75 gallon reef or fowlr?

[beang2299]

And don’t overstock!

ok cool. Any ideas for some cool fish to do?

 

[beang2299]

And don’t overstock!

ok thanks do you have any recommendations on fish?

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I like flame hawk fish and a Centropyge angel. A small school of chromis would look nice. A total of 6-10 fish. If you can make that work for a year then you can push to the next level!

 

[beang2299]

I like flame hawk fish and a Centropyge angel. A small school of chromis would look nice. A total of 6-10 fish. If you can make that work for a year then you can push to the next level!

is the flame hawk fish hard to keep and are they aggressive at all or not to bad?

 

[Ancient Mariner]

is the flame hawk fish hard to keep and are they aggressive at all or not to bad?

Pretty easy and not aggressive except to other hawkfish (and shrimp!).

 

[beang2299]

Pretty easy and not aggressive except to other hawkfish (and shrimp!).

Hmm I might not do that then. I was really hoping to get some shrimp

 

[Jedi1199]

So I am working on starting up my first salt water tank. It's 75 gallons and I have the fluval fx4 canister filter. I mostly can't decide what I wanna do. If I should do a reef tank or if I wanna do a fowlr tank. I have fish that I really want that would work for both tanks but I just can't decide. I want to do a few clown fish a flame angel a pearlscale butterfly fish Chalk bass bengaii cardinals lion fish snowflake eel firefish tomini tang and more that I can't think of at the moment. What do you think would be the best option? Also if you have any other fish recommendations please let me know

Personally, I would go with a reef for a 75. For myself, FOWLR screams "Predator Tank!!". Those fish are not reef safe and will require a larger space than a 75.

My only initial concern is linked to the setup for the tank. If I understand correctly you want to use a canister filter, right?
If that is the case, unfortunately this is not the best or the easiest way for a saltwater tank (it is possible, but… very difficult and will limit you in many things).

Bologna!! I run a canister (actually 2) on my 55g and it looks fantastic! Everyone wants to bash canister filters. Someone said canisters are Nitrate traps and the bandwagon soon overloaded. They may take a little extra effort to clean, but the interval between cleanings is longer so its a wash in my book.

A bigger concern is that you're going to end up with a tank with just two predators in it.
Fat, happy predators after they've eaten all the rest of your delicious little fish that you've thoughtfully provided for them. Is this the direction you really want to go?

You will want to trim that list of fish down a bit. I would suggest either a coule small predators, or if you decide to go reef, then you can probably add a few more reef safe fish. Just provide adequite living space whichever way you go.

Is it really as bad as everyone says? Any time I say that I have the fx4 everyone just says it's a terrible idea and way to much work

If everyone jumped off a bridge....?

I love it, I could careless what others think about my setup, everyone does reefing different. I'm in no hurry to keep up with the Jones'

I concur. I installed a small DIY "sump" on my 55 specifically to house a larger skimmer. (The HoB unit I had worked, but it was very noisy). Its basically a 10g tank with a filter sock, skimmer and return pump. Is that a "sump"?? *shrug* I don't follow other peoples "rules"

 

[PBar]

Dear colleagues,
I would be really careful when suggesting others to use canister filters in marine tanks without warning its limitations… and I would also avoid arguments such “I use it”.

Im most cases, people end up switching because they realise only after all drawbacks of this option (again, as stated, it is possible)

It is more helpful in case if you indicate any option, to upfront warn new colleagues about the advantages e disadvantages.

Cheers and best of luck in the new journey!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Dear colleagues,
I would be really careful when suggesting others to use canister filters in marine tanks without warning its limitations… and I would also avoid arguments such “I use it”.

Im most cases, people end up switching because they realise only after all drawbacks of this option (again, as stated, it is possible)

It is more helpful in case if you indicate any option, to upfront warn new colleagues about the advantages e disadvantages.

Cheers and best of luck in the new journey!

I will not be careful with my words, there's limitations with everything, canisters, sumps, hob filters.

Why don't you say the same thing about sumps.

