Thinking of setting up a FOWOLR

[Skimmerking]

Palmer what I would do is a strong Skimmer and Live Rock eith asand bed deep enough to denitrfy and running Ozone will keep your water clean and allow you to only worry about Nitrates. That's where the Sand bed comes in to play

Originally Posted by Palmer

Hi Everyone,

So I have had my reef up and running for 2 and a half years and pretty happy with it no major issues (besides the occasional RO flood.) I have also kept Cichlids for about 15 years and I am kind of getting tired of my 125 G african cichlid tank.

I like the aquascaping of the tank though (Big Buddha statue and lots of slate rock.) I am thinking I would like to convert it to Fish only but without live rock and as a separate system from my reef.

So would a good skimmer regular waterchanges and perhaps some "detritus free" bioballs with mechanical filtration do the trick? I know everyone is pro live rock and negative on wet/dry filtration but is that more for corals which in many cases are more sensitive to nitrates?

Also I could start another thread but any suggestions on fish for a 125 G 6' long tank? I honestly have spent much more time reading about corals over the last couple of years and have spent little time researching fish I would not put in my 120 G reef.

thanks!

Palmer

Hey Palmer, your tank is already setup properly with a sump. Just replace the gravel with sand and add a protein skimmer and a refugium or bio balls in the sump.

Check out lafishguys on youtube and you'll see a whole bunch of different setups that he has going without live rock.

[Palmer]

Thanks everyone for the comments and great ideas!

[wingedfish]

Originally Posted by asmodeus

YA OK and you should pee in your tank. Live rock is a natural filter for FO tanks using BIO Balls and sponges are a thing of the pass.

Really?

The question was, can it be done. Of course it can and was long before the science told us about live rock. Must have a way to deal with nitrates. If you want nothing but a budah and slate and fish, it's possible.

[The Grizz]

My FOWLR does have LR & sand, only because I had it here to use. Take out the gravel ( if you have it in the tank already ) replace with sand, add a few nice pieces of LR to the display & sump, run a good skimmer & forget the bio-balls, they could lead to major issues.

I have not done a WC in my FOWLR since day one, running a SWC 160 skimmer & that's it. Have not tested water at all except for salinity & havent had an issue.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

It is very possible to do what you suggested (little/no live rock, with good skimmer & bio-ball filter), but keeping the bioload low in order to reduce the number and volume of water changes until your bio-balls filtration gets fully up to speed would probably be a good idea.

Fish only with live rock is the preferred system nowadays because of the natural filtration provided by the rock. On the other hand, critics of FOWLR's point out that when the need to treat a tank arises, you're stuck because most effective medications will kill the live rock. So pros & cons.

Anthony

[Palmer]

The main reason for the post is that I know I am going against conventional advice and what has made my current reef successful. But to do something without LR I figured would require adjustments and other solutions would need to be looked at. I liked a lot of the suggestions like the deep sand bed and ozone and hiding the LR away underneath in the sump. Several things suggested I wouldnt have thought of.

How about algae turf filtration? That looked like some work and a bit of a mess from what I read about it but people seem to be getting good results.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I usually have a large sump/refugium (ie. 90g wide under a 165g display) and I keep up 100 lbs of cured live rock in there along with cheato for nutrient export. I also used to keep a large plastic tub filled with 8"-10" of sand as an in-sump remote deep sandbed. In this way, I could remove the dsb if I wanted to without too much trouble.

However, I like live rock in a fish only because it gives the fish a place to hide, swim through, etc.

[kole]

Originally Posted by Palmer

How about algae turf filtration? That looked like some work and a bit of a mess from what I read about it but people seem to be getting good results.

I think you should give the scrubber a try. Read up on it. It is very easy to build and will keep nitrates and phosphates low while being able to give the fish the food they are going to need.

[burgerchow]

no problem with fish only tank. We been doing them for decades before the berlin method came about. Just make sure you got a really strong skimmer, good wet/dry filter ( diy in a big sump) and you're set to go.
Actually, fish only tank is really fun. Everytime you go to the lhs and see a cool looking fish you want, no worries about if it's reef safe. Just buy what you see. Would also recommend a large uv sterilizer, ( at least 25 watts)