C

ccny

Guest
Hi All, I'm starting a new tank at my bro-in-laws place. It's about 30 gallons (13x17x30 inches)and I'm planning on FOWLR. I've already put southdown and 30lb of LR. Going to get a HOB biowheel filter and HOB skimmer at some point but wanted to cycle first. I have a small and very old whisper filter in there now but no water pump unfortunately.

I'm hoping to go cheap and getting things from either petco.com or marinedepot online. Any suggestions on which pumps to use? Again, only FOWLR since my bro-in-law wants low maintenance and is not fond of corals. Thanks guys.
 

4angel

Advanced Reefer
Location
NYC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hi CCNY If I was setting up something like that I would just invest in a used CPR bac pac or Ramora skimmer. (Ebay or the boards)The LR will be your biological filteration. You or your bro inlaw will still have to do water changes and such in order to keep up with the tank. Setting this up is a noble jesture, however a fish tank regardless of whats in it is never low maintenace.
Last but not least if he really digs the set up make sure he dosnt over stock OK good luck to you both.
 
C

ccny

Guest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks guys. The water changes shouldn't be a problem. He's OK with doing that every week or two and I visit often enough to help. The bak paks and remoras look kinda big so I was thinking of the prizm. Not sure if it's a great skimmer but it's small enough for the tank.

House, I was thinking of the power sweep also but I was wondering about a couple of things.

1. Are they reliable with the extra moving parts?
2. With the southdown so cloudy as it is now, will that be a problem with the variable spray in bringing up the sand?
3. Also, this is a small tank. Would 2 zoomed 226 powersweeps fit?

I saw them at inreef.com and $17 seems like a pretty good deal.
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
As for using South Down in a Fowlr you need to put down a layer,1"-2" of regular sand over the top of the southdown and place the rock or the sand. You should put a filter pad in your filter and clean it out everyday, this will help with the clouds from the SD. Also you need to be careful not to put in fish that are going to dig into the sand, and that almost all fish, as u will have clouds for quite awhile. In my option SD in a Fowlr is not the way to go.

I would stay away from the Prizm skimmer as they don't work as well as the the Remora or Bak Pak skimmers.

Michael
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
As House recommand the Zoo Med powersweeps are pretty good, you need to clean them out more often or the "sweeping actions" wouldn't work. That in my option is what turns people off of the product, cleaning it out all the time, but it does work. Eheim makes a power head that you can also point in different directions, they don't move though. I use the type where you can attach to a filter, I think they're Hagen 202,303,404 series, also Fluval makes the type that have the filter below where you can place poly pads or carbon. All are good it just matter what type of setup you feel comfortable with and the flow rate you want it the tank.
 

heuerfan

Senior Member
Rating - 100%
172   0   0
Hey Chee, get the remora, bakpak is yucky, prizm garbage! The remora is actually very small, and the power head is very small also.
I wanted to get powersweeps also, but heard they will eventually fail and you would have to take out to clean, some people don't mind doing that.
For fowlr, i think it would have been better to rinse out the southdown to get rid of the fine particles. Just make sure not to get sand stirring fish, like clowns!

Good luck!
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
Originally posted by heuerfan:
prizm garbage!
I 2nd that I have one and sometimes it works and sometime, most times, it doesn't. The only thing I like about it is that it has a surface skimmer. If one of my corals had't started to grow on it I would have gotten rid of it already. I have Remora on my other large tank and they work very well. You can get a used Remora off of ebay or Reef Central for less than what it cost new.

Michael
 
C

ccny

Guest
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
thanks guys, i'll look into the remora some more since everyone's pretty high on it. the thing that freaked me out is that the tank is only 17 inches tall and so is the remora!!

the southdown is already in the tank (oops). the water is already starting to clear though after just a bit of surface skimming.

these powersweeps seem a bit more maintenance than i'd like in addition to the usual stuff. maybe i should go with two smaller submersibles at about 190gph facing each other or to the front glass.

Steven, the digi's doing just fine. can see the little green highlights in the polyps that you were talking about. my nano's such a disaster though that i may need to transfer the fish to the 30 gal tank after it cures to reduce the bioload.
 

jackson6745

SPS KILLER
Location
NJ
Rating - 99%
201   2   0
CCNY, I tried a similar setup like you're planning, only with a 46 gallon tank. I had a DSB, remora skimmer, and about 60lbs of rock. Unfortunately this setup was a failure. Nitrates were always high (20-40ppm) even with a low bio-load and frequent water changes. I added a hang on refugium to this tank and the water quality greatly improved. If I were to setup a 30gal tank with no sump, I would go with the remora skimmer and the hang on refugium + live rock. I also wouldn't go with the DSB because in my old 46gal it didn't seem to do anything positive for the tank, not to mention it makes detritus removal more difficult than a BB or a shallow sand bed setup.

Just my 2 cents
Rich
 

marrone

The All Powerful OZ
Staff member
Location
The Big City
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
Since the tank is just going to have fish, no corals, I wouldn't worry about having high nitrates. Actually I wish the levels of nitrates in my 2 fish tanks where only 20-40ppm. I haven't tested for them in quite awhile but I'm sure they're higher than that and all my fish are fine.
 
C

ccny

Guest
Rating - 98.8%
80   1   0
Rich, the refugium is a great idea but the bro-in-law was really not into it since the only space he has is under the tank where he stores a lot of other stuff and he doesn't want the plumbing. Maybe I'll convince him later. :D One of the problems is also behind the tank where there isn't much space, hence the concerns about large skimmers. The sand is only about 2 to 2 1/2 inches now. I'm almost certain this will not become a reef but if it does, I'll definitely have him clear out the bottom area for a sump/refugium.
 

4angel

Advanced Reefer
Location
NYC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
In Tullock natual reef book he has a simple set up for a 20g using a Skilter 250 and a rio for circ. I dont know to much about the Skilter only that it has a built in skimmer and its inexpensive.

[ May 10, 2004, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: 4angel ]
 
C

ccny

Guest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks Angel. I read a bit about it and I'm a bit wary of it. Something about noise and microbubbles. Sounds ok for a sump but this is just a small display tank. Looks like I'll take the overwhelming advice to get a remora skimmer. I'm also kinda set on getting some kinda HOB power filter. Would love to get a refugium set up but I'm gonna have to slowly convince my bro-in-law into it. I guess I'll keep looking as far as pump goes for water flow since the powersweep kinda scares me.
 

House of Laughter

Super Moderator
Staff member
Vendor
Location
Ossining, NY
Rating - 100%
310   0   0
CC,

I made a 12g refuge out of acrylic myself - I think I have pics in my gallery - it was located underneath my tank which I used an overflow box for (made that too) I have to say the refuge was the success to my tank - fish only at 30g is a really limited system - and NO TANGS at that size tank, no matter how small, they will eventually stress out and get ich and die.

I used the bagged premade bio-sand (to start) and realized I needed more and didn't want to pay 40 for a 20lb bag. I mixed southdown into the bed small amounts at a time (over a 2 month period) - I had a 4 in SB and it worked great, I did, however, have about 50 lbs of really good live rock.

I agree with Heuerfan, the remora is the way to go - I am using a Remora Pro on my 92 gallon with 30g sump (I paid to upgrade the pump and the cup for a drain. They are worth it - I have only cleaned it once in a year - highly recommend the investment in this area.

House
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top