Frags in your sump: Lightening and flow!

Many of you probably know the “problem”: the tank grows, the corals grow, and at some point it will have to be necessary  “gardening” corals. But: What shall I do with frags, where I can temporarily store them or maybe even breed?

At first I used a Terra Nova Reefdeck – which is really quite convenient to use, but I was quickly exhausting. Reason: frags where thrown down by snails each night.

So my question was: Where can I store my frags without building a separate tank for them?

My solution: My middle compartment of my sump below the display tank in which I had  previously the calcium reactor, with the size of 40×40 and a water level of 30cm!

Now, however, two problems had to be solved: the flow and light. Since the compartment is forced with flow of my return pump about 2.000l / h, there is already some flow. Additional flow is provided by the outlet of the zeolithe (about 750l / h) and a Hydor Koralia Nano.

I chose 2x12W aquasunspot LEDs for lightening, that are suitable because of the low heat output and a mixed spectrum of light. However, the area is not completely illuminated. The middle section is illuminated very strongly. (Good for Acorporas), the sides are more suitable for LPS and Montipora species.

After the conversion of the corals from T5 to LED (2 weeks), they show a decent, but not extremely strong growth.

There’s place for around 40-50 frags.