Want to start over, need advice...

[GTIMANiac]

Ok.
I bought a house this year that has a 110G SW in the wall. The setup is about 9 yrs old, there is an under gravel setup with a canister and a UV sanitizer as well, crushed coral on the bottom. No live rock, just coral bones and barnacles.

There are 5 holes in the bottom of the tank,
2 - under gravel
2 - outlets
1 - inlet about 4" above the bottom.

I have alread upgraded the lights to a new setup, 2 96W Daylights, 2 96W Actinics and 6 Lunars.

From what I have been reading the under-gravel should go?

Suggestions for a FOWLR setup?

 

[austinsdad]

I'd get rid of the crushed coral and the under gravel filter.

Whaddya mean 5 holes in the bottom? Not drilled, right?

 

[GTIMANiac]

Yes, Drilled.

Also this is a 2-sided see-through tank. So that needs to be kept in mind when coming up with new equipment choices.

 

[Hara]

Also this is a 2-sided see-through tank.

what do you mean?

 

[mykpoz]

Also this is a 2-sided see-through tank.

what do you mean?

assuming he means that it is in a wall that has rooms that are occupied.... (i.e. bedroom and living room)

so it is not a room that can have a ton of equipment on the otherside like 100g rubermaid containers and huge 10 foot skimmers



at least that is what I am understanding...

 

[GTIMANiac]

Also this is a 2-sided see-through tank.

what do you mean?

assuming he means that it is in a wall that has rooms that are occupied.... (i.e. bedroom and living room)

so it is not a room that can have a ton of equipment on the otherside like 100g rubermaid containers and huge 10 foot skimmers



at least that is what I am understanding...

That, and there is not a "back". It needs to be attractive from both sides. It is between the Master Bedroom and the formal area of the house.


Shot from the formal area.

Shot from the bedrom side.

Access to all the equipment is under the tank behind the doors, access to the top is the same, behind the doors. There is a screen for my DLP projector that doubles as a privacy screen as well.

 

[tecwzrd]

From the looks of the photo from the bedroom side I’d say you have about 13+” of width on that tank. If that is correct you should have enough room for a modified sump\refugium with room for a skimmer below. It’s a beautiful tank/setup, my concern is that I see fish in those photos and removing the ugf and crushed coral and replacing with aragonite sand & adding a 50\50 combination of base rock and lr is going to get a little messy.

I would see if a lfs could hold them for a month or so in order to change it all out.

Your lighting is just fine for a FOWLR & you could even try some low light inverts, really the main concerns are filtration & water movement right now.

With 5 holes drilled in the bottom of the tank you shouldn’t have too many issues with either.

Do you know how to take care of a SW tank or are you hiring someone to do the maintenance on it? Do you have a SW test kit and do you know what the tank parameters are ie: ph, sg, nh3, no2, & no3.

 

[GTIMANiac]

I have had a SW tank in the past that I took care of. I do have a test kit for those, an SG meter though I should get a refrac I think. Also have a kit for Calcium AZ water is pretty hard even after RO.

I was thinking of giving the current livestock to a friend. He is converting his current tank from Chicleds to SW.

There is probably 16 - 18" depth on the bottom. The tank is 20" deep. It is a 110G.

There is lots of water movement with the current setup. There is a little giant 1350 gph pump. The inlets from under gravel are fed through the canister, the inlet from the middle of the tank is not filtered but goes through the UV sanitizer.

Currently I keep getting Ammonia Spikes and I think it is because the crushed coral is holding so much stuff. Even with a pretty serious cleaning crew.

 

[tecwzrd]

Giving the live stock to a friend or the lfs till you can get your tank set up the way you want would be the way I would do it.

The pump sounds good as you’re getting about 12 times turnover on the tank. All that coming through one hole?! (the one you mentioned about 4” above the gravel) If so you might want to T that off to separate sides of the tank for better converging currents.

A refractometer will give you more accurate results but isn’t vital in a fowlr. I’d just keep more than one type ie: swing arm & floating hydrometer or refractometer.

Usually you would see a no3 spike, not an nh3 spike from the crushed coral holding so much stuff. I’d do 15-20% pwc everyday and cut back on feedings to every other day until the nh3 was back to 0. How are you other numbers looking?

 

[GTIMANiac]

There are 2 outlets back into the tank, on opposite ends. Keeps things moving pretty well.

 

[GTIMANiac]

Any reccomendation on brands or specific components?

 

[austinsdad]

Not from me, but just had to tell you...beautiful home. Funny, how one pic of one wall can suggest that. But I'm convinced.

Good luck with the tank, and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[tecwzrd]

I included a bunch of links (ones in bold) as far as some recommendations. What specific brands for which products are you looking for?

Lr is kind of scarce right now due to the hurricanes last season but there are some decent deals out there. For the 110 I’d get a 60 lbs box of base rock from www.hirocks.com (the BEST kind for $92 shipped) and another 60+ to start of lr either from your lfs (if they have good cured lr) or shipped in from some of the following:

www.petsolutions.com
www.marinedepotlive.com
www.worldpetstore.com
www.ecoreefaquatics.com

I’m sure others will chime in on where you can find good live rock.

As far as skimmers go the Aqua C Remora Pro is a popular skimmer but may not be big enough for your 110 gal tank. You may have to get a AquaC EV-Series Protein Skimmer

I haven’t had any experience with other skimmers so I’ll leave it up to others to suggest other brands.

For sand you could just get play sand but personally I like the CaribSea sand.

For heaters a couple of WON Pro-Heat IC Titanium Heater 250 W should be sufficient.

Being that you have a width of 16+” you have tons of choices for sumps/refugium.
You could make your own following directions on these sites:
http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53046
http://www.melevsreef.com/
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Uthup_Sump_Filter.html

Or buy one of these brands:

ProClear Aquatics Pro
CPR wet/dry
Tidepool 2

Just to name a few, again I’m sure others will have some recommendations.

HTH

 

[GTIMANiac]

Thanks so much.
I have started ordering the new goodies. I am sure when it comes time to cycle I will have some more questions. But for now I am well on my way.

Thanks again guys!