mr_z's 29 gallon FOWLR

mr_z

New member
so this is my 29g FOWLR tank. paid $40 for stand, tank, marineland hob filter, marineland heater and t8 light fixture which will be getting replaced in the future. all on craigslist from the same person. its my first tank im new to the hobby. born on january 1st 2011.



 

mr_z

New member
sorry for the different quality pics i took some with my dslr and others with my iphone
 

Smitty

Premium member
Looking good bro...
Fyi, you may want to get rid of that hob filter in the future, they seem to cause nitrate problems.
 

mr_z

New member
yeah i know i do want to but money is so tight right now and i have twins on the way so its kinda hard i plan on a home made sump with a 10gl tank add an overflow box and about 15 pounds of sand and anything i can add some kind of algae. im still learning so ill see what i have to add to it eventually. and thats why im here to ask questions also. :)
 

Smitty

Premium member
No worries about rushing to do things all at once, this hobby takes patience. The only things that happen fast are disasters.
Also, congrats on the future twins :)
 

mr_z

New member
yeah i have a cousin that wasnt patient and started a 55 gallon tank the same day i did and every sunday he added a fish he had first a white n black butterfly then he had a yellow tang and a lionfish three days after he added the lion they started dying he wouldnt listen about adding a cuc or the way he fed them. so i know patience is key here. thanks tho.
 

mr_z

New member
yeah i doubt it. he put in like 4 turbo snails hoping it would help clean it up they all died when i checked his salt it was at 1.018
 

tenvibes

New member
haha i noticed the difference in quality of pictures. looks like you're off to a good start. keep us posted!

congrats on the twins. when are you expecting them?
 

mr_z

New member
lol yeah one with a nikkon d40 and the others with a iphone. my wife is due sometime last week of april first week of may. since its twins theyll come earlier. i hope they dont tip the tank over lol.
 

scotty

Member
yeah great start. getting something to live longer than a week you know your doing something right!

couple things that i learned quick that will help you out immensely
- try and get up to a pound of rock per gallon. FOWLR or Reef, you will notice far less swings in parameters like ammonia and nitrates, and will help if you miss water changes or a couple. by no means is that a rush as evidence of your tank doing just fine, but you will eventually not have to even run carbon!! as a matter of fact, to avoid a crash i would add the rock slow as they tend to decay some and produce ammonia.
- the light will grow nothing, so don't skimp out on the light, first mistake i made was getting a simple 2 bulb unit, now I'm spending more money.
-the HOB will be just fine, when you get the live rock going, you can take out the bio wheel (what is assumed to crash tanks), and run chemi-pure or phosban, i run both. the added flow in the tank doesn't hurt anything, and if you get LED's or HQI lighting, it will break the surface enough to make the amazing shimmer. also a great place to dose, throw your fresh water in, chemicals of any sort, without throwing it directly in the tank.

Great start!
 

EyeReef

Active member
yeah great start. getting something to live longer than a week you know your doing something right!

couple things that i learned quick that will help you out immensely
- try and get up to a pound of rock per gallon. FOWLR or Reef, you will notice far less swings in parameters like ammonia and nitrates, and will help if you miss water changes or a couple. by no means is that a rush as evidence of your tank doing just fine, but you will eventually not have to even run carbon!! as a matter of fact, to avoid a crash i would add the rock slow as they tend to decay some and produce ammonia.
- the light will grow nothing, so don't skimp out on the light, first mistake i made was getting a simple 2 bulb unit, now I'm spending more money.
-the HOB will be just fine, when you get the live rock going, you can take out the bio wheel (what is assumed to crash tanks), and run chemi-pure or phosban, i run both. the added flow in the tank doesn't hurt anything, and if you get LED's or HQI lighting, it will break the surface enough to make the amazing shimmer. also a great place to dose, throw your fresh water in, chemicals of any sort, without throwing it directly in the tank.

Great start!
Great start I agree. Scotty has some great advice. For aesthetics, I would also put a black background on there to help hide some of the equipment from view
 

Lmecher

New member
Congratulations on the expected twins :):)
You have my favorite fish. It broke my heart to give away my yellow watchman. Looks good.
 

mr_z

New member
thanks for the advice. but excuse me for my newbness but what is chemi pure and phosban. and about the lights i do want to upgrade but right now i cant but eventually unless i find an amazing deal on some t5 lights.
 

Catran

New member
Very nice, I love the yellow watchman, they are so cute! Congrats on the twins too!
I use chemi-pure also. I use both carbon and chemi-pure which is somewhat redundant but I like lots of good quality (liginite) carbon. I check CL often and I am on a couple other forums, I'll keep an eye out and let you know if I see any decent deals on lights! That's a 30" right?
 
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