Is there any way to add color to a FOWLR??

[fishykid9212]

I have a 92G corner FOWLR tank. The fish in it are nice but I'm getting sick of looking at brown rocks. I have a few artificial corals in there but it's just not cutting it. I want to keep this a ow maintenance tank so I would rather not add supplements for things but If I had to I would. All the fish are reef safe except a puffer and a lion fish so shrimp are out. Any ideas? I guess I could purchase so more artificial corals as long as they look decent. I would like to know what you all do to get color in the tank. Thanks for any input

[flfirefighter13]

Im building a aggresive tank and plan to use pulseing zenia and green star polyps. Both are rather hardy and add some color and movement. I have seen people with some mushrooms as well that looked cool, although you are bordering the FOWLR clasification with any of the above

[Sk8r]

Mushrooms, button polyps, xenia, green star polyps, yellow star polyps---just get two more tests, for alk and calcium, and keep the alk at 8.3 and the cal at 400 and you'll have no trouble. I did all of the above and had an anemone, too, a monster I wouldn't wish off on anyone. I really wouldn't advise an anemone until your tank is really old, and by then you may be too cagy to do it.

[fishykid9212]

Oh ok, thanks I though that my puffer would eat any corals put in there. I have plenty of GSP, so I think I wil ltry that first.

[Sk8r]

WIth a lot of fish, best to try a tiny snip of something---if they show no interest in it, great: get more. Xenia may be particularly good: it smells like something left in your fridge too long. Certain kinds of anemones that are pretty worthless for clowns may defend themselves well enough to add some color. Encrusting leathers might be unappetizing. I never had to cope with a puffer, but they can't be an all-devouring little monster: there've got to be some species they won't eat or we'd be hip-deep in puffers.

[XtrmCHoPZ]

1st get rid of the artificial corals!!!! Second......why are your rocks brown? Get a good cleanup crew ( cowries, larhe hermits, lg turbos). Third-start supplementing your tank with elements to help increase coralin growth. You dont really need corals, especially not fake ones. Have you ever seen HDTVguys tank?? He posts on here frequently, and I have to say his is one of the best as far as coraline growth! If you have pinks and purple coralines on your rock you really dont need corals in a FOWLR. His rocks are BEAUTIFUL! and it REALLy adds to the overall effect of the tank. Natural color is the way to go. Once your rocks start 2 get covered in coraline the tank will look way better and the fish will stand out beautifully!

[EdKruzel]

I agree that coralline covering the rocks will vastly improve the the appearance, however if you have even moderate lighting you could add a few types of macro algae.

[Ironsheikh]

green star polyps and some macro algae in my tank


for some reason the zoas never thrived and something would eat them when they were put on the rock

[jamison74]

i have six colonys of zoos with my puffer, 3 months and she has never paid any attention to them, they are doing great
j

[EdKruzel]

When you add any corals to a FOWLR it rather defeats the Fish Only portion.
I guess you guys have a SRT; Simple Reef Tank...

[fishykid9212]

Thanks for all the advice, for some reason I could never get coralline to grow. My CA ans ALK were always perfect bu I think it was those phosphates. I could never get those down, I do use tap water which is a major part of the problem. All my other parameters are perfect, is there any cheap way of getting the phoosphates down effectively, the coraline sounds like a great idea.

[EdKruzel]

If you have a good skimmer then slow drip Kalkwasser in the tank, I do 1 drop every 5 seconds which is the rate of my evaporation; you'll have to play around a bit to figure your own levels.
It will remove phosphate from the system and with the continuous calcium, your tank will be completely purple in no time.
Of course you have to have some coralline in the tank for it to spread initially.

[luv951]

I would also like to add some color, and have thus far been in the dark about what corals, shrooms, etc. might survive with my porc. I have heard lots of talk about corals that will be left alone, but no specifics up till now.

What type of light do pulsing xenias, green star polyps, yellow polyps, shrooms and zoos like. I currently have 4 x 65 pc over my 65. Is that enough?

Also, is there any specific type of shroom or zoo that I should be getting? Any to avoid?

Lastly, what types of Macro? I have chaeto in my fuge, but it is not very nice to look at. I would like to avoid Calerpa, as I don't want it to go asexual on me.

