Philosophies of setting up a FOWLR tank?

[Jerry Barnes]

Thanks for the info. Your tank and stand look great. What are the dimensions on the tank?

My tank is 8x2x30". Its a 300 gallon that dumps into a basement fish room where my sump and rock tubs are located.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

We have settled on a Planet MEGA Matrix 270g tank, it is 84x30x25. I'm having them upgrade the overflow to their 20" external which they rate at 2500gph. If I shoot for 5x on the return pump, that is only 1350gph which gives me lots of options pump wise with no concern about over running the drains.

For algae control in the tank, would you guys go with UV or an algae scrubber? I know they work in different ways, but the end results is very similar. I personally like the idea of UV as it seems like it would be require less maintenance.

We are working though the stock list that we like. Going to have to narrow it down quite a bit as she likes a lot of different ones!

 

[DaddyFish]

We have settled on a Planet MEGA Matrix 270g tank, it is 84x30x25. I'm having them upgrade the overflow to their 20" external which they rate at 2500gph. If I shoot for 5x on the return pump, that is only 1350gph which gives me lots of options pump wise with no concern about over running the drains.

For algae control in the tank, would you guys go with UV or an algae scrubber? I know they work in different ways, but the end results is very similar. I personally like the idea of UV as it seems like it would be require less maintenance.

We are working though the stock list that we like. Going to have to narrow it down quite a bit as she likes a lot of different ones!

UV and Algae Scrubber yield very different effects on the water column.

UV kills (through genetic alteration) algae, bacteria, parasites, based on your flow, power and exposure time. But it does NOT remove the biological material or associated nutrients from the water column.

Algae Scrubbers actually grow algae, which when harvested/removed, removes the phosphates/nitrates consumed by the growing algae from the water column. A.S. is a nutrient export mechanism as well as an algae deterrent in the DT, because algae in the DT must compete for the nutrients and photo energy provided in abundance inside the scrubber.

UV has no effect on nutrient levels, but kills undesirables.
AS has no effect on parasites or bacteria, but removes end-cycle nutrients like nitrates and phosphates.

Personally, I prefer the combination of both devices. If you run both from the same supply line, be sure the UV is the last thing in the loop before return to the tank or sump.

 

[FangsAndGames]

We have settled on a Planet MEGA Matrix 270g tank, it is 84x30x25. I'm having them upgrade the overflow to their 20" external which they rate at 2500gph. If I shoot for 5x on the return pump, that is only 1350gph which gives me lots of options pump wise with no concern about over running the drains.

For algae control in the tank, would you guys go with UV or an algae scrubber? I know they work in different ways, but the end results is very similar. I personally like the idea of UV as it seems like it would be require less maintenance.

We are working though the stock list that we like. Going to have to narrow it down quite a bit as she likes a lot of different ones!

Algae scrubber in some cases outperforms protien skimmers but uv polis she’s the water. I’d go both if the budget allows it but algae reactor is my pick. Maybe add a uv sterilizer down the rode to a qt.

 

[Oberst Hajj]

UV and Algae Scrubber yield very different effects on the water column.

UV kills (through genetic alteration) algae, bacteria, parasites, based on your flow, power and exposure time. But it does NOT remove the biological material or associated nutrients from the water column.

Algae Scrubbers actually grow algae, which when harvested/removed, removes the phosphates/nitrates consumed by the growing algae from the water column. A.S. is a nutrient export mechanism as well as an algae deterrent in the DT, because algae in the DT must compete for the nutrients and photo energy provided in abundance inside the scrubber.

UV has no effect on nutrient levels, but kills undesirables.
AS has no effect on parasites or bacteria, but removes end-cycle nutrients like nitrates and phosphates.

Personally, I prefer the combination of both devices. If you run both from the same supply line, be sure the UV is the last thing in the loop before return to the tank or sump.

Thanks. I understand that an ATS removes the nutrients and the UV does not, but they both help combat algae from growing in the DT. Both my ultimately be best.

Algae scrubber in some cases outperforms protien skimmers but uv polis she’s the water. I’d go both if the budget allows it but algae reactor is my pick. Maybe add a uv sterilizer down the rode to a qt.

Initially the budget will not allow for both. In fact, looking at the ATS on BRS, they are quite expensive. I'll have to do a lot more research on them as I've never really considered them until now.

 

[FangsAndGames]

Thanks. I understand that an ATS removes the nutrients and the UV does not, but they both help combat algae from growing in the DT. Both my ultimately be best.



Initially the budget will not allow for both. In fact, looking at the ATS on BRS, they are quite expensive. I'll have to do a lot more research on them as I've never really considered them until now.

I run my FOWLER with a protien skimmer and a BioMedia block with Red Sea NoPox as my filtration and nutrient control. It’s pretty easy and you don’t have to go crazy.

 

[FangsAndGames]

Check out my build thread for more in depth run through. At its peak it had 14 fish including a zebra moray. My filtration took all of it.

