easier to get detritus out of the tank but didn't leave enough room under my lowest frag rack to get under it efficiently with a siphon hose (my next mod). I have seen a few of these setup and always see hairy algae issues on the new egg crating, so if you can 'seed' it beforehand, perhaps with encrusting algae, you might save yourself some difficulties down the road. If you are going to be transiting corals into your tank without QT, you might want to add a peppermint shrimp in case you introduce Aiptasia. Whatever you add, I would keep it small enough it can't knock or pull your frags over.
Dan

[Jeff000]

My tank will be plumbed into my main system, I have lots of great corals that I need to grow out and lots that other people want frags of.

It'll be bare bottom and hopefully enough flow that nothing settles.

[monocus]

i built my frag tank 2 months ago-48x15x12,with it's own 40 gal sump,and lit with a 3' 72 array cree led i bought from aquarium store solution.everything is on a built in timer;so different leds turn on or off throughout the day.par is good,(between 200-400 at different times-light 12 inches above the water and par meter 3" below the water) and i am starting to see some growth on my sps frags.the thing is i use red leds to grow my phytoplankton,as red light promotes the growth of green algae(blue for brown algae)for the price of building it myself,or buying a ready made fixture,it was cheaper to buy the fixture at $640 delivered