Saltwater rookie looking for advice w/ new 46 gallon bowfront

[sbass1980]

First time poster but I've been doing a lot of research/reading. Thanks in advance for the help, this place has been a great resource.

I have about 10 years experience with freshwater, but i'm thinking about giving saltwater a shot. I just purchased a 46 gallon bowfront w/ stand. I've also purchased a Fluval 406 canister because I was going to do another FW tank, but now i'm curious if saltwater would be feasible. The tank arrives today so nothing has been used yet.

It looks like I could get by with this setup for saltwater if I added a HOB skimmer, but given the location in my house I don't have 5" behind the tank. Is there an in-tank skimmer that would be feasible, or any chance with weekly cleaning the 406 could handle it without one?

If not, the internal dimensions of my stand are 34x12x26.5, so I could possibly fit a 10 gallon sump/skimmer setup below, and just return the 406.
The tank is not predrilled, but I've watched some videos online and it looks pretty straightforward. Any recommendations here?

Would like to have live rocks, reef, and a few fish, but I realize with a non sump setup reef might be tough...

If it looks like it's going to be too much trouble i'll just set it up for freshwater, thanks again in advance.

 

[lifeoffaith]

I had a 46 with several fish in it. I never tried corals in that tank, but not because I couldn't, I just didn't get to it. If you can drill the tank I would suggest doing so. A 10 gallon sump would be perfect to hide equipment in and even give you some space for a refugium if you plan it out right and can keep a small space separate for macro-algaes and a safe spot for copepods to breed. I will say that the 46 is a little tight when trying to work in the tank, but you could definitely do it. If you don't want to drill, you could find a hang on back overflow, but you'll still run into needing a bit of space behind the tank to pull that off.

 

[sbass1980]

Looking at my stand a little closer, i'm not sure there is a good way to get the 10 gallon sump tank INTO the stand... I could probably disassemble the stand slightly and get it in there, but there would be no way to remove it (if necessary).

Probably going to either have to make it work with the Fluval 406, stay with freshwater... or maybe a compromise of SW but no coral.

 

[CindyK]

HOB filter? I know someone with a beautiful reef tank, no sump or skimmer (I don't think)

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

 

[sbass1980]

(hang on back) filter... I don't have 5" behind my tank... it's either the fluval 406 or add a sump.

 

[dcole180]

I have a 29 gallon with a canister with no protein skimmer. Zero issues with the tank. Just make sure there is proper media in the canister and regular water changes. The tank has been set up for 3 years.

 

[sbass1980]

I have a 29 gallon with a canister with no protein skimmer. Zero issues with the tank. Just make sure there is proper media in the canister and regular water changes. The tank has been set up for 3 years.

Do you have coral and fish? Would using the default 406 filters be ok, or is there something specific I need to add/remove? Thanks. Thinking I will give it a shot with just the canister and powerhead and see how it goes!

 

[lifeoffaith]

I had a canister filter on mine. You can do it, but you will need to keep up with regular cleaning of the canister filter. They tend to build up nasty stuff inside and cause problems.

 

[sbass1980]

I had a canister filter on mine. You can do it, but you will need to keep up with regular cleaning of the canister filter. They tend to build up nasty stuff inside and cause problems.

I guess that's where I'm confused in the difference in sump vs canister vs skimmer. Whatever junk would build up in my canister, wouldn't it build up in any system? Isn't that the point of having filtration, to pick up junk? I always hear people say that but assume the same junk would also build up and have to be cleaned out of a sump/skimmer setup with the same frequency. What am I missing? Not at all trying to sound sarcastic!

Thanks

 

[dcole180]

The media which the canister comes with should be fine as long as there is some media to hold the good bacteria (Bio rings and/or Bio Balls). When cleaning your canister do not wash these. I do not have coral in the 29 gallon tank; however, I do have a 46 bow front with Coral that has a Eheim Canister (4 years old tank). I have a protein skimmer on that tank; however, I feel that it would run just fine without the protein skimmer. I actually went to California for a week and come home to find the protein skimmer not working and through trying to play catch up from being gone the tank was without the skimmer for about 2 weeks and my coral showed no signs of suffering. In my opinion go for it!!!!!

 

[heathlindner25]

Tunze makes a hob skimmer that sits in your tank, you would need zero clearance.
And just for the record neither one of my reefs have a sump, live rock is your best filtration.

No sump

 

[Sk8r]

Bowfront stands are often limited in space. You can set a garage-sale cabinet beside your tank to hide a sump. With my 55 Oceanic bow wedge, I was able to get one into the stand by putting it in from the top before the tank went on. And of course it's interesting working with it. Sort of like auto mechanics, upside down and backward.

The side cabinet or a pair of hoses going through the wall to a handy closet are two possible solutions.

 

[lifeoffaith]

I guess that's where I'm confused in the difference in sump vs canister vs skimmer. Whatever junk would build up in my canister, wouldn't it build up in any system? Isn't that the point of having filtration, to pick up junk? I always hear people say that but assume the same junk would also build up and have to be cleaned out of a sump/skimmer setup with the same frequency. What am I missing? Not at all trying to sound sarcastic!

Thanks

I think the big difference is that you don't see the inside of a canister (for me it was out of sight out of mind), but you do on the sump. Also, lots of people grow macros in their refugium which can help with nutrient export, and they also run skimmers which will help remove nutrients from the water. I for one didn't realize that you had to clean out canister filters that often until I finally realized it was probably the reason for my algae buildup in my tank. When I got in there, there were a bunch of little sponges, but there was also a decent amount of buildup.

 

[heathlindner25]

Both sumpless

 

[sbass1980]

both sumpless and look great, but appear to have a HOB skimmer... think you could have the same success with a 46 gallon / fluval 406 and no skimmer?

Once again, thanks everyone for the help

 

[heathlindner25]

Imo,maybe. I vodka dose both tanks,and have great mentors and lots of experience. My best advice would be to set up a water mixing station. I change water every 4-5 days, and feel that alone is monumental in small systems which I feel the need to constantly feed.
You could add a Sump or canister to your system and there's no guarantee you will have success.
Skimmers are mandatory in my book, they do a lot more than skim proteins out of the small systems.
They oxygenate the water and I need that since I Love to pack mine full of fish.