Let's talk about Fish Only Tanks!!!

[btkrausen]

So, after 6+ years of reefing, I've decided to try out a FO tank in order to keep species that I normally could not in a reef tank. Some questions I've been thinking about:

How long of a light cycle do you run?
Can you run a longer light cycle than reef?
What lights do you run for you FO tank?
What salinity do you keep your tank at?
What temp do you keep your tank at?
How much is maintenance reduced from a reef?

 

[barbianj]

So, after 6+ years of reefing, I've decided to try out a FO tank in order to keep species that I normally could not in a reef tank. Some questions I've been thinking about:

How long of a light cycle do you run? The lights are on more or less when I'm home. No corals, so no need for intense light.
Can you run a longer light cycle than reef? Not recommended for algae reasons.
What lights do you run for you FO tank? A six bulb TEK on one, usually run only two or four bulbs, and a T8 shop light with reef bulbs in the oyher, for color.
What salinity do you keep your tank at? 1.025. I like to use the reef tank water as a partial wc on the FOWLR's. 45 gallons from the reef, 45 fresh.
What temp do you keep your tank at? 78 degrees.
How much is maintenance reduced from a reef? There is absolutely no comparison, the fish tanks are a breeze to maintain, as long as you have a good plan and good equipment.

Hope that helps.

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm excited about doing the FO, but I'm just afraid I'm going to get bored with it if there isn't much of a challenge.

I've always heard that a FO can run at a much lower salinity, what benefit to the fish, if any, is there for running it lower? I know you save on salt, which will be nice for a 200 gal, but are there other benefits?

 

[barbianj]

It's a little easier on the fish, and a little harder on some pests. I used to run it lower, but the reef water that I would pour down the drain gets double duty in the fish tank. IME, it's easier to just use one mix for all tanks and do all wc's at once.

True, a FOWLR tank can get a little "boring" compared to the attention that a reef needs, but I have two FOWLR's and a reef. That's about my limit before it would turn into more of a chore than a joy. :wink:

 

[turbo21]

So, after 6+ years of reefing, I've decided to try out a FO tank in order to keep species that I normally could not in a reef tank. Some questions I've been thinking about:

How long of a light cycle do you run? used to run from 10am-11pm
Can you run a longer light cycle than reef?yep, if you are using lower light levels
What lights do you run for you FO tank? Just plain NO fluorescents
What salinity do you keep your tank at? used to keep mine at 1.019- the lower level would help with ich
What temp do you keep your tank at? 78
How much is maintenance reduced from a reef?

i actually had more maintainence on my fo tanks because of large messy fish and an undersized skimmer. I never wanted to spend the cash on higher flow pumps and paid the price by having detritus build up which led to more maintainence for me

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks guys. My skimmer is a beast, and I just put on a self cleaning head as well.

I don't have a problem spending money on pumps if needed, but I think that my two mp40s and two mp10s should be plenty for the FO, or even plenty if I end up going reef

 

[Tabasco1]

I had a FOWLR for about 6 years and it did very well. I ran my sg @ 1.023, temp at 78, a double bulb regular output florescent, can't remember the exact fixture now. I ran light for about 12 hrs a day. I did have a week that I remember having something going on so the lights were on closer to 18 hrs a day, there was really nothing I could do about it unless I left the lights off. I definately noticed a difference in the behavior of the fish... they seemed strung out or something. I don't think they enjoyed it so I would keep the light cycle to what they would probably experience in the wild.

 

[Tabasco1]

OH, and maintenance, I never really thought it was bad. Fed 2x a day and monthly water change. They didn't really need a whole lot more. I also didn't keep any very difficult to feel fish either because I didn't want additional maintenance. Like fish that needed fed 4-5x per day.

 

[barbianj]

i actually had more maintainence on my fo tanks because of large messy fish and an undersized skimmer. I never wanted to spend the cash on higher flow pumps and paid the price by having detritus build up which led to more maintainence for me

That's where I started out. As the fish grew, I had to keep upgrading equipment. Now I have 190 gallons of sump in the basement, 125 and 180 gallon tanks, Dart pump, come skimmer, giant ball of chaeto and vodka dose.

For maintenance, I feed the fish twice a day, vodka once a day, clean the glass every 2 or 3 weeks, clean salt creep about once a month, and do a wc when the reef gets it.

