FOWLR Advice

[dennis romano]

Currently, I am running a 50 gallon NPS tank and a 40 gallon reef. I have an empty 125 that I had to abandon several years ago because of health issues. The water has evaporated and it is loaded with what was at one time thriving live rock. The plan is to resurrect it as a FOWLR tank populated with butterflies and possibly Centropyges. Should I reseed it with fresh live rock? I am also contemplating GSP and Xenia just to bring a little life to the rock. They will be given a good head start before adding fish. Lighting will be basic. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dwest]

I would certainly reuse the rock (after a good scrub down). And, like you mentioned, seeding with new rock is a good idea.

 

[threebuoys]

I would reuse the old rather than buying new. You'll just need to decide if you want to power wash it to remove any remaining detritus. You'll need to go through the nitrogen cycle but bacteria will build pretty quickly just as if its any other dry rock.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Yep, clean and reuse the old rock. If it was me I'd seed it with a bit of kp aquatics live rock. That stuff is always alot of fun!

 

[JumboShrimp]

I would throw several mesh bags with rubble rock, ceramic pieces, etc., into your established tanks (either display or sump) for about a month, while you set up your 125. Then you can use almost any kind of rock in the 125 that you want, just transfer your mesh bags with bacteria over, and supplement with some bottled bacteria, and you will be pretty much ready to go as a FOWLER. Just don’t add too many fish too quickly.