I have a fish only 125 gal set up. We have lost several fish including tangs, flame angels, wrasp, and a royal grama. I have been told that using live rock is better for the system. I am interested in keeping fish, shrimp etc but really not trying to keep corals. Does it make sense to add live rock to be used in a fish only system?
FOWLR vs. fish only
- Thread starter wmhcpa
- Start date
sgarrett1108
New member
plus some of the tank decorations you can get are hollow and it allows for some stagnant water to accumulate. I used to use some tank decorations and when you removed them from the tank the smelled like crap. Wonderful place for nitrates and other nasties to hang out in my opinion.
AquaReeferMan
Got Reef?
What are your water parameters at? IMO any saltwater tank should have LR. Can I get some more specs on your tank, like filtration, water change routine, whats your salinity at?
coast2coast7390
Moved On
live rock not only adds more area for bacteria to cultivate but adds decor to the tank
BadOleRoss
New member
What I discovered with my FOWLR is that the LR makes great filtration and a wonderful tank but you need to be mindful as to what fish you put in there. I started with a semi aggresive mix and ended up having problem because I had assorted algae problem and could not really place snails/hermits in there to control it due to my mixture of fish. I would start with as mush LR as you can afford, add reef safe fish and invert and enjoy you tank. You will get to the point where you will want to add corals and doing it this way will make thay very easy. I ended up having to get rid of fish to convert to a reef style tank..
juniormc8704
New member
would you mind listing the components of your setup. Could help us figure out why you losing fish. Alot of people have sucessful FO tanks. I would however go with live rock, if for no other reason it really helps stablizing your chemistry. Atleast thats what ive found to be true.
Yes I have seen many tanks that I guess you can call fish only... but they had live rock in it. It was not the 1 pound per gallon rule but in a 150 gallon tank he carried I think between 40-60lbs of fiji rock. It was a tank with triggers and although yes he wasn't housing corals he still used the live rock to help keep his paremeters inline.
Thank you for the replies!
This system is in my office and was set up by a "service company" with 20 yrs of expereince??? He has been very troubled with the loss of fish. It seems that new fish live only about 72 hours when introduced. My system consisits of a 125 gal tank with 2 Aquarium-Lux 48" lights, a Wet/Dry filter with bio balls, heater & pump. It is decorated with "dead" coral and plastic plants etc. They have serviced the system with water changes every two weeks using their salt water while any "top off" water has been from our office tap. I had the tap water analyzed and was told it contained Phosphates, Amonia and a PH of 10.2.
The fish living in the system currently is a Fox Face and 3 damsels. I like possiblity of added live rock for the natural look and hopefully the health of
the entire system, but am concerned about the costs involved of changing to a reef system. (i.e. lighting, refugium & the corals themselves)
Thanks to All!
This system is in my office and was set up by a "service company" with 20 yrs of expereince??? He has been very troubled with the loss of fish. It seems that new fish live only about 72 hours when introduced. My system consisits of a 125 gal tank with 2 Aquarium-Lux 48" lights, a Wet/Dry filter with bio balls, heater & pump. It is decorated with "dead" coral and plastic plants etc. They have serviced the system with water changes every two weeks using their salt water while any "top off" water has been from our office tap. I had the tap water analyzed and was told it contained Phosphates, Amonia and a PH of 10.2.
The fish living in the system currently is a Fox Face and 3 damsels. I like possiblity of added live rock for the natural look and hopefully the health of
the entire system, but am concerned about the costs involved of changing to a reef system. (i.e. lighting, refugium & the corals themselves)
Thanks to All!
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