Should I use my Eheim canister?

[Cims]

I am having thoughts on making my 90g african tank into a "FOWLR" tank. I have the sand and the rocks to do it. I found a dual bak-pak skimmer on ebay that should work. Should I leave my eheim 2217 canister on it? it's rated at 159GPH.

Couple more questions, I have two 40w 48" flourescent bulbs, one actinic and one white HO 12,000k full spectrum URJ. I also have moon lights. Is this good enough to get basic good looking growth on my live rock? Are there any invertebrates or coral that can be grown in only 80w of light? I am trying to fill in some space, I could try some seaweed maybe if coral or invertebrates are out of the picture.

[The R/C Man]

Hey Cims!

Well for a salt water tank using live rock you can omit the the canister filter and the back pak. The live rock acts as a bilogical filter and you will need protien skimmer to remove the disolved organics. That should be all need to keep the tank going provided you do regular water changes of at least once a month or better. After the tank has been running for a couple months you could always add a refugium to further reduce nitrates.

With the lighting you currently have mushrooms may do ok and I am sure the coraline algae will grow. If you decide to add corals then an upgrade will be required.....

[Cims]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I will update my lighting when I want coral, I thought maybe I could get a way with some low light coral or inverts to make the tank look nicer. What I need to buy is live rock, maybe a few lbs of live sand, and a skimmer and i'll be set. Although I am still not sure if I want to sell my africans, I just don't have another tank for them.

I was wondering if I can use my lace rock as live rock, It has a saltwater look to it and would look nice in the tank, some of it is quite porus too.

[Key Of David]

I too went from an african cichlid tank to a FOWLR and the lace makes excellent base rock. Coralline algae loves it more than anything else I've seen and will quickly spread on it. I've never kept corals so I can't tell ya about that but basically live rock and coralline algae would be fine with that lighting.