DIYreefer's DIY 100g AIO Plywood Frag Tank

[DIYreefer]

Do you chop your jawbreakers, or do you just wait for them to multiply naturally?

I have a guess based on your sig

They spread naturally. I grow them out in a DIY mushroom breeder box filled with seachem biomatrix. Then I simply grab the pebbles (biomatrix) and glue them to frag plugs. Contrary to my signature, this is one coral that I have never cut.

 

[Northern Flicker]

They spread naturally. I grow them out in a DIY mushroom breeder box filled with seachem biomatrix. Then I simply grab the pebbles (biomatrix) and glue them to frag plugs. Contrary to my signature, this is one coral that I have never cut.

Cool! I don't cut mine either, but I find they don't multiply very quickly. I also use a pebble bed. I am thinking it's smart of you to work with a large group, that way even if they aren't multiplying too quickly, you are still getting good output. I probably need to up my "stock".

Great build.

 

[DIYreefer]

Cool! I don't cut mine either, but I find they don't multiply very quickly. I also use a pebble bed. I am thinking it's smart of you to work with a large group, that way even if they aren't multiplying too quickly, you are still getting good output. I probably need to up my "stock".

Great build.

I'm not sure why, but I've always had really good luck growing these guys. I started with around 15 polyps and now have well over 200, easily. I've found that keeping them in conditions that they don't necessarily prefer really stimulates growth. I keep them in higher light which encourages them to "walk" around. When doing so, they leave a trail of babies behind. I sell anywhere from 10 to 25 polyps per month and never really deplete my brood stock. There will be 10-25 more ready to go next month. I've got random polyps growing throughout my tank now. On the racks, the walls, the bottom, everywhere. Lol.

 

[DIYreefer]

Corals, yay!!

 

[lbzking]

Snapped a few pics from around the frag tank today. So much has changed since the last time I posted!

Sic!

 

[lbzking]

Here are a few pictures of when I first got the tank on the stand (stand is also 3/4" plywood), and a couple from when I was adding the finishing touches to the epoxy.

As you can see in the last picture, the tank doesn't sit flush with the edges of the stand. That would be because I'm an idiot, and somehow built the stand 1" longer than it should have been. This is the result of a "measure once, cut once" woodworking philosophy, lol. This enrages my OCD, but structurally it still works and holds the weight of the tank perfectly fine.

Dude! That tank is insane! Nice work! A lot of time and patience for sure. We'll done!

 

[DIYreefer]

Dude! That tank is insane! Nice work! A lot of time and patience for sure. We'll done!

Thanks! It was a fun build and has held up perfectly fine for going on 2 years now.

 

[DD Corals]

Nice setup

 

[DIYreefer]

Nice setup

Thanks! I've set up an additional frag system utilizing lowboy frag tanks and while I like the lowboys just fine, I still like this tank better. The ease of having everything up higher as an AIO system is much easier on my back!

I don't really have room for much more but if I ever reach the point of taking aquaculture more seriously and moving it out of the spare bedroom in my home, it will be with more tanks similar to this one.

 

[CoralCrafted]

MANNNNNN, I really have been interested in these wood builds and now I might just be sold because this turned out amazing.

 

[DIYreefer]

MANNNNNN, I really have been interested in these wood builds and now I might just be sold because this turned out amazing.

Thanks.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.

I'm really enjoying this tank. Of the three systems that I have this one is my favorite. It's about as simple as it could be but it grows corals really well.

 

[DIYreefer]

I was planning on posting a FS thread this weekend, but Hurricane Beryl seems like it may be headed my way. So I think I'll let that play out before I post anything for sale again. I'm well prepared for an extended power outage should that happen. I have two generators, three portable air conditioners, battery powered bubblers (for if/when the power initially goes out and the weather is still too bad to go outside and fire up the generators) w/ plenty of batteries, and enough fuel to run the generators 24/7 for about a week. We should be good

Anyway, I snapped a few pics of random stuff in the tank since I already had the frags staged for FS thread pics. Enjoy!!

 

[DIYreefer]

 

[Northern Flicker]

Stunning!

This is one of the best threads on R2R right now. Great work.

edit: The yellow favia with teal center on your 2nd last post, very bottom. Do you know the trade name for it? I traded for a small frag of it, seems to grow much faster than my other favia.

 

[DIYreefer]

Stunning!

This is one of the best threads on R2R right now. Great work.

edit: The yellow favia with teal center on your 2nd last post, very bottom. Do you know the trade name for it? I traded for a small frag of it, seems to grow much faster than my other favia.

Thank you! Of the three systems that I have currently this is my favorite, and any future frag tanks will be very similar if not exacrly the same. I love that I don't have to go under the tank to reach any equipment or do any maintenance. Everything being up higher make siphoning out detritus from areas that would typically be difficult much easier.

That's a "Cali Kid Electric Daisy Favia." I've been quietly collecting various favias, this is definitely one of the nicer ones.

 

[DIYreefer]

Snapped a few pics right before the lights turned off for the day.