New frag prop tank?

[afilter]

I set up a 10g prop tank to get some more frags going for trade and placement back in the main. If I was not before I am definately hooked now.

Basically, I used a 10g with a upside down plastic basket (shelf simialr to eggcrate) half way up so the corals will be about 4-6" from the surface. Place cured rubble on the shelf and the coral frags I want to propogate (star polyps, kenya tree, green zoos, yellow polys, button polyps) on top of the rubble.

I am using a 550 pH with sponge and a whisper 20 with carbon for filtration and water movement. For lighting I have 2 coral life 18 w fixtures over the center(36 w total).

Plan to do weekly 2 gallon PWC. Idealy I would like to upgrade to 20g, but had the 10g sitting around saying use me and did not want to buy anymore lighting for now.

I used 5g water from my main and the rest new.

The one question I have is do I need to put any fish or clean up crew in there? I guess when I have seen frag tanks at LFS they usually have one fish and a few snails/hermits in them.

The reason I ask is that supposedly the corals produce no bio load, so do I need something to keep the nitrogen cycle going?

Any thoughts?

TIA,

 

[steve-s]

The one question I have is do I need to put any fish or clean up crew in there? I guess when I have seen frag tanks at LFS they usually have one fish and a few snails/hermits in them.

The reason I ask is that supposedly the corals produce no bio load, so do I need something to keep the nitrogen cycle going?

Any thoughts?

One thing to remember about bacteria is it grows to meet the demand, basically the food supplied dictate their numbers. Although the bioload of corals is considered insignificant, they still emit wastes so there will be a biofilter of sorts albeit small. If the corals you keep in there are fed at all (species dependant), it will be even greater. If you do feed, I would suggest it be consistant and regular else the bacteria will wax and wane and you'll end up with algae problems.

There is no need to keep extra waste producing animals in a tank like this. I actually wouldn't suggest snails and definately not hermits. Insufficient natural food sources will mean those animals placed in the tank will need feeding and place more of a demand on water quality control. In a larger frag system quite possibley snails but still no hermits.

Cheers
Steve

 

[steve-s]

I forgot to add, limit the types of species placed in your frag system. The more monospecific you can keep the species the greater success you will have. I would especially suggest not mixing the GSP with other corals and if you have them, corallimorphs as well. Space competition via chemical warfare will greatly retard the growth of your corals.

Cheers
Steve

 

[bc_slc]

well said steve.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

agreed... well said Steve.

This frag tank is so small, I do not see how it will successfully grow out much more than a single species (energy will be wasted in competition and chemical warfare)... without extraordinary water quality management. If it were my tank, I'd do weekly near 100% water changhes, keep less than 4 species... and not worry much about clean up crews beyond a mollusk for diatom grazing.