Ok so I was thinking of starting a fish only 160 gallon tank. I have reef tanks but this will be my first fish only. My question is what I need. My LFS told me that I still needed 160 pounds live rock, protein skimmer, and good lights like t-5's. If I still need all this why would do a fish only not a reef. I thought it would be cheaper and easier to do FO. What do you think I will need? I would like to start with the lest amount of equipment that I can and ad on a little each month.
Fo question
- Thread starter kitsapdan
- Start date
You probably still need as much filtration as a reef. While FO is more forgiving in turns of water params, most predator fish tend to create more waste. As for lights tho, you could get away with no lighting if you wanted to. Fish don't need lights. Minimum for a 160 I'd say is sump and skimmer, with the optional addons of a UV filter and/or reactors to run carbon and phos and/or a refugium.
limitdown
New member
My 240g FO system has no live rock (thus, FO and not FOWLR) and I use about 45 liters of ceramic rings for biofiltration. Ceramic rings are much cheaper than live rock and pound for pound and volume-wise are more efficient. If you don't plan on having really big fish like large Angels, Puffers, Tangs, etc, then you'll need less bioballs/rings. Also, 240 pounds of live rock would rob like 1/2 of my fish's swimming space.
I was going to use cheapo T8 shop lights, but because of the flatter size of the housing, I decided to go for T5's (regular output, not T5HO). I've got 4 tubes of 60inchers drawing 40 watts each, which is pretty darn low in energy consumption. Fish don't need lights, soI only turn on the lights on when I come home from work for about 4-6hrs each day, purely so that I can watch the fish. During the daytime, natural sunlight in the living room is enough to signal to the fish that it's daytime.
Fish can tolerate much higher temperatures, so I do not use a chiller, which saves massively on power bills considering that a 240g system would require a 1 horsepower chiller which guzzles 600watts.
Fish can also tolerate much higher levels of nitrates, so you won't need to change water as often.
You would need a skimmer whether you went reef or FO. But I don't think it's correct to say that an FO system would require a bigger skimmer than a reef system. If you kept the same exact stock list, then you would only require the same exact skimming capacity. However, if you started stocking big fish that eat and poop a lot, then you'll need a bigger skimmer.
I was going to use cheapo T8 shop lights, but because of the flatter size of the housing, I decided to go for T5's (regular output, not T5HO). I've got 4 tubes of 60inchers drawing 40 watts each, which is pretty darn low in energy consumption. Fish don't need lights, soI only turn on the lights on when I come home from work for about 4-6hrs each day, purely so that I can watch the fish. During the daytime, natural sunlight in the living room is enough to signal to the fish that it's daytime.
Fish can tolerate much higher temperatures, so I do not use a chiller, which saves massively on power bills considering that a 240g system would require a 1 horsepower chiller which guzzles 600watts.
Fish can also tolerate much higher levels of nitrates, so you won't need to change water as often.
You would need a skimmer whether you went reef or FO. But I don't think it's correct to say that an FO system would require a bigger skimmer than a reef system. If you kept the same exact stock list, then you would only require the same exact skimming capacity. However, if you started stocking big fish that eat and poop a lot, then you'll need a bigger skimmer.
Jerry W
Active member
In my 120 fowlr, I have never run a skimmer. I perform 25 gallon w/c's every two weeks and my nitrates hover between 20-40, which is acceptable for most fish. I personally like live rock but think the old addage of 1 lb per gallon is outdated. While I have probably 100 lbs of LR, I could get by with much less, and IMO you can add some nice pieces simply to give the tank a natural appearance. Lighting is a preference. Standard NO strip lights are fine. I upgraded to pc's a few years back simply for the look they provide but overall fish don't really care.
Keep up with w/c's, don't overstock, overfeed, and you can get by with much less than a reef set-up.
Keep up with w/c's, don't overstock, overfeed, and you can get by with much less than a reef set-up.
limitdown
New member
I've got ceramic rings inside garment bags (the ones used by women to wash delicate clothes). These bags fill up 2 chambers inside my sump right after my dripbox/driptray w/ filterfloss and before my skimmer. I want the rings to have "first dibs" on any "food" before my skimmer does.
limitdown
New member
I've never felt that my ceramic things were "nitrate factories" in themselves. I find that my nitrate levels rise according to how many fish I had and how much I fed them.
I know many people believe that bioballs and ceramic rings somehow produce nitrates, but my thinking is that nitrates come from nitrites which come from ammonia which is produced by fish pee/poop.....so the root of nitrates is fish pee/poop...
Live rock does have a competitive advantage in that deep within liverock anaerobic bacteria can grow which will reduce nitrates. However, my understanding is that liverock too efficient at reducing nitrates so many reefers will grow and harvest macro algae such as chaetomorpha.
The conclusion, is No, I didn't have a nitrate problem even before I added a sulfur denitrator. This leads to my next point, that you should consider getting a sulfur denitrator. I can't stop praising these devices, a lot cleaner and more efficient than chaeto and god-forbid caulerpa. If you decide to go for a denitrator, do not get a carbon-based machine where you need to add sugarwater or alcohol cuz you'll need to feed the machine every day. With sulfur denitrators, you just set it an forget it (almost).
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limitdown
New member
Btw, here's the link to a great thread on denitrators
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=752497&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
My nitrates are undetectable, but I still religiously change my water once a month. One of my buddies goes 3 months btwn changes.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=752497&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
My nitrates are undetectable, but I still religiously change my water once a month. One of my buddies goes 3 months btwn changes.
