FO vs FOWLR

[jinoue]

I'm building my first salt water tank and I'd like to get some feedback on the preferences people have.

I have heard from some people that FOWLR is closer to Reef in the amount of care it requires. That I will have to use filtered water only, and have special lighting.

Some people say that it's not that way at all.

Being born and raised in hawaii, we had salt water fish all the time, but **** we just had a pump and a giant aquarium with water from down the block (the ocean).

 

[senji]

i don't recommend tap water for any saltwater aquarium. ro/di filtration is the only way to go. and live rock is a major part of your bacterial filtration. i simply wouldn't run a tank without it.

 

[Chichas01]

dude, I can't believe you didn't just call me on this one
get the ro/di filter. it's just all around better for livestock and will help in keeping algae issues from arising. no need for special lighting if it's FOWLR. the rock will add to your bio-filter (like senji said) and provide a more 'natural' environment for the fish so I say add some rock.

 

[trido]

get the ro/di filter. it's just all around better for livestock and will help in keeping algae issues from arising. no need for special lighting if it's FOWLR. the rock will add to your bio-filter (like senji said) and provide a more 'natural' environment for the fish so I say add some rock.

This sums it all up in one easy swoop.

 

[kpiotrowski]

ok, so what if you want natural algea for tangs and such to graze on. I personally would LOVE it if I had a balanced, controlled amount of algea on my rock for my tangs to graze. so, if I was doing a fowlr I wouldn't care soo much about rodi, but I would definately use live rock for filtration and the notion that takes something special to care for in nonsense. you don't even need light for live rock!