wOULD LIKE YOUR OPINIONS

[EMS503]

I am going to be helping a friend set up a S/W fish only tank.
Using dead coral and crushed coral for substrate.
Size of the tank will be either a 75 gal. or 120 gal.
(Has to talk to the wife ).
If he uses a sump partioned for a foam block and carbon would a cannister filter still be needed? Sump would be used basically as an area to hide heater and other items. I reccomended the sump as he may convert this tank to a reef in the future.

Also how deep should the substrate be in a fish only tank?

Is a protien skimmer needed for a fish only tank?

Type of fish still undecided Due to tank size but he is considering Tangs & Lion size fish.


Thanks
John

[dagnir]

I personally would set up the tank with a decent layer of sand and some live rock. use the sump like you have planned and I would add a skimmer to. Skimmer is not just a reef tool, they work very well in Fish Only systems. The 120 would be a better tank because most of the fish people get for a fish only get pretty big and the largest tank possible would be the one to go with. Hope this helps. And be careful with the tangs choose wisely because of size and hardiness. Many tangs get very big and there are not many that have a really good record in captive systems.

[the_blue_tuna]

I agree basically with Dagnir. The sump is a good idea . You would have to explore the cost of a can filter (which can be used as a carbon contact chamber) against the cost of a return pump of another sort. Sometimes , depending on the set-up specifics a can filter works best , even though its not a necessity. You would definately want a skimmer, especially if you go with the messy eaters like Lions .The substate depends on what you are looking to get out of it. If you just want it so the tank floor does not look barren , than an inch will do . If you want to use it as part of your filtration (highly desirable for a reef) then you would want to build a DSB . You can do a search for deep sand beds here and come up with hours of reading. Essentially though you could figure on a 4inch minimum depth if you decide to go this route.Again for filtration reasons I would recommend going with live rock rather than the coral skeletons.You can buy base rock to save money and seed it with a few pieces of live rock . Over time this will be of much greater benefit to you than the coral.You could lite your sump and turn it into a refugium , where you could grow different Caulerpas to feed the tang. Just caution your friend to take it slow and read as much as he can before jumping into it .This will cut down (notice I did not say eliminate ) on the mistakes and disapointment and make his experience much better.

[allykahn]

The other posts are dead on. If the wife approves, go with the 120. I would use a sand substrate rather than CC, about 1 to 3". Some inverts prefer sand beds if you decide to go that route. Definately get a skimmer. Live rock has dual benefits. It will aid in filtration and is more natural to the fish. You can use those coral skeletons also, since after time they will be covered with coralline algae and basically become live rock. I have had my FOWLR tank for 5 years. I started out with 2 big dead corals and about 10 lbs. of live rock and a CC substrate. I now have about 60 lbs. of live rock and you would be hard pressed to find which rocks were the dead corals. I changed out the CC for sand two years ago and I am very pleased. I also use an amiracle wet/dry as a sump. Good luck with your project.