Reef or Fowlr Aquarium

NowGlazeIT

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I
I was just being stupid.
8D5E5E46-094F-4B7D-BCF5-9F8501B4FDEC.jpeg
 
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Unlikely, fighting and cannibalism will ensue, too many shrimp and not enough space.
What could I stock this 40 Fowlr with then? I currently have a pair of ocellaris and a nassarius snail and I play to have a baby blue tang for a year and constantly swap it out and cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp with another nassarius and a blue licktia star ( I know these guys are hard)
 

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Heres my 2 cents, buy an aptasia and a clown OK jk. Start with a FOWLR and reef safe fish, run it a few months, get used to the maintenance. One day switch to trying to keep reef parameters and see if the adjusting, dosing and testing is for you. If it is, slowly start adding equipment and corals. Dosing 2 part by hand is cheap and for everything else water changes are cheap and easy, not much equipment is needed at first. Ease into it don't dive in. If it isn't for you just keep it fowlr
 

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This is my FowLR before everything went to hell. Admittedly not as pretty as most reefs. Green star polyp is a Coral that is almost impossible to kill, and many consider it a nuisance that has to be killed with fire. That would add some flair, and not really require anything fancy beyond decent lights, which you should probably have anyways if want to grow algae to feed herbivores.

DSC_0218.JPG
 

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I have a FOWLR and I think one of the ways you can offset the beauty of a reef tank is with a nice rock formation. Arches and caves looks really cool and add some beauty in their own right. Also, one of the advantages to a FOWLR, you will have a bigger selection when it comes to fish as you do not need to worry about corals being eaten...Something like a Puffer or Queen Angel, that are eye popping in a tank which you wouldn't see in a reef tank! You do have to worry about inverts with some fish as well, but there a lots of beautiful fish out there that will make your FOWLR look great. So in essence add a few really nice looking fish or something exotic that you wouldn't see in a reef tank that will draw peoples attention when they look at your tank.

The FOWLR will probably require less maintenance. Usually water changes every 2 to 3 weeks are enough to keep the tank healthy without getting into adding things like calcium, magnesium, etc...

Ultimately, IMO when it comes to the equipment, you will spend money whether you go with a reef or FOWLR. Most people are using sumps, skimmers, reactors, etc... whether or not you have reef or fish only. And of course, there are ways to do both economical and make them work as well, although may require more maintenance in the long run (ie not having a skimmer).

Good luck!
 
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What could I stock this 40 Fowlr with then? I currently have a pair of ocellaris and a nassarius snail and I play to have a baby blue tang for a year and constantly swap it out and cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp with another nassarius and a blue licktia star ( I know these guys are hard)
Is it possible to fit 1 cleanershrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 4 peppermint shrimp, two pincushion urchins, 5 trochus, 3 nassarius and two blue lincktias, 2 clownfish, 3 Pyrimad Butterflyfish and 5 blue green chromis being fed a cube of mysis a day and pellets and flakes for the fish?
 

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What could I stock this 40 Fowlr with then? I currently have a pair of ocellaris and a nassarius snail and I play to have a baby blue tang for a year and constantly swap it out and cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp with another nassarius and a blue licktia star ( I know these guys are hard)
Skid the star it will 100% die and nuke your 40. Also skip the blue tang, catching it and finding a home for it isn't as easy as it sounds. Many nano fish you can put in a 40 just have to decide which direction you want to take your tank.
 
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Is it possible to fit 1 cleanershrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 4 peppermint shrimp, two pincushion urchins, 5 trochus, 3 nassarius and two blue lincktias, 2 clownfish, 3 Pyrimad Butterflyfish and 5 blue green chromis being fed a cube of mysis a day and pellets and flakes for the fish?
and copepods
 
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Skid the star it will 100% die and nuke your 40. Also skip the blue tang, catching it and finding a home for it isn't as easy as it sounds. Many nano fish you can put in a 40 just have to decide which direction you want to take your tank.
Are the rest fine? thanks btw
 
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I have a FOWLR and I think one of the ways you can offset the beauty of a reef tank is with a nice rock formation. Arches and caves looks really cool and add some beauty in their own right. Also, one of the advantages to a FOWLR, you will have a bigger selection when it comes to fish as you do not need to worry about corals being eaten...Something like a Puffer or Queen Angel, that are eye popping in a tank which you wouldn't see in a reef tank! You do have to worry about inverts with some fish as well, but there a lots of beautiful fish out there that will make your FOWLR look great. So in essence add a few really nice looking fish or something exotic that you wouldn't see in a reef tank that will draw peoples attention when they look at your tank.