 

[Jerry Barnes]

I run a 300 FOWLR loaded up with lots of fish. Over the years I've followed many of the Australian YouTube channels and noticed they are big on UV for parasite control. They use a high wattage UV at a slow throughput to achieve ich eradication. I started following this path with the introduction of 180 watts of UV on my 300. Even with this amount of UV I have algae issues in the main display. My nitrates and PO are pretty high. I've just started a refugium to get control of my nutrients. Its rather inexpensive. NoPox has worked for me in the past also but it gets expensive on a large system.

 

[Try'nNotToKillStuff]

I want to make sure I'm understanding the whole return pump and powerhead thing as I've never done this. For the return pump, I really just need to get about 1600gph (about 5x tank volume and about 600gph through a UV light) and ensure the overflow(s) can handle it. Then just use the gyre to add current flow to the DT?

I know this is an old post, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. I use DC return pumps that allow you to control the flow rate. IMHO, you should over-size your return pump by 1.5 to 2x what you think you need. Couple of reasons for this: (1) I don't trust the manufacture's stated flow rates, (2) those flow rates are probably calculated at the pump head and do not account for the amount of head pressure to push the water up and into your tank, (3) my belief, not based on science, is that you probably shouldn't run a pump at max flow rate, and (4) as you know, in the future you may want to add equipment in-line such as UV filters or media reactors. So, err on the side of oversizing.

 

[Try'nNotToKillStuff]

I run a 300 FOWLR loaded up with lots of fish. Over the years I've followed many of the Australian YouTube channels and noticed they are big on UV for parasite control. They use a high wattage UV at a slow throughput to achieve ich eradication. I started following this path with the introduction of 180 watts of UV on my 300. Even with this amount of UV I have algae issues in the main display. My nitrates and PO are pretty high. I've just started a refugium to get control of my nutrients. Its rather inexpensive. NoPox has worked for me in the past also but it gets expensive on a large system.

Jerry, I am planning out a 300 fowlr and was hoping for your thoughts. My plan is to run two return pumps (redundancy is always a good idea) with one pushing through a high flow UV and the other pushing through a low flow UV. Pros/cons with that? Also, is there a reason you are not running an algae scrubber (other than cost or space)?

 

[DaddyFish]

I totally agree that algae scrubbers are expensive, typically too expensive. IMO the same can be said for most anything made from acrylic. I mean, look at the cost of skimmers versus what they actually do!

That's probably why there have been so many DIY algae scrubbers made. But it is something that typically sits above the water line and drains back into the sump or tank. Which means you do not want it to leak or overflow.

I believe there remains some development room/improvement to be had with submerged algae scrubbers that are part of a closed loop system instead of a gravity drain-back system. However, that also means more acrylic and there goes the cost again.

 

[S2G]

I like large Angel's, triggers, puffers, & eels more than I do coral.

When building my tank my thoughts were simplicity & nutrient control. All my equipment is high quality, but very simple set it forget type stuff....well except the finicky 2nd hand bubble magnus curve 9 that I'm going to replace with a tunze here soon.

My return pump is a fluval sp ac that has the bulletproof askoll motor. My powerheads are simple tunze ac's that have a lot of flow. My lights are adjustable vivagrow 24/7s that I adjust for the more blue marine look. I should of went tunze on my skimmer from the get go. The crown jewel & what keeps the waterchanges minimal is the custom built algae scrubber. I think it was 150 & I added $75 in deep red lights.

 

[JumboShrimp]

To me, a FOWLR is all about two things:
(1) Simplicity, (2) Keeping fish you can’t keep with corals.

This 150-gallon has been up and running great with two cheap Jebao pumps (one for the return pump / recirculating skimmer, one for the UV sterilizer), and cheap lights from Amazon that give me white when I want it, blue when I don’t (Lol). I have a 24” overflow... and so with lots of flow, and skimming and sterilizing the water, I hardly have to clean my glass— despite a messy Emperor Angel and Clown Trigger.

 

[S2G]

To me, a FOWLR is all about two things:
(1) Simplicity, (2) Keeping fish you can’t keep with corals.

This 150-gallon has been up and running great with two cheap Jebao pumps (one for the return pump / recirculating skimmer, one for the UV sterilizer), and cheap lights from Amazon that give me white when I want it, blue when I don’t (Lol). I have a 24” overflow... and so with lots of flow, and skimming and sterilizing the water, I hardly have to clean my glass— despite a messy Emperor Angel and Clown Trigger.

The emp is nice, but that's a gorgeous clown trigger

 

[BillyW]

Awesome thread! Thanks for all the info! Just moved to Hawaii, as soon as I can find a big tank I am going to set up a FOWLR! Reef tanks here are very limited from what I have seen this far.

 

[DinoJames1980]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering setting up a 150g-210g FOWLR tank and was wondering what the different philosophies for this type of tank are out there. There does not seem to be a lot of posts talking about the different equipment used in building one or how that equipment might differ from a reef setup.

I've seen it posted a few times and it makes total sense that a FOWLR tank would not need the higher end lights like a reef tank would, but what about flow and filtration?

If you have a larger FOWLR tank, what was your thought process in building it?

So I was just curious if you did start that fowlr tank and how is doing and what kind of stock you added. I have a 125 long fowlr with 26 fish