small vs large tank

[T-Dawg]

Hi, my first ever tank has been a 10 gal nano. Up & running for 3 months. No problems to date. All I use is a powerhead, aquaclear mini with live rock & sand for filtration/aeration.

 

Due to the simplicty of this set up, I'm wondering if it would work the same for a 70 gal FOWLR. I want to try a few larger fish. Do larger fish require a more 'advanced' filtration system (ie. sump with plenum, tricke filter?) or can I get away with such an easy system?

 

Most websites/people promote 'advanced' filtration with protein skimming. With my limited experience so far, I question if all the so called 'required' equipment is really necessary.

[surfy]

IMO I would use a protein skimmer on a bigger tank, you don't need a sump/trickle filter,plenum unless you want one. A sump helps add more water volume and gives you a good place to put the protein skimmer, heaters ect. I would use a larger HOB also.

I always setup my tanks as if they were going to be a reef tank, after a while you will probably get board with the FOWLR and want to add some corals down the road, I know I would.

Thats when the skimmer really comes in handy .

[SaltyDawg]

It realy depends on the fish youwant to keep in the 70. If you keep tangs or the like youwant a UV strylizer for sure. They are one the Most prone fish in the hobby for contracting ick. In my opinion a larger tank is WAY easier then keeping a smaller tank.

There is more room for error by far. More beneficial bacrteria due to larger volume of water and just plain more live rock in the system. If you go with puffer fish, Lion fish, Groupers etc etc,,, You will need a heavy duty filter system as they are HUGE waste producers and very messy eaters. a sump will do 3 things for you if you set one up the right way. 1st it will provide more volume to the main tank 2nd it will clean up the tank and give you back valuable tank realestate 3rd it will act as a nitrate/nitrite filter when you ad macro algea to it. You realy dont need a sump though unless you want to go with a reef later on or you want alot of fish in the tank. Even if you go with a reef you still dont "need" the sump . It is just a helping hand basicaly.

[dickwayne]

No, you don't need a skimmer on a larger tank. However, I would recommend you stock such a tank very lightly, and be careful not to add any messy eaters that leave a big mess.

I would advise you use some sort of nutrient export, such as an eco-system setup or a protein skimmer. If you want a FO, you really should getting a decent skimmer, such as the aqua C Ev120. Don't worry about other expensive equiptment, just the basics. And IMO, you don't need a UV sterilizer to keep tangs. Only extremely sensitive animals, like sharks or rays.

 

Go to http://reefcentral.com/index.php?s= and look around there. You will get a much better understanding of the large tank setups. Make sure you search for eco-systems to see what people there think.

[penguin87]

you don't need a protein skimmer on a larger tank, but one of the main reasons why nano reefers don't use a protein skimmer is because it's easy to do a water change every week, which is what you need to do without a protein skimmer.

 

now, unless you want to do a 10 gallon water change every week, i'd buy a protein skimmer.

 

happy reefing!