Thanks in advance

[fishykid9212]

Originally posted by EdKruzel
If you have a good skimmer then slow drip Kalkwasser in the tank, I do 1 drop every 5 seconds which is the rate of my evaporation; you'll have to play around a bit to figure your own levels.
It will remove phosphate from the system and with the continuous calcium, your tank will be completely purple in no time.
Of course you have to have some coralline in the tank for it to spread initially.

Will dripping kalkwassar really remove my phosphates? How long do you think it will take to bring them down to zero? Thanks

[fishykid9212]

Originally posted by EdKruzel
If you have a good skimmer then slow drip Kalkwasser in the tank, I do 1 drop every 5 seconds which is the rate of my evaporation; you'll have to play around a bit to figure your own levels.
It will remove phosphate from the system and with the continuous calcium, your tank will be completely purple in no time.
Of course you have to have some coralline in the tank for it to spread initially.

Do you think if I use a phosphate remover to bring them down to zero, then constantly drip kalkwassar, will they remain at zero? Thanks

[Monkeyfish]

Adding macro algae to the tank will add color and help reduce both nitrate and phosphate. There are also chemical phosphate removers that could be added to your filtration path.

Corals like xenia and mushrooms will do fine with regular fluorescent lighting. However, you may want to upgrade the lighting anyway - IMO fish look better under t-5 or power compacts.

[Don424]

Originally posted by fishykid9212
Do you think if I use a phosphate remover to bring them down to zero, then constantly drip kalkwassar, will they remain at zero? Thanks

I've been using Purigen and PhosGuard in my filter with no Kalk drip and my phosphates are 0.

IMO dripping Kalkwasser is a science in itself and can be dangerous to the inhabitants if not done correctly. Many do it though with a lot of success.

I've learned that, in a smaller(125g or less) closed system, other than what's needed for the inhabitants to survive and thrive, the less you put in the tank, the better off you and your inhabitants are.

[Don424]

Originally posted by fishykid9212
Thanks for all the advice, for some reason I could never get coralline to grow. My CA ans ALK were always perfect bu I think it was those phosphates. I could never get those down, I do use tap water which is a major part of the problem. All my other parameters are perfect, is there any cheap way of getting the phoosphates down effectively, the coraline sounds like a great idea.

One last thing FishyKid9212........DON'T USE TAP WATER.....unless you test it for phosphates and it's 0. My tap tested very low for phosphates but I kept getting alot of algae........until I invested in a TDS meter and saw the TDS in the tap at 171...............

A friend of mine and I invested(split the cost) $100 for and RO/DI system off Ebay...........the TDS is now 0............and guess what....no more algae!!.................oh...& rinse your flake ir frozen foods to in distilled water. Many, if not all the foods have phosphorus in them.......hence phosphate.

[kimha]

I too was also tired of looking at the ugly brown live rocks in my FOWLR. I wanted to add color to my rock but at the same time keeping the low and simple maintenance requirement of FOWLR.

1. Improved the look of LR with coraline algae by switching from instant ocean salt to Reef Crystal salt. It costs $5 more per 5g container. But it contains lots of necessary elements that I need in the tank.
2. But LR with coraline algae still does not look complete.....so I start adding some easy to maintain corals...mushroom, RTBA, and frogspawn.

Now my tank looks a bit more natural and still quite easy and simple to maintain. You may want to cross the FOWLR boundary a little bit to satisfy....Very Simple Reef Tank. . I also found that MH lighting will make your fish look much more beautiful than pc lighting with similar wattage. I used to use four 96W pc lights. Now I switched to two (14k) 175W MH and the color of my fish look much better.

[fishykid9212]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I did test my tap water for phosphates and it had a little ammount in there, maybe it does have TDS and thats probably my problem. I think think I'm going to start checking ebay for and RO DI Unit, are they very hard to maintain and also how long do the filters last? thanks

[Don424]

Originally posted by fishykid9212
Thanks for all the advice everyone, I did test my tap water for phosphates and it had a little ammount in there, maybe it does have TDS and thats probably my problem. I think think I'm going to start checking ebay for and RO DI Unit, are they very hard to maintain and also how long do the filters last? thanks

Heres the ebay link to AQUA SAFE for the unit. The filters last a long time. I got a filter pack also that has 6(i think) of each filter. It produces great water.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUA-SAFE-AQUARI...QQcmdZViewItem

[Monkeyfish]

Aquasafe RODI's are an excellent value. It's recommended that you change prefiters every 6 months and the RO membranes typically last around 2-3 years depending on usage and your tap water's quality (TDS).