Thinking of setting up a FOWOLR

[Palmer]

Wow not one response in a day and a half?!

Either nobody wants to get into a need to use live rock discussion and I am out to lunch or the FOWLR section pretty barren.

[lpsreefer]

If you have seen the show tanked. They use wet/dry filters it looks like on all there setups.

[Palmer]

I have never seen the show but heard about it here on Canreef. From what I remember there seemed to be a bit of contraversy over their tanks but I dont remmember what it was over.

[Reef Pilot]

Can't say myself, because have never tried that. But if you have enough surface area with your old rock work and bio balls with beneficial bacteria, maybe that is enough to provide an adequate nitrogen cycle for your organic waste. Then use a bio pellet reactor and with your skimmer you may be able to keep your nitrates low enough.

Why don't you give it a try and let us know how it works out. You can always add live rock later, or fill up a sump with it.

[Palmer]

I think that will likely be my plan. Good suggestion i was considering rock in the sump as well that is a good option if I dont want it in the display.

[ALang]

LR is nice for even semi-aggressive fish to dart behind and hide from time-to-time. Having them do some filtration is a huge bonus.
Plus most fish likes to hang near structures of some sort, especially at night.
Good luck with your fowlr.

[Reef Pilot]

You could also try this, if you don't want to use a skimmer and a bio pellet reactor.
http://www.aquaripure.com/

But again, have not tried any of this myself, so can't vouch for it.

Will be interesting also if you can limit the growth of coralline algae on your old rock and ornaments.

[wingedfish]

You don't need live rock for a fish only. The live rock is used for the anoxic areas and the beneficial denitrifieing this produces. The lack of an anoxic area will cause the excesive build up of nitrates. This is removed with water changes. The other pitfalls of high nitrates are algae growth. Marine fish are more sensitive to nitrate levels so they must be monitored.

This is assuming you use some sort of canister with sponges or wet/dry bio balls ect. Need surface area for nitrifying bacteria. Depending on the bio load, even the sand/gravel can be enough area. Usually fish only tanks are heavily loaded so count on weekly water changes with no rock.

[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.