planning to start a FOWLR sometime in the near future

[rDr4g0n]

ive just gotten my soon to be reef tank cured (30 gal) and im already seeing that i cant get the kinda fish i wanna have. im gonna have this one be for corals, and set up a separate tank for fishies. i have a 55 gallon tank that i may use, or i may end up buying a whole new tank (mmmm 100 gallon plus).

so my questions:

lighting: what kind of lighting needs are there? since there wont be corals, do i just need standard output flourescents?

husbandry: i want a wide variety of attractive and interesting fish. im not really familiar with a lot of fish yet, but i know i do really like fairy wrasses, fire angels, coral beauty angels, yellow tangs, hippo tangs, parrotfish, etc. i know that many of these fish are aggressive, need lots of space, etc, but thats what im trying to get input way before i start spending money! (i want to get a dragonette so bad).

filtration: so protein skimmer, sump, fuge, canister filter, what do FOWLR systems need?

finally, any good links with info about FO and FOWLR systems as well as comparisons to reef systems would be a ton of help. thanks in advance for all the info!

[lcstorc]

I think the main difference is the lights and you don't have to be as worried about nitrates, or calcium. If you want corraline then calcium would be a concern.
From what I understand regular flourescents are fine for FO or FOWLR. I would still run a skimmer etc, but you could go with bio-balls if you wanted.
Be careful on your combination of fish and I would still avoid dragonets or tangs in a 55. Now if you went with 100 plus, then you would be fine for tangs and eventually probably fine with a dragonet as long as you don't have other pod eating fish and let your tank become well established first. No reason though you can't have those in a reef if it is large enough.

[rDr4g0n]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

No reason though you can't have those in a reef if it is large enough.

well my current reef system is only 30gallons, and i dont think i can afford a big reef. plus, while i like corals, im not too excited about filling 100 gallons with corals and live rock. id rather fill it with fish and some well placed LR.

so suppose i get a 125 gallon tank and stand. i can make a sump/bioball filter out of a 10 gallon bucket or bigger (the zoo my wife works at uses these like crazy), and put a protein skimmer on there too for good measure (a DIY one coated in my own blood). ill also probably use whatever lighting comes with the tank.

so in order to avoid buying stuff i dont need or not getting adequate equipment, do you think this will be enough?

[sasquatch]

Interesting subject, I started out with just fish and could never ever get rid of cyano, hair etc, my 250 was so bad with the red tide I finally stripped it, filled with water and bleach, let it run for 3 days then cleaned it totally, now Grumps the arrowana lives there and no problem, Ive had far less trouble with a reef tank than just fish, I dont get it, mind you once I stopped listening to the lfs things did improve, maybe its the LR I be Taggin on this.Steve

[rDr4g0n]

Originally Posted by sasquatch

Interesting subject, I started out with just fish and could never ever get rid of cyano, hair etc, my 250 was so bad with the red tide I finally stripped it, filled with water and bleach, let it run for 3 days then cleaned it totally, now Grumps the arrowana lives there and no problem, Ive had far less trouble with a reef tank than just fish, I dont get it, mind you once I stopped listening to the lfs things did improve, maybe its the LR I be Taggin on this.Steve

i wont be doing it for a while.. maybe a year or more. i just wanna start planning so that when the time comes and i have the money, its well spent. i know in my reef adventure so far ive misspent maybe $200 or more. dont wanna do that again.