dstoneburg
Member
Tell me about switching from FOWRL to just FO. I would like to take the approach angelman did. Tell me how to do it sucesfully.
Tell me about going FO.
- Thread starter dstoneburg
- Start date
tokey
Member
I agree you still need your rock for filtration so place it in your sump. My only question is what will you use for hiding places so your fish can get away from the overly aggressive fish.
I have not seen or read about angelmans tank so if he has a way for them to hide forget about my question
I have not seen or read about angelmans tank so if he has a way for them to hide forget about my question
dstoneburg
Member
angelman used bleached corals which looked amazing. He also used a wetdry and AFAIK he had no LR..?
bullitr
Active Member
if you have a great skimmer on a fo tank it will work just fine even if you change you water periodically i used to do it but i have sps now so i can't do that anymore..
ps i don't suggest not to change your water often .so the flame me. i just saying i use to do it and even now with my sps tank i only change my water q 6 weeks with 40 gallon and the tank is thriving with 24 fish in it and at least 2 feeding a day
ps i don't suggest not to change your water often .so the flame me. i just saying i use to do it and even now with my sps tank i only change my water q 6 weeks with 40 gallon and the tank is thriving with 24 fish in it and at least 2 feeding a day
hair-trigger
Member
I think all you have to do is put a fish in the tank. Then, it will be fish.....only?
srfisher17
Active Member
Fish and skeletal coral was the standard of this hobby for many years. I still have (at my daughter's request; reminds her of what we had when she was a little kid) a 55 gal small-fish "Retro -Tank". No LR, LS, sump, etc. Overstocked,very healthy and very low maintenance. I use HOT filters, a skimmer and UG filters with PHs.(I have an easy way to avoid the need to tear stuff down to clean under the plates) The only marginal issue is nitrates, which is no big deal in FO tanks and easy to control with WCs. I only change about 10 gal per month; just a few mins with my plumbing system. If I didn't have so many nice fish in this tank, I'd use it as a QT; because I can use copper in it!
dstoneburg
Member
Originally Posted by hair-trigger
I think all you have to do is put a fish in the tank. Then, it will be fish.....only?
Your remarks sure do reflect your post count. Its sad to see someone has made 31 stupid comments. Lets hope it changes.
The thing im mostly wondering about is the LR. I run carbon, uv sterilizer, das-ex1 skimmer, and have cheato in there. The LR in a FOWRL I feel is an eye-sore. I would like to dispose of it! What kind of effect is this going to have? What if I went down from 150lbs to 30lbs or so?
I think all you have to do is put a fish in the tank. Then, it will be fish.....only?
Your remarks sure do reflect your post count. Its sad to see someone has made 31 stupid comments. Lets hope it changes.
The thing im mostly wondering about is the LR. I run carbon, uv sterilizer, das-ex1 skimmer, and have cheato in there. The LR in a FOWRL I feel is an eye-sore. I would like to dispose of it! What kind of effect is this going to have? What if I went down from 150lbs to 30lbs or so?
srfisher17
Active Member
Originally Posted by dstoneburg
Your remarks sure do reflect your post count. Its sad to see someone has made 31 stupid comments. Lets hope it changes.
The thing im mostly wondering about is the LR. I run carbon, uv sterilizer, das-ex1 skimmer, and have cheato in there. The LR in a FOWRL I feel is an eye-sore. I would like to dispose of it! What kind of effect is this going to have? What if I went down from 150lbs to 30lbs or so?
By getting rid of LR; you're losing your biological filter and would have to re-cycle. You can use any of the older types of filtration, wet/dry, fluidized bed,good HOT, even UG (in combo with HOT--IMO). None of these are as good as LR, especially on nitrates; but it can be done. None of the equipment you mention having will do anything to eliminate ammonia and nitrite, so that has to be your 1st decision. Again, in my "retro" tank; I run 2 HOT filters, the foam is an acceptable biological media, a skimmer, and UG filter w/PHs. The substrate is then the main filter media. This was the standard when I first got into the hobby.
Your remarks sure do reflect your post count. Its sad to see someone has made 31 stupid comments. Lets hope it changes.
The thing im mostly wondering about is the LR. I run carbon, uv sterilizer, das-ex1 skimmer, and have cheato in there. The LR in a FOWRL I feel is an eye-sore. I would like to dispose of it! What kind of effect is this going to have? What if I went down from 150lbs to 30lbs or so?
By getting rid of LR; you're losing your biological filter and would have to re-cycle. You can use any of the older types of filtration, wet/dry, fluidized bed,good HOT, even UG (in combo with HOT--IMO). None of these are as good as LR, especially on nitrates; but it can be done. None of the equipment you mention having will do anything to eliminate ammonia and nitrite, so that has to be your 1st decision. Again, in my "retro" tank; I run 2 HOT filters, the foam is an acceptable biological media, a skimmer, and UG filter w/PHs. The substrate is then the main filter media. This was the standard when I first got into the hobby.
srfisher17
Active Member
If you decide to go this way, you may get stoned by some; but this can be a beautiful tank. If I had only one tank; it would still be LR or reef , but I still remember the 1st SW tank I saw when I was a kid. It was bleached coral, white substrate, and beautiful fish. I've learned a lot of tricks for these "retro" tanks (like how to clean under UG filters without tearing up the tank down, keeping nitrates from causing diatom problems, etc. My fish in my retro are just as healthy as those in my bigger tanks. Maybe PM me if you run into problems, I doubt this topic would be very popular on this forum.
srfisher17
Active Member
Originally Posted by Tokey
My first salt water tank was a 180 gal with the bleached corals and a large wet dry filter I ran it for years like that.
That was 20 yrs ago and I still have all the bleached corals from that tank up in my attic.
Those corals may get valuable; I believe it is now illegal to import them into the U.S. Places still have them for sale, though.
My first salt water tank was a 180 gal with the bleached corals and a large wet dry filter I ran it for years like that.
That was 20 yrs ago and I still have all the bleached corals from that tank up in my attic.
Those corals may get valuable; I believe it is now illegal to import them into the U.S. Places still have them for sale, though.