# FOWLR



## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

So my catfish has been moved to my spare 125 til I find him a new home which leaves me with an empty 45G.

I already have a 2x65W PC lighting setup, an Aqua C Remora skimmer, and an AC70 HOB filter.

My question is, do I need RO water to do a Fish Only With Live Rock setup, or can I simply use my tap water with saltwater mix??


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

i would use atleast an RO unit or RODI ideally. although you dont have to worry about water quality to maintain corals you also wont have quite as a diverse clean up crew to manage algea and most FOWLR type fish tend to require alot of feeding and produce alot of waste so it would be to your advantage to introduce less phosphates to begin with. im not quote sure the aquaC would be enough skimmer a heavy bioload, i would stock lightly with that skimmer on a 125


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

nismo driver said:


> i would use atleast an RO unit or RODI ideally. although you dont have to worry about water quality to maintain corals you also wont have quite as a diverse clean up crew to manage algea and most FOWLR type fish tend to require alot of feeding and produce alot of waste so it would be to your advantage to introduce less phosphates to begin with.* im not quote sure the aquaC would be enough skimmer a heavy bioload, i would stock lightly with that skimmer on a 125*


The tank is a 45G

Unfortunately an RO is not in my budget right now.

Should I try doing a fish only and use artificial decor??

I can get an RO down the road, just not right now. Can I begin adding liverock later after I put together a proper RO?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

[email protected]° said:


> i would use atleast an RO unit or RODI ideally. although you dont have to worry about water quality to maintain corals you also wont have quite as a diverse clean up crew to manage algea and most FOWLR type fish tend to require alot of feeding and produce alot of waste so it would be to your advantage to introduce less phosphates to begin with.* im not quote sure the aquaC would be enough skimmer a heavy bioload, i would stock lightly with that skimmer on a 125*


The tank is a 45G

Unfortunately an RO is not in my budget right now.

Should I try doing a fish only and use artificial decor??

I can get an RO down the road, just not right now. Can I begin adding liverock later after I put together a proper RO?
[/quote]

its would be best to decide right away if your going to go with live rock, adding it later on can be a problem if its not fully cured it will cause your tank to cycle and might spark algea blooms.


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer (Aug 22, 2006)

Just get an RO unit i got mine for 100 bucks and it makes 50 gallons per day, and 100 bucks in practically nothing in this hobby. I remeber one time there was a mistake on the petsmart website and a couple of people got RO units for like less than 10 bucks.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

You dont need an RO unit.. I never used one with my 90g.


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

I don't use a ro on my fowlr, just keep lighting minimalist and use a good de-chlorinator like prime.


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## Alexraptor (Jan 30, 2003)

RO or good quality distilled is a must.
Just using dechlorinated tap water is a disaster waiting to happen. And i know from painful first hand experience.
I used some pretty high quality tap water, but it was still tap water.
You see tap water contains a lot of stuff thats not really good for your tank, and what happens is that over the course of years trace elements of metals and other potential chemicals and contaminats in the water starts to saturate the live rock and the gravel.
And suddenly... things start to die for no appearant reason, disease starts to spread as the immune system of the inhabitants is weakened by the stress, because now the rock and sand/gravel is starting to release all that nasty stuff its been collecting and storing over the years.

Do yourself a big favour and get either an RO unit or a distiller, or buy RO/distilled water if you have to.... but do not ever ever use tap water. It is like one of the few points that virtually all seasoned marine aquarists agree upon.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

rbp 4 135 said:


> I don't use a ro on my fowlr, just keep lighting minimalist and use a good de-chlorinator like prime.


de-chlorinator does not remove phosphates


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