fishrule101

I really want a marine tank ,but i don't really have the money. I'm wanting a FOWLR, but theres many stories on how to start one. I know you will need live rock, sand or crush coral, powers heads,and high lighting. The powers heads, lighting, and subtrate are not a problem. The live rock kinda isn't ethier. The problem is the skimmer. I was wacthing a video on youtube and this person said skimmers were are not important as long as you have enough surface agitation. IS this true?? He said that skimmers are helpful just because they help push nirate levels down. Other webs sites said skimmers are super important. Which story is helpful??

Tumbleweed

Both are correct. Protein skmmers are imortant. what they do is help remove excessive waste from the tank through ariation of the water in a confinde chamber which traps the waste in the bubles created by the skimmer and pulls them out of the water. the smaller the bubbles the better teh skimmer and more it can collect. Now if you are doing a FOWLR tank you do not have to have a skimmer. With enough live rock and water movement your water conditions will be ok. If you ever wanted to and and coral or anenomies to the tank, you would need a skimmer to help clean the tank to make the water more stable the them.

fishrule101

Can i keep a bicolor angelfish with a ocellaris clowfish?

What will be the max number of fish i can have?

agsansoo

What size is your tank ? How long has it be setup ?

Tumbleweed

In a 6gal tank you are very limited to the # of fish and what fish you can have. You defenetly can't have the angel your tank is not large enough. You could get 2 ocellaris clowns and be ok, but that would be the max you could get for that tank.

fishrule101

I have a 28 gallon fish tank. It has not been a SW tank yet. I'm just doing reseach.

Tumbleweed

Sorry got this post and another post mixed up.

fishrule101

What is the max number of fish i can have??

ThisGuy

depends on the type of fish some fish grow bigger than others and less is usually better.

Have you read the profile for the angel and the clown?

http://www.fishlore.com/profile_bicolor_angelfish.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-ClownFish.htm

Tumbleweed

There is no strict rule of thumb for salt water tanks. If you are going to do a FOWLR tank and have the standard of 28-42lbs of live rock "correct amount for your tank size", the problem becomes the amount of swimming room that you have. I would say that you could have 6-8 small fish or 1 medium fish and 2-3 small fish. These #'s depend on which fish you want. This is just a rough idea

fishrule101

Would hermit crabs count as a fish cause they don't have much of a bio load?

If i don't have a skimmer how will i take care of my tank because people are saying that without one your fish will died no doubt??

sirdarksol

Without a skimmer, you will have more protein in the water that will then break down into nitrogen in the water. You can get around this, it will just take extra work (in the form of water changes).

fishrule101

I can handle water changes. How many would i have to do a week?

Tumbleweed

Hermit crabs do not count in that number so 3-5 will be ok.

As for how many water changes, it depends on what your test results are. But at most I would say a 5-10gal a week. It all depends on how many fish you put in the tank. More fish more bio-load

sirdarksol

As many as would be needed to keep the nitrates within an acceptable level (can't remember what that is for saltwater. It's 10-20ppm for freshwater). This will depend on the stock of the tank, its size, etc...

fishrule101

What would be a good active fish to have in a28? Like a clownfish they move alot and stay active. I'm thinking to get about 4-6 hemint crabs , a biocolor angel defintly snails cuase i heard they do an awesome cleaning job and two orcellaris clownfish.This is isn't going to be added just one day. I'm thinking of adding the biocolor angel fish last scince i read that they need to be in a established tank about 6 months. What should i add after my tank is cycled? Fish first or invertabrates??

fishrule101

Would two 160 GPH powerheads be good enough for a 28 FOWLR? And i'm also adding sea salt reef crystals I read that there better than salt becuase they contain stuff like uh.......i forgot but stuff that corals and live rock need. Is this a good chose?

Tumbleweed

28gal is a little small for a bicolor angel. Even though they are a dward angel they still get to be a pretty good size and need a decent amount of room to swim. But if all you are going to add is the angel and the clown fish it might be ok.

I would add the invertibrates first then the 2 clown fish at the same time and last the angel fish.

What kind of filter do you have? What is its GPH rate? For a FOWLR tank I would am for around 300-400gph. That is all you really need. So those 2 power heads should be ok.