100 Gallon Fowlr Tank

[jb12288]

I am getting ready to start setting up my fowlr tank here in a few weeks. The glass shop has the tank and is drilling the sump holes and inserting the bulkheads for me this week, I should have the tank back by Thursday or Friday. I ordered a reef sump for 100-125 gallon tank offline. I have two powerheads i am going to be using my two powerheads to add current to the water. I ordered a berlin hang-on protein skimmer as well. All I need to do now is find out what fish I am wanting to keep. I do know that i will definitely want a clean up crew in the tank, and a puffer. I dont know what else I want, so help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Musho3210]

one threads good enough

Well, you could put in a beluga whale, or maybe just a pair of clownfish no more. It all depends on your tank size (as a hint, what size tank do you have)

What type of powerheads

Return that skimmer and get a decent one, think EuroReef (since your in america) and Tunze, there are some other good ones out there as well. I've heard some good things about ASM, ive heard lots and lots of bad reviews on AquaC, but others have heard lots and lots of good reviews, so it might be more of a hit and miss with that one.

 

[jb12288]

It is a 100 US gallon tank, I put the tank size in the headline, and the powerheads are aquaclear. And I will call and cancel my order on the skimmer and choose a different one.

 

[Musho3210]

2 aquaclears (depending on size) might not be enough for a FOWLR if your using the live rock as your primary filter. It might just be enough as well, you'll also be draining some good electricity, have bad flow (since its direct, not dispersed) and heat up the tank. Id go with some tunze streams and/or hydor koralias and/or modded maxijets. If your using 2 of the largest model, youd be burning around 124 watts of electricity to get 1800 gph flow. If you were to run 2 hydor koralia 4's youd be getting 2400 gph flow while only using around 17 watts as well as getting a much more disperse flow (more natural)

I hear tunze uses even less electricity and seem to be a bit more reliable.

Lynden and Andy are better suited to tell you what types of puffers and stuff is good for that tank.

 

[jb12288]

these are just powerheads I have had since i started it as a cichlid tank. they werent used but for maybe 2 weeks until i changed to sand substrate. I will look into tunze as you suggested.

 

[Musho3210]

A modded maxijet might work out better for you (money wise). More flow for less cash, especially since you are in the states, although the tunzes are better quality....

 

[jb12288]

A modded maxijet might work out better for you (money wise). More flow for less cash, especially since you are in the states, although the tunzes are better quality....

i will look at those as well.

 

[SkiFletch]

i will definitely want a clean up crew in the tank, and a puffer.

*snicker*

Hate to have to be the bearer of bad news, but puffers tend to eat most cleanup crew Snails, crabs, and shrimp are kind of their diet in the wild, hence the really sharp beak. About the only cleanup crew member that would really be "safe" with a puffer would be urchins. A cleanup crew isn't wholly necessary in a FO predator tank though, so don't think you have to have one if you really do like the puffer

 

[jb12288]

i can always do without a puffer. although they are pretty, i do think i would like a clean up crew scavaging around. what fish could i have in 100 fowlr tank? maybe a yellowfin pygmy angel or some other smaller angel, goby or blenny, a pair of percula clowns, a blue hippo tang, a longnose hawkfish...these are what i like of what i have seen. I also would like to have an octopus, but I am definitely going to wait since this will be my first marine tank. I am thinking of a jellyfish to, maybe an upside down jelly.

 

[SkiFletch]

Any dwarf angels would be fine. You could consider wrasses, tangs, clowns, gobies, and blennies, sure. The longnose hawk can/will predate on shrimp, so keep that in mind. Also, Octopi have the same drawback as puffers in the whole cleanup crew eating habit . Jellies do very poorly in captivity in tanks whose sizes have 3 digits. Usually reserved for tanks in the thousands or tens of thousands of gallons .

 

[jb12288]

i was not planning on getting an octopus right now, i was just saying maybe years down the road. So jellies don't do good in captivity, i was just reading since the upside down jelly only gets 3" and needs a minium of 30 gallons (according to the site that sells them) it would be ok. But, I definitely don't want to keep any animal knowing it will not be happy and thrive.

 

[Musho3210]

jellies need a round tank otherwise can get cornered into a corner (i hate it when sentences are like that) and die.

This, i must say, is the first time i hear someone say that their clean-up crew is more important than their show fish. You may want to reconsider this choice. They are not interesting at all. They are just shells that you see in your tank periodically, adding no interested. This is just my opinion though.

 

[jb12288]

no they aren't more important, i would just really like to have them

 

[Musho3210]

ok, its all personal preference.

With that size tank you can keep some pretty nice inverts. Urchins, decorative shrimp (blood, cleaner, peppermint, coral banded maybe?), you may be interested in a pistol shrimp and goby pair.

Good clean-up inverts are astraea snails, turbo snails (<-- are primarily algae eaters) Cerith snail (sand stirrer and algae/detritus eater) and nassarius snails (sand stirrer and detritus eater)

Look into pincusion urchins, you may be able to keep a longspine, im not sure though.

Hmm, these are my suggestions for mobile "cleaning" inverts.

With turbos and urchins, you will want to make sure your rocks/corals are glued together with some sort of epoxy or held together with acrylic/nylon rods since they do cram themselves all over the place possibly "crashing" rocks and similar structures which wont be good.

 

[jb12288]

that sounds good, i have always liked bandad coral shrimp, i always stare at them at my lfs. i have some aquarium sealant left over from a previous slate rock project i was working on, that should do holding the rock together. I want the blue hippo tang to be my centerpiece fish with other fish that will compliment and go good with it, but not overshow its beauty

EDIT: i dont want the blue hippo tang anymore, it grows quite large. i am now thinking of an angel