Would appreciate suggestions on setting up a 300g FOWLR tank

[RJG2015]

Not a beginner - Had plenty of fish only and reef tanks. BUT, finally setting up a larger FOWLR.

Goal is to have a lot of diverse colors and plenty of activity. Not super picky on species but would love to have wide variety of colorful Tangs, Angels, Wrasse, Puffer, Harlequin, a few mellow Triggers, etc.

Anything else that you guys might recommend would be great as well.


Currently have basic shell components however I would appreciate any opinions / insight on detailed technical equipment and ideas on what is needed to set up a clean / efficient system.

CURRENTLY HAVE:
300g acrylic tank - Approximately 6-7' wide / about 36" high and 24-28" depth.
stand
canopy
sump (pretty sure it's 55-60g)
Protein Skimmer
2 Heaters
Return Pump

Plenty of live sand / live rock

What I still need to figure out is:

Lights - Nothing too expensive needed since I won't be putting any corals / invertebrates in

Wavemakers / Powerheads to generate enough current

Do I need a Chiller? Will be located inside air conditioned house away from windows. If so, any recs on how much to spend (or a good place for a solid used)

Do I need to setup a RODI?

Pros / Cons of a UV light?

Recommendations on what specific media to use in sump?

Turf scrubber worth it or overkill?

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of important things. That's why I'm asking for help from you guys. Any opinions / insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[TamaraMarshall]

Not a beginner - Had plenty of fish only and reef tanks. BUT, finally setting up a larger FOWLR.

Goal is to have a lot of diverse colors and plenty of activity. Not super picky on species but would love to have wide variety of colorful Tangs, Angels, Wrasse, Puffer, Harlequin, a few mellow Triggers, etc.

Anything else that you guys might recommend would be great as well.


Currently have basic shell components however I would appreciate any opinions / insight on detailed technical equipment and ideas on what is needed to set up a clean / efficient system.

CURRENTLY HAVE:
300g acrylic tank - Approximately 6-7' wide / about 36" high and 24-28" depth.
stand
canopy
sump (pretty sure it's 55-60g)
Protein Skimmer
2 Heaters
Return Pump

Plenty of live sand / live rock

What I still need to figure out is:

Lights - Nothing too expensive needed since I won't be putting any corals / invertebrates in

Wavemakers / Powerheads to generate enough current

Do I need a Chiller? Will be located inside air conditioned house away from windows. If so, any recs on how much to spend (or a good place for a solid used)

Do I need to setup a RODI?

Pros / Cons of a UV light?

Recommendations on what specific media to use in sump?

Turf scrubber worth it or overkill?

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of important things. That's why I'm asking for help from you guys. Any opinions / insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hello! I’m sure you will get lots of opinions on your questions.

RODI: I would definitely recommend an RODI unit based on the fish selections. Puffers will eat your entire clean up crew so algae can be a problem if not kept in check. I would set it up so you can easily to water changes and have top off water.

Chiller: Depends on your lighting, house temp, and species you select. Most Hawaiian species require colder temps, pretty much everything else can be 76-78 no problem. I would set up the tank and have it running to see the actual temp before purchasing one.

Media in sump: I like to use bio blocks in sumps with lots of fish to help with the break downs. Of course carbon, and you can use a water polisher if desired. I also always suggest an oversized skimmer and filter socks or filter pad to be able to replace easily. Just depends on your sump set up. Do you have room for a refugium?

Turf scrubber: Just my opinion. I haven’t used a turf scrubber in years. Some people have great success with them, but I honestly never felt like they grew enough to be worth the hassle.

 

[RJG2015]

Hello! I’m sure you will get lots of opinions on your questions.

RODI: I would definitely recommend an RODI unit based on the fish selections. Puffers will eat your entire clean up crew so algae can be a problem if not kept in check. I would set it up so you can easily to water changes and have top off water.

Chiller: Depends on your lighting, house temp, and species you select. Most Hawaiian species require colder temps, pretty much everything else can be 76-78 no problem. I would set up the tank and have it running to see the actual temp before purchasing one.

Media in sump: I like to use bio blocks in sumps with lots of fish to help with the break downs. Of course carbon, and you can use a water polisher if desired. I also always suggest an oversized skimmer and filter socks or filter pad to be able to replace easily. Just depends on your sump set up. Do you have room for a refugium?

Turf scrubber: Just my opinion. I haven’t used a turf scrubber in years. Some people have great success with them, but I honestly never felt like they grew enough to be worth the hassle.

