Planning to get first FOWLR setup

[ajtomase]

Hello everyone! I’m doing all my research right now to get my first salt water, fish only with live rock setup. I would like to get a Reefer 625 XXL tank, but I don’t know what other equipment I need. There’s a lot of equipment options out there, but I’m not sure what options out there I would need (trouble finding fish only tank equipment since a lot out there are for reef aquariums.

Is my list correct/missing anything/anything optional:

• Tank
• Sand
• Life Rock
• Powerhead
• Thermometer
• Heater/chiller
• Protein skimmer
• Return pump
• Skimmer
• Battery backup
• Power filter
• Media/phosphate reactor
• Tank controller
• Hydrometer
• UV sterilizer
• Air pump
• Buckets for water changes
• Dosing chemicals

Any help with items I do/do not need for a fish only tank would be great. Thanks everyone!!

 

[Ron Reefman]

A lot of what you have listed is somewhere between optional and rarely used.

 

[cmaxwell39]

First off, Welcome to R2R. It is a great place with a lot of very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly people.

It is exciting getting ready for your first saltwater tank. Looks like you have done some research already, and I urge you to continue to research and ask questions.

As far as what is necessary if you just want a FOWLR, you can make it as simple or elaborate as you would like. I would suggest that at a bare minimum you would want:

Tank
Stand
Sump— (assuming you’re tank is drilled for an overflow)
Return pump
Heater
Power heads for in tank flow
Skimmer—(you will have to work with what fits in the space you have in your sump and get the best one you can. I would suggest looking at some build threads of people with the 625XXL and see what skimmer they are running and how they like it. This will give you some good ideas of skimmers to research and find out more about.)
Auto top off
Lights— they don’t have to expensive or elaborate, a very basic LED or T5 setup will work. You are not trying to keep coral alive with them, they are just to allow you to view the fish and inverts.
Whether or not you choose to implement other piecesof equipment is totally up to you.

A controller is nice because it can help you control things like your lights, heater, auto top off, as well as keep track of parameters like pH, temperature, salinity, etc. it can also be set up to give you alerts and control your power heads for more custom flow options, etc.

UV sterilizer can be a great addition to help controlbad algaes, parasites, etc. but there are plenty of systems not running them.

Reactors for carbon and phosphate media can be helpful, but not necessary in a FOWLR system. These can be added later as well if you don’t want to spend the money on them right away.

Then you can get into things like a refugium or algae turf scrubber, auto water change system, and a myriad of other things, but none of those are necessary to run a successful FOWLR.

Welcome to the the hobby and the site. Enjoy the journey and share it with us.

 

[ajtomase]

First off, Welcome to R2R. It is a great place with a lot of very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly people.

It is exciting getting ready for your first saltwater tank. Looks like you have done some research already, and I urge you to continue to research and ask questions.

As far as what is necessary if you just want a FOWLR, you can make it as simple or elaborate as you would like. I would suggest that at a bare minimum you would want:

Tank
Stand
Sump— (assuming you’re tank is drilled for an overflow)
Return pump
Heater
Power heads for in tank flow
Skimmer—(you will have to work with what fits in the space you have in your sump and get the best one you can. I would suggest looking at some build threads of people with the 625XXL and see what skimmer they are running and how they like it. This will give you some good ideas of skimmers to research and find out more about.)
Auto top off
Lights— they don’t have to expensive or elaborate, a very basic LED or T5 setup will work. You are not trying to keep coral alive with them, they are just to allow you to view the fish and inverts.
Whether or not you choose to implement other piecesof equipment is totally up to you.

A controller is nice because it can help you control things like your lights, heater, auto top off, as well as keep track of parameters like pH, temperature, salinity, etc. it can also be set up to give you alerts and control your power heads for more custom flow options, etc.

UV sterilizer can be a great addition to help controlbad algaes, parasites, etc. but there are plenty of systems not running them.

Reactors for carbon and phosphate media can be helpful, but not necessary in a FOWLR system. These can be added later as well if you don’t want to spend the money on them right away.

Then you can get into things like a refugium or algae turf scrubber, auto water change system, and a myriad of other things, but none of those are necessary to run a successful FOWLR.

Welcome to the the hobby and the site. Enjoy the journey and share it with us.

Wow! Thank you so much! I've been trying to research as much as I can so I know what to save up for, but I'm getting lost very easily since I'm seeing a lot of reef aquariums and not many fish only aquariums. Not that I have anything against reefers, just that I'm more of a fish guy (especially those that I found that aren't reef safe). I'd love to pick your brain more in the future if that's ok!

 

[ajtomase]

A lot of what you have listed is somewhere between optional and rarely used.

Thanks for the heads up! Which items are you referring to?

 

[cmaxwell39]

Wow! Thank you so much! I've been trying to research as much as I can so I know what to save up for, but I'm getting lost very easily since I'm seeing a lot of reef aquariums and not many fish only aquariums. Not that I have anything against reefers, just that I'm more of a fish guy (especially those that I found that aren't reef safe). I'd love to pick your brain more in the future if that's ok!

Sure thing. I am definitely more of a reef guy, but I will gladly share any knowledge that I have. There are definitely some fish that I would like to keep but I like keeping corals more. Don't have money or time for two tanks, so for me a reef it is.


It can be very confusing and there are a bunch of different ways to keep a successful tank. One thing to keep in mind as you do your research, your FOWLR tank will need most of the same things as a reef tank, except that you won't need to keep as tight a handle on your nutrients (nitrate, phosphate), you don't need to worry about the big three elements that are used for building coral skeleton (calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium) and you don't need as strong of light. Although good lights can make the colors of the fish pop just as much as they do corals so it doesn't hurt.

So if you are researching something that is primarily to keep calcium and alkalinity at the proper levels, it is something that you don't need for your FOWLR.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks for the heads up! Which items are you referring to?

Yellows are iffy, reds are unnecessary (at least for now)

• Tank
• Sand
• Life Rock
• Powerhead
• Thermometer
• Heater/chiller
• Protein skimmer
• Return pump
• Skimmer (duplicate)
• Battery backup
• Power filter
• Media/phosphate reactor
• Tank controller
• Hydrometer
• UV sterilizer
• Air pump
• Buckets for water changes
• Dosing chemicals

 

[Joem820]

Wow! Thank you so much! I've been trying to research as much as I can so I know what to save up for, but I'm getting lost very easily since I'm seeing a lot of reef aquariums and not many fish-only aquariums. Not that I have anything against reefers, just that I'm more of a fish guy (especially those that I found that aren't reef safe). I'd love to pick your brain more in the future if that's ok!

I found the same thing when I was first setting my tank up, I was thinking I didn't want corals at that time but finding information on setting up FOWLR tanks is difficult and, at least what I found, not very detailed or helpful in my opinion.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Welcome to R2R!

Mr. Reefman is correct. The items he listed in red are really only needed if you’re keeping coral. You also don’t really NEED a controller or UV sterilizer (nice to have but if you don’t have them you’ll still be successful)

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Welcome! You forgot salt I found regular Instant Ocean to be a good, cheap option for my old FOWLR setup. A mesh lid might be a good investment depending on the type of fish you want.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Oops....yeah. A lid/top. Definitely add that to the list.

 

[4tanks]

I would add a decent test kit to that list a begginer one that test for ammonia nitrite nitrate ph for when you start to cycle probably Red Sea or salifert and also a refactomoeter more reliable than hydrometer