180 Gallon FOWLR advice

Thomas Gregory · Jul 19, 2016

Sorry if my post is all over the place. a little about me, like many people i have kept an 80 gallon African cichlids tank for about 3 years and i just moved and thought i would try my hand at a saltwater tank.

I'm about 2 months in from starting my first SW tank and i was looking for some advice on FOWLR tanks because i can't seem to find a lot of information on them. I think i have everything i need now but i wanted to make sure. i have a 180G glass tank with dual corner overflows, 60g diy sump with 3 chambers |sock and skimmer GFO|live rock and refuge| bubble trap, heater, carbon canister and pump|. For my skimmer i am running a vertec 150 and a DC Waveline return pump. In the tank i have 2 Maxspec Gyre 180 powerheads. i have about 150lb of live rock between the display and the sump and i have 200lb of dry Caribsea dry aragonite special grade reef sand but i only currently have 160 put in and i use Instant ocean sea salt mix(purple box). I'm also running a 10g ATO from JBJ and a reefkeeper lite wish ph and temp probe and 1 power strip. For lighting i have 3 amazon special full spectrum LED light (not currently installed).
so far i have had the rocks curing and cycling in the tank for about 6 weeks and i just added the sand in today, i am taking it slow because i know nothing good comes from rushing a tank.

Now here come the questions...

What should i be looking for in parameters for my tank before i put fish in and on a weekly basis after my tank is established? and do i need to run GFO?

i have found several things online but I'm not quite sure what i need and don't need to maintain for a FOWLR tank. Right now i am thinking salinity around 1.019, temp at 78, ph 7.6-8.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <30ppm. this is all i think i need to monitor for a FOWLR but im not sure about phosphate and calcium or anything else.

Am i using a good sand?

I chose the Instant ocean sea salt mix because i was under the impression that i need need all the extra stuff that reefs need and this would work for my purpose for a FOWLR tank.

Do i have enough filtration with only 150lb of live rock?

I know with FOWLR tanks you need more swimming room but i know filtration is important and with my lower rated skimmer do i need to find some other media to help with biological filtration. i.e. use my GFO reactor on a media instead of GFO.

Am i missing any equipment that i should have?

I do have a 6 stage Ro\DI system with 2 44g brute cans for FW and SW.

And last but not least do you have any good stocking ideas?

I'm wanting a puffer, eel, trigger, wrasse, tangs, goby if possible with eel and maybe shrimp, snails or crabs if the fish will allow.

I also attached a picture of my tank let me know if you have any suggestions on it. i still have to sand down and refinish the canopy and doors. and everything is kinda a mess around i still have to fix my wires and stuff.

Thank you.

Joeganja · Jul 20, 2016

Well first off for your first question. GFO and phosphate control is more towards affecting coral growth so you don't have to worry about that. However since phosphate levels can rise and be in a fowlr tank they tend to bring up the possibilities of red slime algae, different types of algae, the glass turning brownish tan and needs to be scrubbed with a algae scrubber or magnet once every few days so your gonna wanna make sure your doing your water changes to keep them low it's not hard in a fowlr tank since you have an RODI unit and a lot of phosphate comes from a bad water supply and excessive food. As far as calcium levels your not going to be using reef salt because if you use reef salt your spending more money first of all and your only having fish so regular instant ocean salt kept between 1.019-1.022 is good enough. I think 150 pounds is good enough especially since it's such a big tank and your rock work looks awesome looks like there's plenty of swimming space. What you can also do is in your sump find a chamber and put macro algae and grow it in there. What that does is it absorbs and lives off nitrates so with enough macro algae in the sump it can help keep down your nitrates and algae issues. Also an algae scrubber can do the same deal just may take up a little more room. You cannot have a goby with a puffer or eel or trigger or any of the aggressive species because gobies jump out of tanks and once threatened it'll find a spot and you'll have a dead fish on the floor. Puffers will pick at snails and crabs and eat shrimps all depending on the types of livestock you have. If I were you I would keep it semi aggressive, Angels, tangs, blue throat triggers, porcupine puffers, snowflake eels, stay away from clown triggers and nigers because they are the most aggressive common trigger fish that most people end up regret getting just because they get big and nip and other fish and can bite and become very aggressive.

Thomas Gregory · Jul 20, 2016

Thank you, your info is very helpfull. I have one more question. Is it nessasary to run DI resin? My lfs told me that I dont need to but i'm not sure. I have pretty bad water here. Tap is about 650 on my tds meter and is about 20 before going into the Di chambers. Is that good enough for a Fowlr or should i just stick with 0 tds?

tj w · Jul 20, 2016

0 TDS is always best.

Joeganja · Jul 20, 2016

Thomas Gregory said:
Thank you, your info is very helpfull. I have one more question. Is it nessasary to run DI resin? My lfs told me that I dont need to but i'm not sure. I have pretty bad water here. Tap is about 650 on my tds meter and is about 20 before going into the Di chambers. Is that good enough for a Fowlr or should i just stick with 0 tds?

Run it. Just in case I run it and my tap is around 200

Thomas Gregory · Aug 13, 2016

what PH level should i be looking for in a FOWLR? i know the range is 7.6-8.4 and a stable reading is what im looking for but is there a level i should try to achieve?

here is a picture of a little bit more work with the lights and canopy. still not done though.