The FOWLR will probably require less maintenance. Usually water changes every 2 to 3 weeks are enough to keep the tank healthy without getting into adding things like calcium, magnesium, etc...

Ultimately, IMO when it comes to the equipment, you will spend money whether you go with a reef or FOWLR. Most people are using sumps, skimmers, reactors, etc... whether or not you have reef or fish only. And of course, there are ways to do both economical and make them work as well, although may require more maintenance in the long run (ie not having a skimmer).

Good luck!
Thanks for the explanation
 
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This is my FowLR before everything went to hell. Admittedly not as pretty as most reefs. Green star polyp is a Coral that is almost impossible to kill, and many consider it a nuisance that has to be killed with fire. That would add some flair, and not really require anything fancy beyond decent lights, which you should probably have anyways if want to grow algae to feed herbivores.

DSC_0218.JPG
Nice aquascape, I got a 15" width so I have limited options and my LFS has no dry rock and dry rock is expensive shippin
g so how can I stop pests on the rock.
 

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With FOWLR I highly recommend two filters; one canister and one HOB. The HOB doesn't have to be anything huge (although my preference is the Seachem Tidal-110).
Size your canister filter for the basic volume of the tank and run it with Course/Medium foam and biomedia (no floss, fine foam, polishing pad, carbon etc.) Just let it do its bacterial thing.
Use the HOB as your skimmer/polisher with stages of medium foam/floss/fine floss and carbon if you want. You can easily remove carbon from the HOB if you need to med the tank, or add something special to the HOB when needed. That way you avoid opening the canister for changes. It works for me and I have three FOTs (I use a ton of biomedia in place of LR).
 
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With FOWLR I highly recommend two filters; one canister and one HOB. The HOB doesn't have to be anything huge (although my preference is the Seachem Tidal-100).
Size your canister filter for the basic volume of the tank and run it with Course/Medium foam and biomedia (no floss, fine foam, polishing pad, carbon etc. Just let it do its bacterial thing.
Use the HOB as your skimmer/polisher with stages of medium foam/floss/fine floss and carbon if you want. You can easily remove carbon from the HOB if you need to med the tank, or add something special to the HOB when needed. That way you avoid opening the canister for changes. It works for me and I have three FOTs (I use a ton of biomedia in place of LR).
that's a good Idea and I am a massive fan of seachem tidals and will a Fluval fx4 be sufficient for a 40 and will copepods make it through the floss and carbon, also I plan on using the current USA IC pro lights for this tank because I love the modes and forecast in a inexpensive fixture so will that grow enough algae for the urchins to go to heaven on
 
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that's a good Idea and I am a massive fan of seachem tidals and will a Fluval fx4 be sufficient for a 40 and will copepods make it through the floss and carbon, also I plan on using the current USA IC pro lights for this tank because I love the modes and forecast in a inexpensive fixture so will that grow enough algae for the urchins to go to heaven on
So will a 40 stocked with three Pyrimad butterflyfish, 2 clowns, 5 Blue Green Chromis, 5 Trochus Snails, 3 Nassarius Snails, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Blood Red Fire Shrimp, 4 Peppermint Shrimp, 2 Pincushion urchins being fed a cube of mysis a day and pellets and flakes with monthly water changes, HOB Refugiom with some chaeto for the copepods, fx4 and a sachem tidal 75 and a pair of current USA IC pro lights Bluetooth be sufficient for all these creatures
 

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that's a good Idea and I am a massive fan of seachem tidals and will a Fluval fx4 be sufficient for a 40 and will copepods make it through the floss and carbon, also I plan on using the current USA IC pro lights for this tank because I love the modes and forecast in a inexpensive fixture so will that grow enough algae for the urchins to go to heaven on
Fluval FX4 should work just fine. I would probably recommend a Tidal-75 as the HOB complement.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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