Setting Up 80 Gal - LR and Lighting?

[LiveRockRob]

Hi All,

Great thread. I spent most of the day reading all the comments and advice given.

In the next month or so I'm planning on filling my 80 Gal acrylic tank and setting it up as a FOWLR aquarium.

My questions are as follows:

1) I'm thinking of adding the LR in phases, since I may not be able to afford 100-200 lbs of LR all at once. Thus, I'm thinking of staring the cycle process with ~50lbs. of UNCURRED LR, than adding an additional 50lbs of CURRED LR once the tank finishes cycles. Is that acceptable?

2) I also have a FLUVAL 304 filter that I got with the aquarium, but thus for have gotten mixed signals regarding using it in FOWLR setup. Some say that it will interfere with LR biological filter. Others say it is okay to use it. Any advice on this?

3) Lighting - Since I'm planning on having the FOWLR (Fish Only with Live Rock) setup for ~2 years prior to moving onto Corals, what would be my ideal lighting on the budget. I'm not in a rush to jump into Corals.

Thanks in advance for the comments.

Robert

 

[KarlBob]

1) If the uncured live rock is much cheaper than cured live rock, if you have access to lots of salt water to do frequent water changes, and if you are interested in watching to see what lives and what dies, then sure.

2) I used an external filter for a couple of months, but I don't recommend them. Opening and closing it was a chore, re-priming it was harder than it was supposed to be, and it leaked. I doubt that it would harm the live rock to have an external filter on the tank, but I don't know for certain. To me an external filter was just more hassle than benefit.

3) I'd go with Power Compact (PC) or T5 High Output (T5HO) lights. You definitely don't need Metal Halide lights for a FOWLR tank. When you eventually start adding corals, I think you'd have an easier time making the conversion with T5HOs, but others may say there isn't much difference.

 

[tipmoff]

Welcome and this forum is a wealth of information. I set up a fowlr tank 52 Gal about 5 months ago. Afer doing some reading on the forums I decided to put cured live rock in to speed up the process. It easn;t that much more than the uncured and came with some interesting creatures. I have 4 or 5 LFS in my area so I had a lot of choices to get it. Are you going to add live substrate? I would advise you do so.
Lights are personal preference and budget. I had PC's at first and they were plenty for a fowlr tank. Fish aren't picky about lighting conditions. Filtration with the Fluval should be ok. My tank was ready in about a month for fish and inverts and most of the creatures that came with the LR survived the cycle.
There is a great feature this month you should check out. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php. This will give some explanations about some of your questions.
5 months down the road I have cahnged from fowlr to reef. I couldn't bring myself to not have the beautiful colors and the personal satisfaction of trying to have these creatures thrive.
Hope this helped a little and good luck. Post some pics so we can see the progress. There are many learned enthusiasts here who are more than willing to help.

 

[potterjon]

I know that you say it will be two years before you keep corals but I am sure you will not last that long. Whatever fixture you get as far as lights, you will be selling those to upgrade to a fixture that will allow you to keep corals and I would not skimp on that fixture when that time comes. Therefore, I would skimp on the fixture for the fish only tank because their lighting demands are much much lower. I wouldn't spend the money on nice lights to keep fish. But I doubt you will last two years before you want an anemone or soft corals. No offense, but noone does, and then they have to sell their brand new lights and upgrade to keep an amemone and some corals. I upgraded lights three times personally and now I am keeping sps and everythings else, I wish I had just bought the right fixture from the begining. But I know how expensive they can be, and there is always an upgrade around the corner.
Just my opinion.

 

[reefscape15]

for the lighting i'd go with T-5's for now as they have far better PAR, depth penetration, and available bulb choices than PC's. Also later on down the road it will be pretty easy to add MH lighting if you so choose