Marine or not to Marine

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I don't even use a skimmer, my only filtration for FOWLR is the live rock itself, live sand, and HOB mechanic filter. Its been running almost 2 month(2 month in about 5 days) now with 2 ocellaris clown, and all the parameter reads 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 8.2 ph with a salinity of 1.025. Water is crystal clear also...doesn't necessary need to spend all that money to keep a FOWLR tank. Unless your going reef, then I can't answer that yet as I still got more homework to search :D
 
a skimmer isnt necessary, but i see so many people get frustrated with there tanks that they want to give up, when they dont run a skimmer.
ive also had many people tell me they never enjoyed the hobby like they do until they got there skimmer.
i recommend a skimmer with every tank if possible. it improves the ease of maitenence so much theres just really nothing that compares to it in freshwater.
all im gonna say, is to not invest in one for a heavily stocked(no matter you intention most people end up heavily stocked) tank with no other means of nutrient export(besides wc's) is a bad decision.

edit: also adam coral bioload is extremely small when compared to fish, unless you have corals that require frequent feedings of meaty foods
 
snakebite22;3237383; said:
my 135 salt predator setup is this

300 wet/dry
75 lbs. live rock
140 lbs live sand
RS 135 protein skimmer with a cedra 5000 pump
2 koralia 4's
Mag 18 system pump

My bio load is high I have to do 35 gallon water changes every Tues. or my nitrates would be insane.
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drop the wetdry, this might change.

'course skimmers aren't necessary on any tank, but since you're looking at a large setup with some large messy fish, one is highly recommended.
also i wouldnt ever run a canister on a sw tank. they turn into nitrate factories quick. my advice: apart from the powerheads [the koralias will be great BTW, i have two 4s in my 65g. not sure if three 1s will be enough for you.] and rock in the display... get a sump, fill it with live rock/rubble and put a skimmer in there.
 
Eric A;3237560; said:
Damn, up go the prices...
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like i said attempting to do this cheap is a mistake.
the only cost cutting measure you can take is by base rock with a small amount of live rock(to seed bacteria) instead of all liverock.
reefcleaners.org sells cheap base rock

you need to get yourself a skimmer, anyone that attempts you to dissuade you from this either isnt expeirenced or isnt thinking the situation through thoroughly.

and your gonna want either dsb or a fuge, to remove nitrates because most of the time the anaerobic areas on the rock arent enough and still leave you with a lil, but you can probably wait on those to see if its in the acceptable range or not.

if you do this right you will need minimal water changes, and will save a ton of money in the long run

btw you will also want a hydrometer of course.


edit: if you do it my way, you will have reef quality water you could always go over to a reef system later if your angels are reef safe.
 
i guess i should also bring this up before you put down any money. make sure the angelfish you want play nice together. alot of marine fish dont get along with conspecifics.
 
Yeah, it doesn't seem cheap at all.

I think id rather just go LR. It will have to be built up gradually however, as I know I can't afford it all in one go. Just build it up as I add fish I think.

I didn't want a skimmer, as that deffo the most expensive bit about it. But I suppose it's the key essential with the tank. I saw an article in a magazine a while ago with a fella who had an 8x2x2 with large angelfish community that only had a huge skimmer as the external filteration. Just had a huge fuge.

Is it vital to have a fuge or sump? I'd much rather just have a heap of LR and a DSB in the tank, and fill a canister with live rock rubble.

Eric.
 
Eric A;3237627; said:
Yeah, it doesn't seem cheap at all.

I think id rather just go LR. It will have to be built up gradually however, as I know I can't afford it all in one go. Just build it up as I add fish I think.

I didn't want a skimmer, as that deffo the most expensive bit about it. But I suppose it's the key essential with the tank. I saw an article in a magazine a while ago with a fella who had an 8x2x2 with large angelfish community that only had a huge skimmer as the external filteration. Just had a huge fuge.

Is it vital to have a fuge or sump? I'd much rather just have a heap of LR and a DSB in the tank, and fill a canister with live rock rubble.

Eric.
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no the fuge and sump arent very important.


a saltwater tank is probably overpriced in alot of aspects, but the reason they can charge that much for a skimmer is they are the work horse of your filtration. its important to research the one your thinking of buying as they arent all made equal.
most people cant control there stocking habits enough to just get by with the live rock filtration.

a 160 gallons worth of salt mix usually costs around 50 dollars. this is alot of money for most people, so you can see you want to minimize your water changes.
 
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