Ericas 18 gallon FOWLR

[fumarshirtco]

This is a fourm about the 18 gallon FOWLR I'm seting up for my girl friend i will try to up date with pics when ever we do something new to the tank

 

Tank: 18 gallon newport tank (half moon)

Filter: stock filter (media replaced with small broken up live rock)

Lighting: stock lighting 1, 8 watt actinic blue 1, 8 watt powe rglow

Pumps: 1 stock pump, 1 Via Aqua 360 (for water movement)

Rock/Sand: 3#'s of base rock, 19#'s of live rock, 10#'s of live sand

 

Livestock: there is nouthing but a ball of cheto in the tank as of now, but we plan on making it a FOWLR

 

 

thanks for looking, Ruben oh and i no i cant spell

[fumarshirtco]

[fumarshirtco]

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[MillerLite]

Nice tank and aquascape. What types of fish do you plan on having in the tank? Describe a bit more about filtration? May want to go ahead and start supplementing for alkaline and calcium. Even though its a FOWLR tank, that rock would look amazing with some corraline algae on it.

 

Nice job!

 

Oh, and may want to go with a simpler background. The background may detract some from the fish. Go with a simple blue or black background if you wish to change.

 

Good luck!

[fumarshirtco]

drowning thanks for looking, we still may upgrade the ligting but that will come later.

 

MillerLite thanks for the kind words and help, i have been dosing purple up hope it works. we dont no about what fish we want yet but dont worry were not going to do anything to crazy no tangs,triggers, ext. i will try to get some pics of the fillter its just pertty much like the filters on the eclipes tanks. but i took out the cermics and threw in some live rock.

 

well thanks for the replies and help guys

 

 

 

i no alot of people dont believe in cycling with using live fish but i have tried many outher methods and found this one to work the best

[Duke13]

Awesome tank. Even looks good with the background.

[fumarshirtco]

Duke13 thanks for looking buddy, yea we plan to keep the backround so we dont get temted to put some real corals in there lol

[andre]

dont you think cycling with fish is cruel? you know that the ammonia spike will burn their gills and cause problems in the long run? i would just go with the shrimp method. after all, this hobby requires patience anyway. nice tank btw.

[fumarshirtco]

andre hey thanks for the help, but i have tried that way makes a mess and brings up phospates and i got realy bad hair algae. and not to be rude but, we eat fish so i dont think its that big of a deal. but i no what your saying

[lunarflame]

andre hey thanks for the help, but i have tried that way makes a mess and brings up phospates and i got realy bad hair algae. and not to be rude but, we eat fish so i dont think its that big of a deal. but i no what your saying

 

There is a difference between eating fish and keeping them as pets. It is your responsibility to provide them with appropriate care, and cycling with them is almost always an inhumane practice.

 

Sorry to be rude, but stop being so selfish and give the poor fish a break! Fishless cycling is faster and more accurate than cycling with one.

 

 

Nonetheless your tank is pretty nice, good luck.

[MillerLite]

There is a difference between eating fish and keeping them as pets. It is your responsibility to provide them with appropriate care, and cycling with them is almost always an inhumane practice.

 

Sorry to be rude, but stop being so selfish and give the poor fish a break! Fishless cycling is faster and more accurate than cycling with one.

Nonetheless your tank is pretty nice, good luck.

 

 

Cycling with live fish is a common thing to do. I would however suggest that you cycle with blue damsels instead of green chromis. They all will be a pain in the rear to get out of your tank (smart, fast little bastards) but the green chromis are much more sensitive than blue damsels. We cycled my brothers 55 with blue damsels and didnt lose one. Dont think that would have been the case with green chromis. One other thing to note, when I tried to remove my damself from my setup, I had to pull out all of the rock. You wil only get one chance to net these guys, so make sure its a good one. They learn very quickly.

 

Good luck!

[fumarshirtco]

lunarflame, thanks for the help and yea i'm sure your right but you have your ways and i have mine but thanks for looking.

MillerLite, Yea your right about the blue damsels, and the green chromis being hard to get out, however were planing to keep them in (she already grew attached to them) thanks for all the help, and thanks for looking

[fumarshirtco]

heres a pic of the filter not much to see but gives you an idea of whats going on up there

 

[fumarshirtco]

and just for fun

[MillerLite]

Hey fumarshirtco,

 

I know nothing about the condition of your rocks that you are attempting to cycle (cured vs uncured) or about the parameters of your tank currently. I'm sure that everything will go as planned. Two things I thought I would bring up..and take them for what they are worth. Based on previous experiences, tank cycles tend to usually be pretty harsh and difficult on the organisms that currently inhabit the tank. The large spikes in ammonia and nitrites are lethal to all but the very hardiest of fish, and very few if any inverts will survive the cycle. Fish that do survive the cycle are often weakened and more prone to illness such as ich. The addition of new fish may make these fish more susceptible to ich and soon you will have multiple fish in separate quarantine tanks for several weeks (some of which may not survive). Worse case scenario. Now again, this is based solely on my experience in cycling for reef tanks (often with uncured rock) so your FOWLR may be different and probably is. That said, I would not be surprised in the least if one or all of the chromis and the blue hermit failed to see the end of your cycle. If those losses are acceptable in the very least, then forge ahead. If not, then you may wish to find an alternate storage space for both, and purchase hardier fish if you wish to cycle this way. Now, only you can make these decisions and I provide mere suggestions.

 

Good luck to you and keep us posted. Nice looking tank..I would like to see what you finally decide to put into the tank.

[fumarshirtco]

yea the cycle is almost done i used pre cycled water and cured live rock just had to go threw a mini cycle, cause the live sand i added, i should have said this before

but thanks for your help

[MillerLite]

Are you using test kits to check the cycle (ie. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate?). 3 days seems a bit quick for a near completion of the cycle, but then again, it depends on how cured your rocks were and how "live" your live sand was. I wouldnt think taht the "pre-cycled" water would have much impact, then again, not quite sure what precycled-water is

 

If you are not using test kits, the only true way to know your tank has completed its cycle is to do the measurements, let it a sit for a bit, and then repeat. If the ammonia and nitrites are still zero, then your done. Of course, if you never saw an ammonia spike to begin with not sure if this means your tank has completed its cycle or is gearing up to start one. Keep us posted..I'm following this thread because Im interested to see how your fish-induced cycle runs its course. I usually let my tanks sit a month or two after the tank has finished cycling just in case, but of course this is for a reef tank.

 

Good luck to ya.

[fumarshirtco]

well thanks for posting yea i no how a cycle work and i no how to test my water but thanks for trying to help the fish are great so far ever thing is very very low nitrite is 0 and nitrate is at 5.0 and ammonia is at 0