First, truly appreciate the time you took to respond!

Sump has three large chambers so yes, can definitely use one as refugium. My current reef tank is setup similar to your description w/ oversized socks I replace w/ cleaned ones every week to ten days. Was planning on doing the same with this tank. Flows to skimmer and then into largest chamber filled w/ live rock, sand and even Chaeto at times before hitting final chamber w/ return back into tank. (Have never used turf scrubbers and honestly don't know if they or Chaeto help w/ FOWLER tanks).

Great point to set up and monitor water temp to see if chiller is needed first. Would be a serious burn of $ that may be unnecessary.

Since no coral, any thoughts on cost effective lights to show the fish off w/o needing high end for invertebrates?

Also, always open for suggestions on fish species that will be compatible and accomplish my goals of a lot of bright colors / constant activity / unique fish that are a bit out of the norm etc.

Would be thrilled to hear some of the favorites or ideal fish others reading this post enjoy or would love to enjoy together in a larger tank w/ plenty of room for movement. (Try to help me keep the $ reasonable though b/c I'll be working on a budget setting this system up and need to figure out how much more $ I should plan on pumping into the equipment and then livestock)

Would be a nice contrast to my 90g reef tank that is pretty but not that entertaining to the eyes of guests who come over.

 

[Devaji]

firstly DO IT!
now that I got that out of the way.

I am stocking a 200 peninsula FOWLR I think they are under rated. anyway here are my thoughts.

here is what i am doing and would suggest you consider it to.

large skimmer, the skimmer is such set it and forget filtration. i went with the reef ocotopuss 250 its a beats of a skimmer and started skimmer with in hours of set up.
also the life reef skimmers I hear they are good.

I think ATS are great I got the icecap pro medium in sump. seeded it some hair algae from another tank and with in a week I have a full sheet of hair algae.
also there is an ebay sellers that makes hang on sump models that look really good.

ozone, I will be running ozone in to my skimmer for 15 min. ever night around 1AM that should give me very clean water. I have yet to fire it up as I need a few things or my apex.
but IMHO its worth thinking about.

as others have said set up that tank and see if you need a chiller I bet you will not if your home has AC and you keep it below 77ish.

lighting:
like you said you dont need fancy lights and here it where you can save some $$ on the build. I am using 2X 24" reef breeders photon V2+ as I had them.
there are supper cheap options out there, but you need to decide on come much controller you need/want. do you need dimming, sunrise/sunset. or are you ok with an on/off and that's it.

I bet you can find some older gen. lights from tank tear downs.
I have 2X AI blades on a smaller LPS tank. I light that they can set right on the tank but there not that cheap.

some cheaper options to looking into are:

NOOPSYCHE K7 V3 aquarium led saltwater coral light for USA

Better spectrum out / Excellent Growth / Feed Almost all the of the SPS/LPS coral in one reef tank isn't a dream especially red coral Perfect mixing and Shimmer / Superior Color Mixing / The best mixing spectrum technology / Affordable price LED reef lighting/ about 1.4watt per dollar

noopsychereeflight.com

Quanta bars I have heard good things about these.

LED Light Bars for Coral Reef Aquariums | Quanta Lights

Quanta lights offers premium LED lighting solutions for aquariums. Our LED light bars are designed for coral reef aquariums and can also be used on saltwater and freshwater aquariums. Quanta lights offer value, innovation, and incredible spectrums that are simple to use and built to last.

www.quantareef.com

*there are also led bars on alibaba IDK musc about them but I do remember poople talking about them.

Nicrew:

tons of random lights on amazon.

all boils down to what are your must haves.

fishlist:
I am with you on a active colorful tank. I when with butterflies, angels wrasses and a tang or two. I have always wanted to keep butterflies so now is my chance.

I am not a fan of aggressive fish, but I know some people are. so i would think about what kind of tank you want to have as you know aggressive fish cant be mixed with peaceful ones.
in a tank that size I would do a large angel or two as the show fish then a bunch of smaller 4-5" fish would look great!

I am attempting to mix 4-5 dwarfs angels in my tank. lets see how that goes.
tons of options with that size of tank!

 

[eelman07]

You defintly will need a large skimmer it is essential in a big fowlr tank.

There are some more peaceful trigger fish you could try like the Niger Trigger or Pinktail Trigger.

A zebra Morey eel would be nice im yoir tank and wouldnt bother any fish.

 

[Devaji]

I am a fan if the dragon eels. never had one or any eel for that madder but they look cool for sure. not cheap tho...