80g FOWLR setup

Rome

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2012
470
5
33
Santa Barbara
I've been interested in salt for awhile and I think I will go FOWLR in my 80g. I currently run an aquatop cf500uv (rated for180g). As far as fish I am mostly looking for as low maintenance as possible.

I'm thinking 1 flame angel, 2 fire fish, 1 fox face, and an occelarris clown.

I am assuming I will need to switch to a sump? Protein skimmer?
How much live rock should I get and as far as inverts go is there a limit?
As far as water changes go I would like to limit them as much as possible, with that stock am I well under stocked?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

CanadianKeeper

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2012
1,252
72
66
Ontario
do you work at a petstore Smallone? lol You dont NEED A SUMP and you dont NEED a skimmer. It is posible to do FOWLR tanks without.

Sumps are nice because they hide your heaters, filtration and all the workings of the fish tank. Plus you can dose the tank, do all your maitenence down there with out disturbing your very touchy reef system, anenomes or agressive fish. But if your doing a fowlr ? Not a HUGE need for one. Sure you could slam some live rock in the sump if you dont want your tank to full of it. For a fowlr tank other then to slap a skimmer in they arnt really NEEDED. Especially now since skimmers have hang on back set ups to them.

I rock HOB filters with a hob skimmer for my salt tank... Runs fine. With Live rock its surface area of the rock, to get the best bang for your buck you want rocks that are light but have tons of surface area... So you dont NEED a pound per gallon, but its just a general guideline. With an understocked tank you could rarly do W/c just keep up with top offs. Here are a few thigns to read so you know what your getting into with "live rock" and what it does.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/61875-what-live-rock-anyway.html
http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/61875-what-live-rock-anyway.html (this article is for reef tanks basicly)
 

Jrob

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 7, 2011
709
1
33
32
Michigan
HOB skimmers are normally always garbage compared to in sump skimmers...

the general rule IS 1 pound per gallon.

water changes are mandatory....
 

CanadianKeeper

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 25, 2012
1,252
72
66
Ontario
HOB skimmers are normally always garbage compared to in sump skimmers...

the general rule IS 1 pound per gallon.

water changes are mandatory....
Yes but they still do the job.

GENERAL RULE, all my fowlr tanks have been under that. My reef tank was around the only one I was over with.

Agreed but can be limited down to a very small amount with an understocked tank with lots of live rock.

I have a friend whos 200 gallon has been running for 7 years. He no longer runs filtration 24/7. Turns on his skimmer and sump one week every month. Does one water change a month. The tank is really healthy and water is clear.
(he does have water movement fans running 24/7 and an auto top off system)
 

Rome

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2012
470
5
33
Santa Barbara
HOB skimmers are normally always garbage compared to in sump skimmers...

the general rule IS 1 pound per gallon.

water changes are mandatory....
I have read that job skimmers are bad, sadly it looks like I will be looking for a sump/skimmer.

Wc may be manditory but by through under stocking and over filtration you can make the nitrate build up so slow that you may only need to top it off with the occasional small wc. I'm not building a reef.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

ctenopoma

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 14, 2008
617
0
0
Canada
a fowlr will do well with a protein skimmer and a canister filter as long as there is lots of rock in the tank and a heavy current. With inverts you should wait awhile anyway to add them and then add only a few at a time and increasing the amount if need be. If the tank is 80g you should get atleast 80 lbs of live rock or 80lbs of dry/dead rock and 10lbs of liverock to seed the aquarium. if you add fish slowly (I mean weeks to months at a time apart) you can minimize water changes to around 25% every two weeks.
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store