Converting to FOWLR

[iandehombre]

Currently I am keeping corals and some reefsafe fish in a 90 gal, I wanted to conver it to FOWLR. Is FOWLR easy to maintain? because right now I have to change water every week. I have a HOB skimmer and HOB CPR Aquafuge, few powerhead, what other equiptment should I get?

Thanks

[Joe Reefer]

Want kind fish are you planning on keeping, FO tanks tend to have high bioloads. I would try and upgrade your skimmer, the only problem is you are probably going to need to get a sump setup. IMHO

[iandehombre]

I probably only keep three fishes. I already have one big rabit fish, med yellow tang and I was thinking about getting a lionfish. Are lion fish expensive and hard to keep?

[Joe Reefer]

I am no lion expert, but from what I have read they are real messy eaters.

[Raf]

I have a lionfish tank:

http://www.malawimayhem.com/gallery.php?id=134
http://www.malawimayhem.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7491&highlight=lionfish

As far as keeping them, they are not messy eaters as they generally swallow their food whole. As some species get fairly large, they can be a big bioload on your tank, so a good skimmer and filter are important, as are large waterchanges to keep nitrAtes low.

But, IMO, they are one of the hardiest and easiest fish to keep, so if you want that, they are a good choice.

[goby1]

I've been running my 46 g FOWLR for over 2 years without any problems. I have 50 lbs of live rock, a Remora skimmer and 2 301 powerheads and that's it. I used to run a canister filter but it was leaking so I disconnected it and although I have the new part, I never did hook it back up as I hated cleaning those filters pads every two weeks. It's been about 7 months now without the filter (I keep the filter handy in case I need it to run carbon or something) but for the most part, I don't miss it. I keep 2 clowns, a royal grama, a scizzor goby, a bi-colour angel a keyhold angel and 2 cleaner shrimps under PC lights and the maintenance is actually pretty minimal (10% every two weeks). Actually, they are all the original fish I started with 2 years ago - never lost a fish!

I also have a hitchhiker RTA that came in the size of my pinky nail and is now about 3 inches across. I have thought about upgrading my lights so that I could keep a little more in the way of polyps and such but I hate to mess with something that is working for me. I have this vision of brighter lights and algae and so far I've decided to leave well enough alone. I'll post a picture sometime if my husband ever brings the digital home from work...

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By the way, love the lion tank! I'll have to keep that in mind for the future. I was thinking a low maintenance puffer but that lion tank is really cool and my kids would love it.

[iandehombre]

thanks for the advice, I decided to keep my rabbit fish and yellow tang for now. I might add more fish later on.