FOWLR setup

[tosiek]

So, I set up a simple saltwater tank for my cousin a few weeks ago. An old 55g AGA with a nice custom stand. He wanted something simple so I set it up as simple as I can. His kids wanted nemo, and his wife wanted nice colorful fish like I had in my tank. The tank couldn't fit a sump so he's running sumpless and dealing with everything using HOB type equipment for the time being.

Tank:

Tank
Stand
Reef Octo HOB skimmer
Phosban reactor mixed media carbon/GFO
Koralia PH
heater
Sand
Live Rock

Standard setup for any F/O or Reef tank. He wanted to start off simple with fish only, and I knew he was going to eventually get into easy corals so I decided to set the tank up with a skimmer instead of bio balls/canister filter which he wanted to set up, just to remove the canister later for a skimmer in the long run.

My cousin was a long time freshwater guy. So he's used to the simplicity of freshwater. Canister filter, never doing water changes unless a problem happens, and just topping off which doesn't work with saltwater.

Tank was doing fine, first week or two were an issue since the sand clouded up the tank and with no sump or place to set up a diatom filter so it took the tank a while to clear up. Now the tanks clean but he's getting floating particles, partially from the snails and hermits cleaning the rocks and sand. We used half Live sand, and the other a cheap low grade reef sand that was super dirty so its partially coming from that. The rocks were my old LR, he cleaned and placed them in the tank and then cycled so they might be kicking up some particles.

He now wants to put a canister on because he thinks the tank needs to be run like his freshwater tanks, where the water cycles through a filter to clean the water a couple times a day. I told him its a temporary problem and he needs a temporary fix, and a canister might be the wrong way about it. He does need something temporary to filter the particles out of the water. Maybe someone can recommend something that would work for his application. I told him a temporary diatom filter setup, a filter sock hooked up to a maxijet or something in his tank for a week or two to get any big particles.

Can anyone give some info/thoughts? Thought having a bunch of people commenting on his setup might help him in the long run.

 

[ifarmer]

all the problems that you described are part of a new tank setup.

New setup takes at least 4-6 weeks to cycle. You are expected to have algae diatom but it should go away on it's own.

You have to keep testing until the tank is cycle before you can introduce fish into the tank

As far as equipments go, I would say, live rocks and a skimmer is all that you need.
Do 5-10% water change every week if you could. Do not use any mechanical filter or canister filters. Those will give you nitrate problems unless you clean out the filter every other day.

 

[Astrick117]

all the problems that you described are part of a new tank setup.

New setup takes at least 4-6 weeks to cycle. You are expected to have algae diatom but it should go away on it's own.

You have to keep testing until the tank is cycle before you can introduce fish into the tank

As far as equipments go, I would say, live rocks and a skimmer is all that you need.
Do 5-10% water change every week if you could. Do not use any mechanical filter or canister filters. Those will give you nitrate problems unless you clean out the filter every other day.

+1 canisters = nitrate traps with saltwater.

In addition to what ifarmer said, he may want to see if a powerhead or something is blowing the sand around and kicking up particles. If not, i would wait a while longer before worrying about things floating around. Usually, it just takes time for everything to find a place to settle.

 

[E.intheC]

I used to run an aqua clear powerhead with the filter attachment. The filter was very fine and cleared the water up very quickly.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Did you say to clear the big particles? If so, a sponge filter with a power head will do the trick.

If you are about muddy water, then replace the sponge with 50 micron filter media, it will quickly clears the small particle out but you will have to change it quite frequently. It's kind of like your temp diatom filter method.

As you say, once the system is stable the live rock will clear the water as long as you have good flow.

 

[Domboski]

Add macro algae like Ulva intestinalis. I have this in my FOWLR. Helps with filtration and the fish love the stuff. It's invasive but who cares in a FOWLR.

This is not the best shot but you get the point. Adds some color and the fish love eating it!

 

[tosiek]

He ended up putting an airstone in the tank for some odd reason and it all cleared up. Broke the surface tension and that worked somehow? I still don't know what was the problem. Didn't see it myself.

 

[brunoboarder2444]

So, I set up a simple saltwater tank for my cousin a few weeks ago. An old 55g AGA with a nice custom stand. He wanted something simple so I set it up as simple as I can. His kids wanted nemo, and his wife wanted nice colorful fish like I had in my tank. The tank couldn't fit a sump so he's running sumpless and dealing with everything using HOB type equipment for the time being.

Tank:

Tank
Stand
Reef Octo HOB skimmer
Phosban reactor mixed media carbon/GFO
Koralia PH
heater
Sand
Live Rock

Standard setup for any F/O or Reef tank. He wanted to start off simple with fish only, and I knew he was going to eventually get into easy corals so I decided to set the tank up with a skimmer instead of bio balls/canister filter which he wanted to set up, just to remove the canister later for a skimmer in the long run.

My cousin was a long time freshwater guy. So he's used to the simplicity of freshwater. Canister filter, never doing water changes unless a problem happens, and just topping off which doesn't work with saltwater.

Tank was doing fine, first week or two were an issue since the sand clouded up the tank and with no sump or place to set up a diatom filter so it took the tank a while to clear up. Now the tanks clean but he's getting floating particles, partially from the snails and hermits cleaning the rocks and sand. We used half Live sand, and the other a cheap low grade reef sand that was super dirty so its partially coming from that. The rocks were my old LR, he cleaned and placed them in the tank and then cycled so they might be kicking up some particles.

He now wants to put a canister on because he thinks the tank needs to be run like his freshwater tanks, where the water cycles through a filter to clean the water a couple times a day. I told him its a temporary problem and he needs a temporary fix, and a canister might be the wrong way about it. He does need something temporary to filter the particles out of the water. Maybe someone can recommend something that would work for his application. I told him a temporary diatom filter setup, a filter sock hooked up to a maxijet or something in his tank for a week or two to get any big particles.

Can anyone give some info/thoughts? Thought having a bunch of people commenting on his setup might help him in the long run.

you can put filter floss in the HOB filter to catch as much of the dust possible

 

[brunoboarder2444]

He ended up putting an airstone in the tank for some odd reason and it all cleared up. Broke the surface tension and that worked somehow? I still don't know what was the problem. Didn't see it myself.

probably worked kind of like a skimmer and the large particles bonded with the bubbles and was brought to the surface.....maybe try skimming the surface to keep it from reaccuring