Can I Keep A Fowlr Without Sump?

[simonas]

I;ve bleated on about my plans to turn 150g tank to a fish only marine. Trouble is I can;t have a sump and it woulod be live rock and skimmer only.

I;ve been toldon another marine site that this wouldn;t be possible as water would be in too poor condition

Is this true? I only want to go down this route if I can have a moray, liopnfish and grouper?

Simon

 

[Pearsondesign]

ive never had a sump, ever
my old lionfish tank had a skimmer and 2 external conistors and live rock.
only had 2 externals cos it was 7ft, but in my current large lion tank ive only got 2 external small canistors, could do it with one larger one though.
all those fish are messy so the externals are great for picking up particles and waste. plus add some koralias for extra flow and youll be fine

 

[Rafael Dilone]

I advocate you try and get a sump since they come in about all sizes. You can even use a certain gallon size tank as a sump just by drilling holes and using a good water pump along with other media in there. If you still cant i say customize 3 or so hang on filters such as large Aquaclears that can be turned into a refugium, hold bio balls, etc. You have to be very creative with what you are given. Another way to get a sump with limited space is to use pvc piping going from another room into the tank. This hobby sure has advance that there are so many options that substitute for others. I know people that even use several rubbermaid containers of about 36 gallons all drilled with pvc pipping going from one to another and having a total of 3. Not only does it save tons of money but its creative and large in holding water. I hope you are able to achieve what you wish

 

[FREDD!E]

Witha bit of pipework you could plumb a remote sump somewhere you have space, I have a 4x2x2 with 1 x Tetratec Filter running at 3900 l / h and have just bought a cleartides 750 refugium to replace my skimmer. I have run a FOWLR without a sump just filter + skimmer but now Im running a 4x2x2 you need that extra bio filtration ie sump or refugium

 

[simonas]

cheers for responses chaps

when I eventually sell my house and get a basement for me and animals I;ll havea sump but for now there is just no chance space wise. I battle for it with the wife who stores her business stock all round tank and under it etc!! lol

I suppuse I;ll keep the external for a bit see how that gets on and get the best skimmer I CAN GET

 

[jaylam]

I had the same problem when I bought my tank, I dont physically have the space for a sump so considered setting it up as a tropical tank but after reading LOADS of peoples project logs on different sites and asking loads of questions and getting the same response from several different sources I decided to go for marine.

I have fish only with live rock and skimmer, yes ok I do have an external filter as well but its not needed I only got it as the original plan was to go tropical.

So yes you can have fish only with no sump, no filter just live rock but just for your own piece of mind I would read a few project logs from different sources as I did to get different opinions and so you can see their results before making your mind up.

 

[simonas]

cheers Jaylam
do you have preds in there tho?

 

[jaylam]

cheers Jaylam
do you have preds in there tho?

Not at the moment but im only 50% stocked and havent decided what else to get, every time I go to the lfs they have something new in and I change my mind again

 

[simonas]

he he are your stats ok as well running as it is?

 

[jaylam]

he he are your stats ok as well running as it is?

Yep, perfect. I do a 20% water change every other week and everything is perfect.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

You definitely do not need a sump (though they are extremely useful). I would highly recommend a couple of good external canister filters though. One set up with bio media and the other for mechanical filtration (which will need to be cleaned on a very regular basis).

 

[seffieuk]

You definitely do not need a sump (though they are extremely useful). I would highly recommend a couple of good external canister filters though. One set up with bio media and the other for mechanical filtration (which will need to be cleaned on a very regular basis).

Seconded

Seffie x