New setup

[dsr05]

Hi,

I am planning to set up a 180 gallon fowler bare botttom fish tank in my apt.
Due to limited space I don't have room for a sump, so I plane to use 2 fluval
fx6 canisters and some tunze power heads. I would appreciate all opinions
on this setup

Regards,
Don

 

[pyithar]

welcome to reef central.

you could use canisters as a type of sump i think. but do regular maintenances. you'll also need a proper skimmer and more liverocks for phosphate and nitrate problems imo.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I think the biggest problem would be catching fish in a tank full of lr in the dt itself

Also fish can be more easily injured when frightened.

If you have vigorous circulation, you may not need two large CFs

Just one may be enough as most bacterial activity would be on the rock.

Last, A FO tank does not have to us lr.

 

[RocketEngineer]

If you have room for the tank, you have room for the sump. Most sumps are located under the tanks they support. They don't have to be very big to be useful.

Canister filters aren't used in a SW setup because they really just trap the detritus and it decomposes. A skimmer is much better for SW as it removes the detritus entirely from the water column.

 

[wooden_reefer]

If you have room for the tank, you have room for the sump. Most sumps are located under the tanks they support. They don't have to be very big to be useful.

Canister filters aren't used in a SW setup because they really just trap the detritus and it decomposes. A skimmer is much better for SW as it removes the detritus entirely from the water column.

I believe that which is skimed out is not detritus

They are larger mw protein molecules that tend to foam when agitated before decomposition.

A protein skimmer is not necessary in a fo tank.

Fish have been kept well without lr

 

[wooden_reefer]

I would say really try to have a sump and put most of the lr in the sump

If it is not possible to have a sump, you can use only a fraction of the lr in the dt and place a thin layer of crushed coral as substrate. Vigorous circulation within the tank will work.

In a fo tank, nitrate can be rather high. Partial water change is needed not just to remove nitrate.

It also depends on what type of fish you want to keep. Some fish are very unlikely to get hurt living among piles of lr, but some are not.

 

[Dannigirl]

Just wondering? What is under the tank?
Canister filters (I heard through the grapevine) are a big no no for salt tanks. You would be much happier with a sump (the canisters would go under the tank anyway right?)
Live Rock would be your filtration so...
Do you need help drilling a tank and building a sump? You might get away cheaper if you did that instead of 2 canisters...

 

[wooden_reefer]

Just wondering? What is under the tank?
Canister filters (I heard through the grapevine) are a big no no for salt tanks. You would be much happier with a sump (the canisters would go under the tank anyway right?)
Live Rock would be your filtration so...
Do you need help drilling a tank and building a sump? You might get away cheaper if you did that instead of 2 canisters...

Cf works for fo tank

Fish have been kept well without lr for a long time

I would think that unless one intends to use the space below a tank, why won't there be space for a sump?

If cf is used, the water should be drawn from a surface skimming (slicing) box.
It is necessary to break the surface and to promoting the top layer continuous renewal for better gaseous exchange.