New to Salt Water

[weino]

Hello..
First off, this is a great forum and I am enjoying the loads of info here.
I have had fresh water setups in the past but never a salt water.
I have a 110 gallon glass aquarium I would like to set-up.
I have plenty of research to do yet, but have a question about canister filters.
I was thinking of going with FOWLR set-up and am wondering if a Fluval G6 filter with a intank protein skimmer will provide all the filtration I will need.
Is a sump with bio-balls manditory or will the G6 and skimmer work just fine.
Thanks for you help and I hope this dosnt sound like to silly of a question. Still learning.

 

[Alex]

Your question is not silly. No matter how much experience a person has, they still learn, and must ask questions from time-to-time. As far as the filtration and other nessecities are concerned, I cannot provide advice for that. However, I will tell you that a 110 gallon salt water setup would be incredible! Though, do understand that an aquarium that size would be very expensive. Salt water is a very expensive hobby. You must take into consideration how much time, and effort one would have to put into an aquarium that size.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...glad to have you aboard. You don't need a sump with the bio-balls, or the canister filter. Your primary filtration will be the live rocks, sand, and protein skimmer, along with moderate water flow.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hello,
I wouldn't use a canister filter for a saltwater setup. They are tailored for freshwater, and in saltwater tanks, more often than not they end up leading to high nitrates and poor water quality. Not to mention, they need to be cleaned a lot in order to avoid this and replacing the filter media all the time gets expensive.

The preferable way to set up filtration for a saltwater tank is as Smitty said -- live rock and a protein skimmer. A sump is a big bonus -- not mandatory, but it definitely helps. Bioballs fall in the same category as canister filters -- they are commonly called "nitrate factories" because in saltwater they just don't work like they should and lead to you having to do extra maintenance or fighting high nitrates because of them.

If I were you, I'd go with a sump and refugium setup. No bioballs, no canister filter, but a good quality protein skimmer and 1 to 2 lbs per gallon of live rock instead.

 

[weino]

Thanks for the info. Yes I do understand its not a cheap hobby but plan on building my set up over a period of time. Maybe eventually having a nice reef tank. The journey to a full reef tank will be a exciting and rewarding one I think!!
I plan on starting with plenty of live rock and live sand to begin the cycle process. I should also mention that I am not in a hurry and understand that patience is a virtue. I have a couple of power heads from previous tanks to provide water movement/flow.
Along with my protein skimmer and G6 (that I already had) I think I should be good to get started.
Thanks again for the info and if you would like to add anything I would greatly appreciate it.

Adam

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome

+1 Biffy and Smitty


Also you need quite a bit of flow in a saltwater tank, you are probably going to need a few more powerheads than what you have. You want your tank volume turned over at least 30x per hour

 

[chichimom79]

Welcome aboard!

 

[RockStacker]

I just looked up the price for the Fluval G6.
WOW! For that price you can get a very good skimmer, a lot of live rock and high quality powerheads.
Do you already have the G6? or you are just planning to get it?


Also another thing to consider:
If you are planning to start with a FOWLR setup and then later on decide you want a reef tank, I would suggest that you keep the FOWLR and set up a second tank specifically for your reef tank.
Trying to convert an established FOWLR to a reef tank is like making a U-turn on a bridge. It can be done, but so many things could go wrong and you have already established limitations based on your current FOWLR livestock.

However, as personal experience dictates, one can easily turn a reef tank into a FOWLR overnight (on purpose or not :grumble: )