Tank Journal Archive

[MagicJ]

I have been thinking for some time about setting up a frag pool in my shed. I already had the pool from a previous water feature - it had been sitting around doing nothing for a few years.

A visit to Bunnings got me the required parts to install a simple overflow pipe.

A already had nearly all the wood required to make a basic stand - I just had to buy 3 2.4m studs. A few hours work on Friday night resulted in this :

Put everything together - collect some NSW (the water was very cold :eek) - and we have a frag pool.

I still need to install my sump etc but there is no major rush for that.

All up, I have spent about $50 so far.

I may also use this to grow out any clowns I am lucky enough to raise.

Hopefully, the water will warm up overnight and I can start getting a few frags started.

I will update the details on the lighting when my package arrives - until then I will just put an old MH over the pool.

:)

 

[pummerz]

Hi @MagicJ

Looks like the perfect pool for a frag setup. I would love to eventually get something like this going. I will be following this thread. Please keep us updated.

Cheers,
Ben...

 

[Sarg]

Nice work Mj! The halide will help keep it warm too!

 

[chimaera]

Jealous!! I really want a setup like this ... wouldn't fit in my garage though. How many heaters do you have in there to keep it warm enough through the Tassie Arctic winter?

 

[MagicJ]

Hi @MagicJ

Looks like the perfect pool for a frag setup.

The water will only be 17cm deep so it will make working with the frags very easy.

Nice work Mj! The halide will help keep it warm too!

Hopefully the MH will not be used for too long. I'm looking forward to giving the new 100w LED a run :)

Jealous!! I really want a setup like this ... wouldn't fit in my garage though. How many heaters do you have in there to keep it warm enough through the Tassie Arctic winter?

The temperature could actually be a bit of a problem, especially for the next few months. The pool is located in my colourbond shed which doesn't retain heat very well. I currently have 2 x 200w heaters and will see how they go. I wasn't actually planning on setting this up until September/October but I will need some way to keep my algae cultures warm for my clown rearing attempt in a month or so - sitting the bottles in the pool seems the prefect solution.

 

[Agent M]

....sitting the bottles in the pool seems the prefect solution.

Fantastic idea...

 

[chimaera]

This needs an update. Did you ever get the lights sorted, @MagicJ ? Any coral in there yet?

 

[MagicJ]

Yes, the light is working but I will update the details in the other thread.

The pond is still full and it did prove useful in keeping my buckets of rotifers nice and warm through a few cool nights but my corals frags have not been so lucky. Most are still alive but need some TLC in the not too distant future.

The problem you ask?? Evaporation

Some nights when I was working on the clowns, with the outside temperature down around 5 degrees, I could see the steam rising from the pond. I have not installed a sump yet, so it is a bit difficult to notice how much water has actually evaporated, but at times I have been loosing around 20l per day. Suffice to say that I have not necessarily been on top of this and at times the salinity has increased to 1.035!! I am looking forward to the next few months when hopefully the evaporation should reduce a fair bit. I also have a fair growth of hair algae which is currently starting to smother some of the frags.

I have also had problems with moths - they get attracted by the light and then inevitably end up in the water. Eventually they get sucked in by the pump and end up in numerous bits floating in the water. A few days ago I changed the light cycle so that it now turns off around 6.00pm and it seems to have helped.

My original plan was not to set this up until the weather started to warm up but, due to the commencement of the clown breeding exercise, it started a bit earlier. I would not do this again and will now keep it running through until April/May when I plan to empty it - it is just too hard to keep it warm and at the correct SG during a Hobart Winter.

 

[MagicJ]

I will post this here because the xenia is in the pool :)

This shows that Pulsing Xenia does actually pulse :eek This frag was kindly provided by @Dr. Schell a few months ago and whilst it has gone through a couple of significant salinity swings it has managed to survive. I noticed yesterday that it had started pulsing so I put together this video this morning. Please excuse some of the blurring - I was using my macro lens hand held which may not have been the best idea.

 

[Agent M]

Very appropriate beat in the music too, like they're clapping :)

 

[rockerpeller]

Very cool Shane

 

[MTG]

great footage shane

 

[Mr.Reeefer]

love the idea, i see one of these in my furture

 

[MagicJ]

The idea was good, in practice not quite so good :rolleyes

 

[slin1977]

Very good ... Do you dose iodine?

 

[MagicJ]

Very good ... Do you dose iodine?

This is fairly old thread Nils :)

I moved this frag over to my DT some time ago - it subsequently started growing in a few other spots in the tank but then the original frag, which had grown quite large, melted away over a couple of days. One small section is still growing quite nicely. And, no, I don't dose iodine although I have heard it is good for xenia.

 

[slin1977]

Yah , missed the age of the thread :-)
Reason I said the iodine dosing , was my Xenia used to look as skinny as your example posted. Looked back at some very early photo days on my salt water tank career and it's great to have memories of the journey.

With iodine suppliments it grew to jack and the beanstalk proportions and got fragged and lopped like a alien plantation.

But then again ... A love hate relationship with the stuff developed .

 

[MagicJ]

But then again ... A love hate relationship with the stuff developed .

Yep, it can get out of hand

 

[ezza]

Yep, it can get out of hand

View attachment 47630

Oh my goodness! Is that real?! I can't keep the stuff alive. I may have had a creature feasting on it though.