- Joined
- Apr 28, 2019
- Messages
- 321
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Been on and off this site for the passed 12 or so years and first time in the fowlr section!
So we have 3 reef tanks in our house and the gf and I have been trying with the idea of starting a fowlr. She's sent me a few listing on fb so I figured I should get ahead of the curve here in case I come home from work one day and there are 10 bags of fish and a glass box on the floor. I like to plan. She's a bit more...spontaneous.
A friend of mine has been trying to give me this old dual overflow 6ft 200g for years now. If it's in good shape I'll get it, if not, that's about the size we want anyway.
So... I'm here looking for some tips or pitfalls that I may not have had to think about with peaceful reef tanks. Are there any fish that are just the worst no matter what?
My stocking plan is basically every cool fish I can't have in my reef tanks. Lol. Typical first time fowlr guy thoughts I'm sure... but I want triggers and angels, powder and clown tangs, definitely groupers and lions, dragon eel, harlequin tusk, a puffer, some damsels maybe, etc. So tell me why I shouldn't if I shouldn't. The only obvious thing I'm thinking of is that obviously the smallest fish need to be added first and once I have big fish in there I can only add big fish.
Next is treatments... I know the great thing about fowlrs is being able to add copper to the tank... I'd like to not do that if possible... I'd like to add the most finicky ich prone fish first like the tangs. If I add a bunch of fish at once and treat the whole system with copper of some sort, can I then drain it and fill it again and be copper free and then add sand and rock or will the copper be in my glass and pipes still?
My plan is to build some really cool rock structures and just cover them in gsp and pulsing xenia as in my experience nothing eats that stuff anyway and it's pretty resilient to dirty water and chemicals compared to most other corals.
Lastly is filtration. I know that in recent years there has been a push to use skimmers rated for smaller systems then actual. Does that hold true with fowlrs also? Or are they just so dirty with messy eaters that I should have one rated for my total water volume?
Will be using socks/roller and probably a refugium also depending on what end up with as a sump.
Thanks for any input!
So we have 3 reef tanks in our house and the gf and I have been trying with the idea of starting a fowlr. She's sent me a few listing on fb so I figured I should get ahead of the curve here in case I come home from work one day and there are 10 bags of fish and a glass box on the floor. I like to plan. She's a bit more...spontaneous.
A friend of mine has been trying to give me this old dual overflow 6ft 200g for years now. If it's in good shape I'll get it, if not, that's about the size we want anyway.
So... I'm here looking for some tips or pitfalls that I may not have had to think about with peaceful reef tanks. Are there any fish that are just the worst no matter what?
My stocking plan is basically every cool fish I can't have in my reef tanks. Lol. Typical first time fowlr guy thoughts I'm sure... but I want triggers and angels, powder and clown tangs, definitely groupers and lions, dragon eel, harlequin tusk, a puffer, some damsels maybe, etc. So tell me why I shouldn't if I shouldn't. The only obvious thing I'm thinking of is that obviously the smallest fish need to be added first and once I have big fish in there I can only add big fish.
Next is treatments... I know the great thing about fowlrs is being able to add copper to the tank... I'd like to not do that if possible... I'd like to add the most finicky ich prone fish first like the tangs. If I add a bunch of fish at once and treat the whole system with copper of some sort, can I then drain it and fill it again and be copper free and then add sand and rock or will the copper be in my glass and pipes still?
My plan is to build some really cool rock structures and just cover them in gsp and pulsing xenia as in my experience nothing eats that stuff anyway and it's pretty resilient to dirty water and chemicals compared to most other corals.
Lastly is filtration. I know that in recent years there has been a push to use skimmers rated for smaller systems then actual. Does that hold true with fowlrs also? Or are they just so dirty with messy eaters that I should have one rated for my total water volume?
Will be using socks/roller and probably a refugium also depending on what end up with as a sump.
Thanks for any input!