FOWLR Tank questions....

[hwguru]

:?

I have a 35HEX tank, I am currently setting up as my first saltwater tank. I have 20 lbs of live sand, I am going to add 10 lbs of live rock, as well as a Filstar XP3, with a BIO-Wheel pro for wet/dry filtration.

does this setup sound ok? I also have a Seaclone100 Protein skimmer to setup, but I was wondering a couple things.

1) the Filstar, comes with 2 different sizes of microfibre filtration, as well as a carbon pouch, is this the correct type of filter media? or should I add something else? this seems fine for a FW setup, but for a Saltwater setup?

2) after adding the live Rock, should I add the protein skimmer? I was going to wait a month, but reading some responses here....

thanks for the help....

 

[Electrobes]

Heyyy another filstar fan. I have a 45Gtall with a Filstar XP3... man yours must be hella powerful in your tank. so far so good in my eyes. You could add a bit more Live rock.. must look a bit barren in your tank.

1) both are fine.. you could also add ceramics which is what I did, its a great filtration media. only have to clean once about every month or two, and keep reusuing them as they have the bacteria on them (which is a good thing). Thing about Carbon is that it takes out trace elements and stuff from the water but I would worry about that if you had a reef tank.. so you should be good. Make sure you rinse the hell out of the carbon.. little chips made my filter sound loud which wasn't good at all.

2) It depends.. is your live rock cured or uncured? Cured means you bought it straight from a store and got it into your tank within an hour.. meaning there was little to no die off of the live rock (the stuff making your rock live). Uncured means there has been die off and it will force your tank to cycle if put in the tank uncured. You don;t want to run the protein skimmer while curing.. it will just keep restarting the cycle until you stop it. So once its all done cycling just fine, THEN you can stick in the skimmer and let it do its job.

 

[Electrobes]

what do you plan on having in the tank... in the end? How much live rock, fish (and what type if possible), invertabrates, etc did you want in your tank at the end of your set up? Just curious to know because of bio load, and other stuff to see what you do when you reach what you want.. (i.e. water changes, certain chemicals, etc)

 

[hwguru]

in the end, I plan on having a couple inverts, like a couple shrimp, and my wife wants a chocolate starfish. plus I want a couple small fish, like a clown, and maybe a tang.

I have a couple piec es of coral coming, dried, as decoration, plus the live rock. I wanna lookm at the fish, not the rock, myself.

the live rock, i just picked up, and I am rinsing off in fresh saltwater right now. has been in the air for about an hour, maybe a little longer, and is fully cured.

 

[flamron]

no tang- they need at least four foot to swim in. At least that is what I gather from everyone else.

 

[Guest]

35 HEX is rather small in regards to surface area. Nice looing tank, but not the best for oxygen exchange... The Filstar is good for just water movement, however, you are going to have to watch using any kind of chemical and mechanical media because of Nitrate production.I wouldn't use any and let it be circulation.

You will also want at least 350 to 400 GPH flow inside the tank to make sure that there are no dead spots...

20 lbs of LR is a good start, but, you may want to shoot for 45 - 50... This will give you all the filtration you will need.. Also, enough sand to get at least 4". This will help keep the nitrates down... Decorative coral is going to get pretty ugly after a few weeks...I would stay with the LR.. Looks more natural...Dead coral looks exactly like it is... Dead...

The fish, you are going to have to stay within the range of smaller fish beacuse of the limited swimming room..7 inches max adult size. Damsels, Clowns, Blenny, Goby, etc...

NO TANG Please!

JM2C

 

[tkos]

Try to get at least 1 lb of live rock per gallon. Otherwise get some base rock and let the live rock seed it.

I agree, do not use the biowheel or add anything to the filter. As Timbo2 mentioned it will only lead to excess nitrates which are deadly for any inverts that you may have as a cleanup crew. The LR will do the filtering and powerhead and a filter can be used to produce a current.

And yes, Tangs are generally recommended for 75 gallon tanks or larger. They are big swimmers.

 

[hwguru]

Well, The XP3 pushes 350 GPH, so circulation is not a problem. I am gonna add another 20 lbs of live sand, for a greater sand depth.

After rinsing, and adding my LR last night, I know I will need at least another 10 lbs, and the Tang, well, I can do without the Tang. But I love the look of the Maroon clowns, plus I want a cleanup kit of hermits, a starfish, and some shrimp.

Saw some goby's that looked cool as well, so maybe I'll go with them. I only want to get about 7" of fish to start, figure I'll cycle the tank with them for about a month, before adding any inverts, or other fish.

 

[tkos]

Yes, never add inverts during cycling. If you can buy uncured LR then you can cycle with it and not use fish.

Clowns will work fine in that tank, a pair will be great. Be careful when adding starfish. Certain kinds are not reef safe.

I wouldn't bother with more live sand. It is only the top inch or so that is active. Plus with 20 lbs already it will seed any more sand you buy. Save your money for more LR.

 

[hwguru]

ok, so, instead of the money i was gonna spend on Live Sand, I'll just add another 5 lbs of LR.

I like that Idea better anyway.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

At whatever cost please do not add fish to an uncycled tank... I know it was the way to do it years ago, but today, it is deemed as cruel punishment. Just get a capful of common everyday ammonia with no additives in it... It will add the ammonia and kick start the cycle....

 

[hwguru]

ok, so, instead of the money i was gonna spend on Live Sand, I'll just add another 5 lbs of LR.

I like that Idea better anyway.

Thanks!

 

[steve-s]

Well, The XP3 pushes 350 GPH, so circulation is not a problem.

That rating is based on the canister being empty. I have one and once media is placed in them you will not get much more than about 250-300 GPH. If all trays have some sort of media, it will be about 200 GPH. They are quite weak.

Cheers
Steve