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and which would be easier in the long run?

I will attempt to answer your three questions without trying to be too confusing:

Powerheads are submersible pumps that can be attached to tubes for undergravel filter systems. They are also used to generate water flow with or without being part of a filter system. They provide an excellent source of unidirectional flow of water.

You may need one based on your saltwater setup. They are commonly used in tubs when curing liverock. A lot of skimmers use a submersible pump, but not necessarily a powerhead. I guess you may use one in your main tank as a means to generate additional water flow, but if you have a good enough pump, returning the water to your tank, that should be sufficient enough.

FOWLR, is a Fish Only With Live Rock saltwater tank.

Since I am new to this hobby, I would recommend that you solicit further comments.

John

these forums are great..ive learned a ton nemo..just keep asking questions..im learning too...im trying to start a sw 55 gal.for the 1st time.what are powerheads..and do i need one?and what is a fowlr?thank..everyone

My name on it is FloridaShock.

whats your name on it?

Thanks Malawi Freak, I do have a post there too just thought I would get several opinions.

Nemo

N E M O go here you might get a little bit more advise! [link=http://www.nano-reef.com]http://www.nano-reef.com" style="COLOR: #000000[/link]

I'd have to say you have too much fish for that tank, the clown will get to 4in and the goby about 2in thats 6in to 15g of water. With the 1in per gallon rule that is TWICE the bio-load i would suggest for that tank. So you certinly couldn't afford to add another goby on top of that. I would suggest only the clown for a 15g tank or perhaps to small(2in) gobys.

~Scott

The 15ga. has great dimensions. I'd say go for it, but...

Now for the constructive criticism: Nano-Reef tanks were not given that name for their ability to sustain fish. Sure, there are some suitable fish for such tanks, but all in all they were intended to house coral.

I think you should rethink your plans for a tank. If you want a fish-only tank with live rock, go get something larger. I suggest an AGA 30 Breeder at least.

I am not saying this to get you down in the hobby, but I think you have some reading to do about tank size vs. bioload and fish habits.

-Justin

In SW the general rule is about 1" of adult fish per 5gals of water. So a 15gal tank will hold 1, perhaps 2 small fish. In SW, the bigger the tank, the less work you will have. Get the largest tank you can afford and fit in your home. As for your water, just remember that a 15gal tank, wont hold 15gals of water after you add the sand, rock, etc. Figure on loosing about 10% or more of teh water depending on what you add. As for any fish you want to add. Find out the name, then look it up at several sites and see what it says. Min tank size, how big will it get, how aggressive is it. Do this before you buy. Some fish look great as a juvinal, then change as adults and look rather bland.



Dan

Well I think I'm going to go with the 15g. Would it be easier in the long run to have a 10g, 15g, or 20g? Tonight I got 15g of R.O. water. Tomorrow I will get 5 gallons more, because they only had 15 jugs tonight. I also got 20lbs of Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Argonite Reef Sand. Tomorrow I'll be setting up the tank and adding LR, then hopefully next week I can get about 10 more pounds of live rock. The people at the lfs where I ended up buying my LR were a lot more helpful and friendly compared the the lfs where I usually go to get stuff for my fw tanks. The LR looked a lot better and the prices were cheaper too. Well actually the LR was a bit more but everything else was cheaper and I figure it's better to pay more to get nicer LR then pay less for rock that I'm not even sure if it's even LR. While I was at the lfs today I saw this really cute little yellow orangish clearish goby, not sure what the name of it was. If it doesn't get much bigger do you think it would be possible to add it to my tank along with the neon goby and clownfish? Thanks.

Nemo

The skimmer is better in the long run. I would say a 5% to 10% water change each week should be good.



Dan

Hi. I would like to start a 10g w/ LR and fish a FOWLR, I think .? I'm not really interested in doing corals because I have school and don't want the tank to be even more complicated. This is my first s.w. tank so I would like some advice. Here is a list of the setup I have planned so far:

10g Glass Tank

10LBS Fiji LR

Substrate - ?

50W Heater

Aqua Clear 100 HOB Power Filter

Fish:

1 False Percula Clown

1 Neon Goby


Any advice on what to change in this setup would be great. I have a few questions:


What kind of substrate should I use? I was thinking sand would be hard to clean.

Do I need a power head?

Should I use anything in the filter (carbon, etc.)?

In what order should I add the two fish?


Thanks!

-Nemo

How often would I need to do water changes and how much water would need to be changed?

Nemo

Last edited by N e m o at 02-Oct-2004 15:55

You can live without the skimmer for a while, but you will need to do more water changes. As for the powerhead, I would suggest taking the one from teh FW and using it in the SW tank. You really want good water movment in a SW tank.



Dan

Okay well today I went and got a JBJ SP1300 power head, Oceanic Sea Salt, and 8 lbs. of cured LR. I'll add more next week or so. I was thinking about getting a slightly larger tank maybe a 16 or 20g. At the moment I don't have enough money saved up to get a skimmer so I was wondering if I could get away without one, if I were to get a 16 or 20g.? I have an extra 50W heater I could use. I currently have a power head in my 29g f.w. tank and I could use that in the s.w. tank, or should I keep it in the f.w. tank? I also have 2 extra HOB filters I could use instead of putting in an additional power head. Anything else I would need to change if I were to get a 16 or 20g? Thanks.

Nemo

There is no need to remove it. The only draw back to crushed coral is you will need to do a gravel vac when you do water changes to remove detris. On a tank your size, the benifit of sand will be negligible. When you do a gravel vac, only do about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank bottom with each cleaning.



Dan

Someone said that fish waste tends to get trapped in crushed coral, but I just spent $14 on it and I can't return it. So should I take out the crushed coral and get live sand or should I just keep the crushed coral?
I've decided on doing daily topoffs and 10% weekly water changes.

-Nemo

For crushed coral, you only need between 1 and 1.5 inches. If you had sand, then 2 to 3 inches would be needed.



Dan