debating and need help FOWLR

[SCUBA BUZZ]

Hey Folks, I just free'd up a 25 gallon tall tank and was thinking about doing a FOWLR . I want to keep this as cheep as posible. I don't want to run a sump and i have allready built a conopy which has 2 x 15 watt NO florescents + 2 x screw in fixtures (for those 50/50 20 watt bulbs) I dont realy want any corals maybe a few mushrooms but thats would be about all, the LFS has Fiji Rock on for $7 LB CAD, I have a few questions to ask before i get this thing going

 

1) Should I go live or dead sand or none at all?

 

2) how many LB's of Rock for a FOWLR?

 

3) Skim or no Skim? (bearing in mind I wanna keep this cheep) also will a skimmer allow me to have a few extra fish, I would debate throwing one on afterwards if so. I also have an old counter current i can run just for safety

 

4) what kind of water flow will I need? I have 2 old powersweeps that I've gutted and turned into standard PH's plus a big HOB that I will be running will this be enough?

 

5) is a 25 Gallon big enough for any type of sea star? and if it is what kind, and what type of sand should i get

 

6) the guy at the LFS has a 25 running and has been using tap water. I come from a city with some of the purest tap water in Canada (my ex did water testing and our intake to our water treatment is cleaner then most city's output) do you think tap water will work for this FOWLR? concidering the LFS tank has a minor carepula problem but nothing major

 

7) i also have some georgeous ready to go coreline covered LR in my sump (i have about 22 LBS of LR in my 15 gallon combo) how much can i take out and replace at a time in my extablished tank?

[I'm the same guy as reefer9391]

What type of fish are you planing on keeping?

[andykee]

1) Should I go live or dead sand or none at all?

"dead" is fine. it will become "live" after a few months, so no sense in buying live sand in my opinion

2) how many LB's of Rock for a FOWLR?

it is difficult to give an exact number, since it really depends on how dense the rock you have is and how full you want your tank to be. most people use anywhere from 1x to 2x the tank volume in lbs, with 1.5x probably being themost common target. with that, you would need tle less than 40 lbs.

3) Skim or no Skim? (bearing in mind I wanna keep this cheep) also will a skimmer allow me to have a few extra fish, I would debate throwing one on afterwards if so. I also have an old counter current i can run just for safety

skimming will keep your water quality up, but won't really allow you to keep any extra fish. with a 25g tank, you will run in to space issues and water quality issues. the skimmer can deal with the wq, but not the space.

4) what kind of water flow will I need? I have 2 old powersweeps that I've gutted and turned into standard PH's plus a big HOB that I will be running will this be enough?

what is the tank volume turnover rate. with a fowlr, you really just need enough flow to keep water moving throughout the tank without any dead flow spots

5) is a 25 Gallon big enough for any type of sea star? and if it is what kind, and what type of sand should i get

not sure about this. i have never kept one. maybe someone else can chime in on this

6) the guy at the LFS has a 25 running and has been using tap water. I come from a city with some of the purest tap water in Canada (my ex did water testing and our intake to our water treatment is cleaner then most city's output) do you think tap water will work for this FOWLR? concidering the LFS tank has a minor carepula problem but nothing major

it might be ok. you could try it but you may see algae blooms. i always recommend ro water, but if you feel that confident in your tap water, i guess you could give it a try. do you have a tds reading on it?

7) i also have some georgeous ready to go coreline covered LR in my sump (i have about 22 LBS of LR in my 15 gallon combo) how much can i take out and replace at a time in my extablished tank?

not quite sure i understand this question. i think you are asking about removing rock from an established tank and replacing it with non-cycled rock back into that established tank. if this is the case, any uncycled rock you put into an established tank will cause a mini-cycle. the severity of the cycle will depend on the size of the rock, but i wouldn't recomment trying this with any size rock.

[SCUBA BUZZ]

thanks you rock the TDS i dont have a reading for wish I did , the problem with RO is i have to buy it which gets real pricey i use RO in my reef tank, im sorta basing the quality of the water from the aquarium at the store which was started at the same time i started my reef, both have about = algea problems minimal, but i have alot higher bioload per gallon by about 2 fold, I just saw how well his is doing and it kinda sparked my interest in doing a FOWLR I also know 2 other reefers in town who use tap to great success.

 

I have no idea what kind of fish im going to get probably chroim's cardinals and/or clowns perhaps a 6 line or 2 and maybe a goby

 

does anyone out there have a 25 FOWLR or know someone who does if so what do they have in theirs?

 

Oh yeah i had one more questions and its about temp control. The room maxes out at around 85 degrees in the summer will this be too hot??

[andykee]

Oh yeah i had one more questions and its about temp control. The room maxes out at around 85 degrees in the summer will this be too hot??

thats probably going to be a problem. the easiest fix is to get a fan and blow it across the surface of the water, but that really speeds up your evap. rate. also, this fix is typically used to reduce the heat contribution of lights, not necessarily overheating due to a high ambient room temperature. you may have to check out a chiller if your tank temp is constantly getting up into the mid-80's.

[Fishfreak218]

Hey Folks, I just free'd up a 25 gallon tall tank and was thinking about doing a FOWLR . I want to keep this as cheep as posible. I don't want to run a sump and i have allready built a conopy which has 2 x 15 watt NO florescents + 2 x screw in fixtures (for those 50/50 20 watt bulbs) I dont realy want any corals maybe a few mushrooms but thats would be about all, the LFS has Fiji Rock on for $7 LB CAD, I have a few questions to ask before i get this thing going

 

1) Should I go live or dead sand or none at all?

 

2) how many LB's of Rock for a FOWLR?

 

3) Skim or no Skim? (bearing in mind I wanna keep this cheep) also will a skimmer allow me to have a few extra fish, I would debate throwing one on afterwards if so. I also have an old counter current i can run just for safety

 

4) what kind of water flow will I need? I have 2 old powersweeps that I've gutted and turned into standard PH's plus a big HOB that I will be running will this be enough?

 

5) is a 25 Gallon big enough for any type of sea star? and if it is what kind, and what type of sand should i get

 

6) the guy at the LFS has a 25 running and has been using tap water. I come from a city with some of the purest tap water in Canada (my ex did water testing and our intake to our water treatment is cleaner then most city's output) do you think tap water will work for this FOWLR? concidering the LFS tank has a minor carepula problem but nothing major

 

7) i also have some georgeous ready to go coreline covered LR in my sump (i have about 22 LBS of LR in my 15 gallon combo) how much can i take out and replace at a time in my extablished tank?

1. Dead

2. 25-30lbs.

3. i say dont skim.. you wont have to many heavy bio-load animals because most of them are way to big for a 25g.

4. I think a good HOB Aquaclear 50 and a Maxi-Jet 600 (my powersweep is crap and barely moves any water)

5. Choclate Chip Seastar (but it may eat your shrooms if you do put some in)

6. i say dont use tap water.. you dont want hair algea

7. IDK, srry

8. Temp control= fan (cause you want to keep it cheap.. but it would be more stable with a chiller.. but that'd cost you)

[SCUBA BUZZ]

Yeah my gutted power-sucks push some good water I had one in my planted FW tank and it was way too strong for the tall plants I dont know exact GPH, but it moves more water then my eheim aquaball which I think is 160 so I would have roughyly 180 GPH from the HOB I have plus lets say 2 x 150, plus I have an extra few micro 60GPh's I made so roughly 600GPH total for a 25 gallon. I think the LFS has a few Chocolate chips in stock not that I can add them soon, but they've been there for months so i dont see them leaving in a rush