Fish only setup ???

[Pickupman66]

OK.. so It has just been way way too long since I setup a Fish only tank. I have a buddy who is wanting to setup a fish only tank for a volitan lion. He is looking at a 30 gallon. any suggestions on filtration? Substrate?

I know he will need to cycle it for a few months before adding this fish, and I will advise him do it with a damsel or two.

 

[SRT80]

couldnt he just cycle it with live rock?

Steve

 

[waynesworld]

I would put a few neon blue damsels those fish will get real mean and fit in with some aggressive fish. You can cut down the time with live rock out of someone's tank

 

[gflat65]

From experience, he'll need a new tank within the first two years. I had one I bought labeled as a dwarf and put it in a 55. Withing 16 months or so, it couldn't turn around in the tank very well, so I had to upgrade to a 75. Mr. Stickey got pretty big pretty fast.

As for substrate, I'd go with a course medium like crush coral. It is easier to vacuum. I was amazed at how much settled to the bottom... A uv sterilizer isn't a bad idea, if even only for a few days a week. I ran a sump on my FOWLR, but it had a few soft corals, too. Plan on a lot of water changes or maybe a skimmer (one would help the other). They eat as much as you'll feed them, so you have to limit them. They think they are starving 24/7.

 

[PhoenixINX]

30 gallons is WAY too small for a volitan... I felt bad for mine even in my 120

 

[gflat65]

Yeah, the 75 was smaller than I would have liked, too...

 

[Angela Short]

I have 50ish lbs of nice shaped live rock great for a fowlr. It has been dosed with copper so couldn't be used for a reef but ideal for a FO. I gave $40 for it and will sell it for that. In a bucket with heater and PH waiting on someone to take it home

 

[fishdoc11]

I agree that a 30 is WAY too small for that fish.

 

[KAiNE]

On my "fish only".... FWIW

I treated it the same as my reef (except less flow and less light). I used LR out of my reef's sump to get it started and never saw any kind of "cycle" but i also didnt run out and buy 5 fish at once either.
I am using a sump and skimmer, started out with an Octopus NW200 but am thus far unhappy and just ordered a MR2... LOL. Andy says hopefully it will ship next week so i might have questions for you "beckett people". I got my t-5's for it yesterday so it seems to be coming along at this point. The tank is deep 31" so i needed decent light because 3 x 4 foot NO fluorescents just didn't get it.

You could do it "cheaper" and simpler, I am sure.