Newbs going w/SW FOWLR

"Sorry for cross post didnt realize last one was in filters section"

Ok my wife and I last night went to our LFS and made the decisin that sw was the way to go as the choices in colorful fish and invertabrae was awesome and unbelievebal compared to the fresh seceltion. Moby Dicks our lsf has a huge selection of both and hands down the sw section blew away the fresh.

We were going to go with a 100 gallong used tank and filters, but decided against that and have purchased new 75 gallon with stand, light, glass top and tank.

We are picking up tonight and are going to get it in the house and set up as far as tank on stand and top on.

Our next step is going to get water in the tank and then we need some help, we have looked at canister filters, power filters, protein skimmer, live rock and live sand.

We are leaning towards live rock and live sand, but really need some advice as to where to start and in what order. We need to purchase the live sand and can get the live rock for about 4.00 a pound at the lfs.

Questions: Is the live sand and live rock enough for filtration, if not what can we economiclly get away with as money is tight right now but we have decided this is going to be the one thing we do completely together so it is going to happen with a budget.

What else would you recommend for a tight budget, but will still deliver a crystal clean tank that is healthy for the fish. We need a starting point and kind of a mentor for this project to take of correctly. I know I know I sound to techincal and project minded but I am a Cisco network engineer, it is I my blood LOL.

But seriously any help would be greatly appreciated, as we are complete newbs to this and need to get tI started.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Razorack--

 

HI Razorack
If you get sufficient amounts of live rock and live sand, a filter will not be necessary. Using a protein skimmer instead will be better.

 

Thanks for the response PinkFloydPuffer,

Did you mean a skimmer would be better than the rock and sand or in addition to?

Have you ever heard of or seen the combo filters and skimers, they sound like exactly what we would need:

Tom Pro Series PS4 Filter and Skimmer w/Auto Fill System 700GPH




Thanks again,
razorack

 

As an aside question. Is the tank drilled for an overflow?

 

You're welcome.
I meant you could have live r&s AND a protein skimmer. A filter isn't necessary if you have the live rock, it just creates nitrates.

 

Thanks for the response PinkFloydPuffer,

Did you mean a skimmer would be better than the rock and sand or in addition to?

Have you ever heard of or seen the combo filters and skimers, they sound like exactly what we would need:

Tom Pro Series PS4 Filter and Skimmer w/Auto Fill System 700GPH




Thanks again,
razorack

Nope, if you have about 1 to 1.5 lb of live rock per gallon of tank in a FOWLR system you should only need a slightly oversized skimmer to do the job. So for a 75 gallon tank you would want a skimmer rated for 100 gallons.

 

Thanks !

No the tank is not drilled, and I would have no idea being a newb how to do that.

What about this thread any truth to this set up:

Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

razorack

 

Thanks !

No the tank is not drilled, and I would have no idea being a newb how to do that.

What about this thread any truth to this set up:

Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

razorack

I personally do not have any experience with the system. The person who started that thread has been playing with different variations of the system and posted results through out the thread.

As far the the tank, don't worry that it's not drilled. I was just curious as if it was drilled it would have changed how the tank would be setup.