FOWLR tanks.

[reeferkeeper420]

Thinking about setting up a FOWLR tank in the near future hopefully. Just wanted to get info on what you need equipment wise to keep fish happy and healthy. And what water to use, does it have to be RO/DI water for FOWLR tanks or is normal purified drinking water ok, or tap? Im assuming tap water is never good when doing saltwater in general.

 

[dale]

my fowler is set up better than my reef. except for lights,,.. difficult to keep the nitrates down,, i have sump, skimmer, bio-pellets, carbon, cheato, lots and lots of flow.., havnt done phosphates yet and i have algae,, but i dont mind it..

 

[shipwreck]

Basically with fowlr tanks you still have the same equipment as a reef. You typically still want the sump, skimmer, and fuge. Sometimes a FO setup requires a larger skimmer and fuge as the type of fish will be larger and messier.  Lighting of the tank for FO isn't as important as reef since it's only there so you can see the fish. As for water you still want rodi.  The one thing you really don't need to worry about with FO is calcium/alk levels so no dosing required.

So there are three advantages of a Fo system. 1. Lower cost lighting. 2. No dosing. 3. The ability to keep the really cool fish.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah thats why ive been looking into doing FO tank...unfortunately i wont be able to have a sump since the stand doesnt havebthe capabilities for it lol..but yeah def didnt know id need a skimmer, def thought that was more for the corals benefit.

 

[shipwreck]

You can do a sump less skimmerless system but you need to be regimented with the water changes. No sump is not an issue it's really only there to hide the equipment. A skimmer is more important to remove the waste so it doesn't build up and create nitrate issues or feed the algae blooms.

Keeping your bio load low will make this a much easier to maintain system.

 

[curiousphil]

Could do a hang on back skimmer, but they are typically quite small and may not be very effective on a large bioload

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah im ok with weekly water changes. And yeah i have a coralife 220 on my 46gallon lol.

 

[shipwreck]

There are better hang on skimmers then a corallife.  Might be a good investment.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah i know.. im trying to invest more into my 180gall before iput into something ill be moving hopefully in the next couple months into a bigger enviroment. This is the skinmer that came with my 180. And i had a smaller one on my 46 b4hand so i figured one rated for a bigger system will help on a 46g.

 

[dale]

reef octopus makes some good hob skimmers.. a little pricey for the top of the line ones  but ive got a bh 2000
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-octopus-bh2000-hang-on-the-back-protein-skimmer.html and it works great..

 

[AdInfinitum]

For reasons of economy and convenience my  200gal fish and softies tank gets the "used" water that I take out of the reef tank.  Hose goes from fish tank to drain then from reef to fish then from make up tank to reef easy as can be.  Saves on salt etc.

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah thats a good idea lol.

 

[shipwreck]

For reasons of economy and convenience my  200gal fish and softies tank gets the \"used\" water that I take out of the reef tank.  Hose goes from fish tank to drain then from reef to fish then from make up tank to reef easy as can be.  Saves on salt etc.

Brilliant!

 

[Poseidon]

That's what I did when I had my 90g pred tank too.
Worked out very well.