 

[Jedi1199]

Dear colleagues,
I would be really careful when suggesting others to use canister filters in marine tanks without warning its limitations… and I would also avoid arguments such “I use it”.

Im most cases, people end up switching because they realise only after all drawbacks of this option (again, as stated, it is possible)

It is more helpful in case if you indicate any option, to upfront warn new colleagues about the advantages e disadvantages.

Cheers and best of luck in the new journey!

OK, so is that not EXACTLY what you did for the reverse argument?

If you do not perform routine maintenance, even a sump can be a nutrient sink.

The benefit of a sump is a nice large space (hopefully) to house a big skimmer and refugium. Other than that, what is there as far as the filtration capacity? Yes, its nice to hide the equipment like heaters and dosers and such, it is a convenient place to add an ATO. But for strict filtration, what is the advantage over a canister? I would argue that for mechanical filtration alone, a canister will beat a sump hands down!

A well maintained canister can be EVERY bit as good for the job as any sump. I run an old Rena filstar 300 and a Fluval FX6 on my 55. It is VERY much overkill (almost 800gph). The Rena did the job just fine on its own. I caught a fantastic sale (Over $100 off) on that Fluval so that is why I added it. The nice thing is I only have to clean one at a time. Usually every other week. OK, downside, I don't have a place to hide them under my stand. They are out in plain sight on either end. Those of you dedicated to interior decoration, may have an issue with that.

 

[PBar]

Gentlemen,
from my side, thanks. I believe that you described well both options now.

I’ve just saw your both tanks. Congrats, they look very similar in style and I like it a lot, although there are slightly different from style.

Cheers!

 

[Jedi1199]

@PBar ,

I am not attacking you personally. I am simply responding to the myth that canister filters are inferior to sumps. There is NO factual evidence to deter anyone from either option.

If you have evidence to support your side, please feel free to present it and we can continue the debate.

If I understand the OP correctly, he has an undrilled tank, and like me, has to rely on "HoB" equipment. This clearly is a limitation we must take into account. In a utopian scenario we would ALL have ideal tanks set up with sumps, overflows, dosers, and all the goodies. This is obviously unrealistic and therefore we must apply our advice judiciously to incorporate the variables presented to us.

I provided my opinion based on MY personal experience. I have 4 tanks currently running that covers almost the entire gambit of options. 20g with HoB filter (Freshwater goldfish tank), 55g with canister/sump hybrid, 32g AIO, and 180 with full sump (FOWLR).

 

[Azedenkae]

Dear colleague,
my first reaction is… it doesn’t matter much … you will end up with a reef tank sooner or later

I second this lol. The only time I could do a proper fowlr tank was when it was a species-only tank where I had the one fish and kinda... just enjoyed it that way. Reef every other time.

 

[PBar]

Don’t worry, fully understand.

For fun, have you ever checked this tank?
Amazing and the “debatable” canister.
(Besides, the video is very interesting and helpful for the topic)


Cheers!

 

[adittam]

So I am working on starting up my first salt water tank. It's 75 gallons and I have the fluval fx4 canister filter. I mostly can't decide what I wanna do. If I should do a reef tank or if I wanna do a fowlr tank. I have fish that I really want that would work for both tanks but I just can't decide. I want to do a few clown fish a flame angel a pearlscale butterfly fish Chalk bass bengaii cardinals lion fish snowflake eel firefish tomini tang and more that I can't think of at the moment. What do you think would be the best option? Also if you have any other fish recommendations please let me know

As @Sleeping Giant and @Jedi1199 said, a canister filter is 100% doable, you just have to clean it more often than on a freshwater tank. I’ve run a tank with a canister filter and with a sump (check out my two build thread links in my signature to see the differences), and both have their advantages. A sump is really nice to hide all of the equipment, but a canister filter is cheaper, simpler to set up, and does just as good of a job with filtration as long as you keep to a regular cleaning schedule.

As far as reef vs FOWLR, there’s nothing wrong with starting with FOWLR and transitioning to reef at some point down the road. The biggest difference will be the reef will need better lighting.

Good luck, and keep asking questions!