 

[btkrausen]

Cool, thanks guys. I'm looking forward to the small maintenance break of going FOWLR for a while, but I"m sure the reef bug will hit again

 

[mhowe9]

I am running a Reef and FOWLR on the same system so some my answers to these are going to be "same as my reef tank"

How long of a light cycle do you run? About 12 hours
Can you run a longer light cycle than reef? I wouldn't for algae reasons
What lights do you run for you FO tank? On the FOWLR, I run 2 Marineland Double Bright LED strips
What salinity do you keep your tank at? same as reef 1.025
What temp do you keep your tank at? 78F
How much is maintenance reduced from a reef? Not really since it is another tank to maintain.

 

[Electrobes]

You know, reading through this post I haven't read the one thing I was curious about... what fish are you looking forward to keeping that you can't keep in a reef? If I had my choice I would have to say a beautiful giant puffer... or if I want to remain small... I would love to keep Green Spotted Puffers again. Man I miss those fish.. talk about personality!

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Thanks for the quick response. I'm excited about doing the FO, but I'm just afraid I'm going to get bored with it if there isn't much of a challenge.

I've always heard that a FO can run at a much lower salinity, what benefit to the fish, if any, is there for running it lower? I know you save on salt, which will be nice for a 200 gal, but are there other benefits?

lol at missing the "challenge". I probably would miss the colors more than anything but I could use a break from challanges lately :wink:

 

[btkrausen]

lol at missing the "challenge". I probably would miss the colors more than anything but I could use a break from challanges lately :wink:

Yeah, I've been the "king" of rare corals around here, and my buddy called me and his first words were "You know its not going to last". I was confused. He said "You can't go FO, you will get too bored with it, there is no challenge"

We'll see about that, but I have a feeling this 200DD will be reef before the end

 

[steamer51]

I ran normal output lighting on my softies tank for the first couple of years due to the low cost. 48" T12 (or T8) "shop light", two bulb $10 at Lowes or HD with soft white bulbs (less than $1 each) would be fine for fish only since the only purpose is to see the fish and for them to have a day and night cycle. I used "daylight" bulbs (6500K) for the sake of the corals at $3 each in a box of 10. Much better than $20 a bulb for reef lighting. Like some others here I will have reefs as well as FOWLER when I get all my tanks set up but I plan on fragging some softies to put in the FOWLER for a little variety. The fish will be "may not be reef safe", angels and such, and if they eat some of the softies I'm only out a frag from my other tank. I agree you will go back to corals at some point and you should really consider keeping the fish only and setting up another for corals and reef safe fish. You have plenty of room to keep two tanks and there is not much more work involved with two tanks, especially of one is just fish. You don't have to choose what kind of tank you want, just set up different ones. To avoid the problems of this coral wants this and that coral wants that I will have SPS, LPS, Softie, and fish only tanks when they are all set up. I guess I should have bought that pet store back in the 80's when I had the chance. Even in my freshwater days I usually had 7 - 10 tanks set up with different things that didn't get along.

 

[CJO]

We'll see about that, but I have a feeling this 200DD will be reef before the end

I think that you'll be back too. What did you do with all of your corals?

CJ

 

[btkrausen]

I think that you'll be back too. What did you do with all of your corals?

CJ

I sold/gave them all away. I sold everything I had for close to the cost of my new tank....yet they probably cost me 5 times that much.

 

[CJO]

I sold/gave them all away. I sold everything I had for close to the cost of my new tank....yet they probably cost me 5 times that much.

Well, I'm guessing that you could probably get frags back if you decide to start up another reef tank.

CJ

 

[btkrausen]

Well, I'm guessing that you could probably get frags back if you decide to start up another reef tank.

CJ

Yup, most of my stuff came from frag swaps and started off very small. I'm thinking about not doing an SPS dominated tank if/when I go reef again....but I have a while before I have to worry about that. I am keeping my Precision Marine kalk reactor - just in case

 

[Tabasco1]

I sold/gave them all away. I sold everything I had for close to the cost of my new tank....yet they probably cost me 5 times that much.

Funny how MOST hobbies are like this. Well, this is how they work for me too. Pay an arm and a leg for the good stuff, but on the back end can't get much in return.