Might be done with Coral moving to Fish only

lefkonj · Nov 11, 2022

My luck with coral is so close to zero that after 12 years I think I am going to convert to a FOWLR tank. Get ride of the more delicate fish and grab some predators. Just doesn't seem to be worth it anymore. As the costs of corals has gone up, and my luck staying the same just feel like I could spend better money elsewhere.

Anyone else ever done this? How important would the alk/calc/mag levels be for a FOWLR tank? Been looking at various triggers, puffers, eels, etc and getting really curious. Figure my 180 could be better served that way.

Lavey29 · Nov 11, 2022

Nothing wrong with going this route if it makes you happy. Exotic aquatic life can be challenging to though.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 11, 2022

lefkonj said:
My luck with coral is so close to zero that after 12 years I think I am going to convert to a FOWLR tank. Get ride of the more delicate fish and grab some predators. Just doesn't seem to be worth it anymore. As the costs of corals has gone up, and my luck staying the same just feel like I could spend better money elsewhere.

Anyone else ever done this? How important would the alk/calc/mag levels be for a FOWLR tank? Been looking at various triggers, puffers, eels, etc and getting really curious. Figure my 180 could be better served that way.

You can pay less attention if you do this to alk-CA-Mag as if you change water will all be replenished. I understand the frustration and the money lost on coral can be shifted to purchasing fish which are also escalated in cost

TopShelfAquatics · Nov 11, 2022

What are the issues you typically have with your corals?

lefkonj · Nov 11, 2022

They die, period. I can keep them alive no problems for months at a time, change nothing in my routines and then boom, I lose a bunch of LPS or SPS (I have no luck with that really at all)

zheka757 · Nov 11, 2022

There has to be something that dosent die! Like mushrooms, zoas... something!

Dave1993 · Nov 11, 2022

if i were you i would be looking at a Japanese dragon eel

Biokabe · Nov 11, 2022

Do you have a record of what was going on when your corals died? What is your setup like? What is your water source? What is your husbandry schedule?

HB AL · Nov 11, 2022

Sounds like a good idea, I was gonna do the same but kept the corals as they grow like weeds and went with all predators in my tank. I manually dose and havnt tested anything in over 4 months, low maintenance and this has turned into my favorite tank I've owned in the 36 years I've kept aquatic animals.

fish farmer · Nov 11, 2022

Have you tried soft corals, leathers, mushrooms, palys?

ca1ore · Nov 11, 2022

I have a very large SPS/LPS tank and a large softie tank …. I think I actually like the latter better. Go softies!!!

Udest · Nov 11, 2022

Yeah I was going to say the the same if you're having trouble go for the softies you can also mix macros in with them just fine too.

lefkonj · Nov 11, 2022

Mushrooms grow like crazy. SPS dies way too quickly so i have given up on that. LPS lives for a bit, sometimes a few months sometimes a year but always goes. Leather coral I have is fine.

Just trying to think about pulling some of the rock out and grabbing some cool fish

Hermie · Nov 11, 2022

fowlr are cool imo especially because the fish you can keep are awesome without having to worry about corals

corals cause so much stress at times

And you can just do some mushrooms or soft corals in a FOWLR, plus coralline will grow even with hardly any dosing or none (just water changes)

Udest · Nov 11, 2022

Yeah I'd say go get some softies maybe some of those polyps everyone seems to hate on too they'll likely have no prob in a tank like that.

Nemo&Friends · Nov 11, 2022

I never had Corals and enjoy my FWLRO. If you get predators, or carnivores only, you could try to put color in your tank by growing macro algae.

lefkonj · Jan 10, 2023

Making this move has been great. While I love my tank the constant coral 'Wait is it ok' 'Is that too much light or flow' 'Is that receding' was prohibiting me from just enjoying a piece of the ocean in my daily life.

BirdFish5000 · Jan 10, 2023

Let's see a picture of it? What fish do you have?

jabberwock · Jan 10, 2023

Maybe try some Rock Flower Anemones. I really like mine. They add a visual element similar to corals, but not as finicky.

Mr Fishface · Jan 10, 2023

Imo, nothing wrong with going to fish only. In a 180 you could do some really neat fish. I always thought a porcupine puffer would be fun but needs a really large tank.