110 FOWLR filter options

[mandarin chick]

Our 110 formerly had coral and fish, until one of the fish that we have not been able to rehome, decided coral was yummy. Absent a home for said fish, we are converting to FOWLR with the intention of adding more fish to bring back color. Since this will overload, we need to re-think filtration.

Tank currently has 85+/- live rock, 100+/- live sand, the sump is 36 x 12 x 24. The first chamber is filed with about 10 boxes of the Fluval ceramic cubes that are usually used in the Fluval canister filters. The overflow from the main tank through a carbon bag then over th ecubes.

Center section of the sump has the protien skimmer - I just checked for what kind and there were no markings to identify. I remember it was rated to 300g. Cup is cleaned almost daily - it skims that much. I also have a little cheato and about 1 inch of sand in this section. Blue Hermits and bumbebee snails are the primary residents to clean up the detritus in the sump - and appear to be reproducing down there.

As a reef tank with fish, believe it or not, this worked. Other than a spike here and there when something killed a snail, chems were great. It is now coral-less and with the addition of 2 Bangaiis, my chems went out of whack and have been for a few weeks. So I need to re-think.


Any suggestions for a FOWLR that will be a little overstocked with fish?

[mandarin chick]

Is it possible/feasible to run a phosban reactor and a fluidized bed filter, in tandem on the same pump? (looking for a space saver here...)

[mandarin chick]

Never actually got any advice on this, so I am updating with what appears to be working. This is a heavily stocked, overfed FOWLR with shrooms. In May I added a fluidized bed filter, a phosban reactor, and a filter sock. I also included a couple of turbo snails to go with the cleaning crew. Originally, all i had was a protien skimmer, with a whole heaping of bumblebee and nassarius snails and a few token trochus, followed up with a single brittlestar.

My P & Nitrates have been near zero ever since (took 3 weeks before the fluidized bed started working). The glass is clear. There is zero, nadda zilch cyano. Every once in a while I get a few threads of hair algae, but the snails seem to keep it in check.

The only other changes that were made since the original post was to increase the sand bed depth (got 2 blue spot jaw fish), and I added a Koralia 4 and a Koralia 5 when my MP40 failed. A new MP40 was sent by the manufacturer (Yeah EcoMarine!). The 3 pumps were too much, so now I run the MP on one side and either the K4 OR K5 on the other.

Now comes the real test: After seeing Reefstews totally awsome 240 display tank, I felt my 110 was substandard, so we brought in Luigi the porcipine puffer to spice it up a little. I tested chems today and I am still at 0 for P and .01 Nitrates.

I want to add a bunch more bumblebees and nassarius snails, at at least one more brittle star to keep up with the anticipated heavy load emitted by Luigi. Will update again in about a month to see if Luigi can overcome a way simplified, space saving filtration system.

Fear not puffer lovers: Luigi is only a tiny tot roght now. We are already trying to determine if his big boy tank is going to be at the front door (which we only use for the pizza delivery guy) or "L'd" perpendicular to the 110, with a newly built wall, for an all encompassing sea creature experience.

[Chris27]

I can't say that I'm surprised you're not having any trouble with ammonia, you have a ton of surface area for bacteria given the amount of rock and fluval media you described.

[hal9000a]

how is it going with the fluidized bed, i'm thinking about using one
if you have a picture of your fluidized bed it could be great
:fish1:

[mandarin chick]

Let me put it this way..... since this thread started, a PP Puffer, dogface puffer, valentino puffer and a thornback cowfish have replaced the 6 chromis and the 2 clowns, chems are running steady as they go, with a 10% monthly water change.

The only thing I don't like about the bed filter is the sand does escape at a pretty steady rate, and replacement media is not available locally. That being said, I still have a brandy new one, new in the box, just waiting for the larger puffer tank to get set up. So, all in all, I think it is worth it.