Filtration For 90Gal Tank

[Truckie]

I've kept a freshwater tank for a few years but I have decided to make the switch to saltwater.

I am picking up a 90 gallon tank tomorrow, and my intention is to make it a FOWLR setup.

I've been doing research for a few weeks now and have read about a lot of different filtration options (canisters, protein skimmers, bio balls, sponges, etc.). My question is, what is best and most reasonable price wise to get started with a FOWLR set up? I am going to convert my old 40gal tank into a sump if space allows in the stand below.

Thanks for your help!

 

[GrayScale]

I've kept a freshwater tank for a few years but I have decided to make the switch to saltwater.

I am picking up a 90 gallon tank tomorrow, and my intention is to make it a FOWLR setup.

I've been doing research for a few weeks now and have read about a lot of different filtration options (canisters, protein skimmers, bio balls, sponges, etc.). My question is, what is best and most reasonable price wise to get started with a FOWLR set up? I am going to convert my old 40gal tank into a sump if space allows in the stand below.

Thanks for your help!

FOWLR setups are a good way to start, cheaper, but still costs quite a bit. Lighting at this point can be minimal since you wont have any corals. Your main filtration will be the live rock and lots of flow and in a fowlr, you dont need more filtration than that. The sump isnt totally necessary, however, its not a bad idea.

 

[nkd5024]

As a general rule of thumb,

Mechanical Filtration: Protein Skimmers, and filter socks over your return line into your sump.
Biological Filtration: Live Rock, macro algae
Chemical Filtration: Some people use Carbon, or GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) or Phosphate remover.

As Grayscale said, you don't NEED a sump for a FOWLER tank, although I alway recommend one for any saltwater setup as they are very beneficial filtration wise.
If you are planning to have any lionfish, triggerfish, or messy eaters, I would definitely get a protein skimmer with the sump.
I don't think I would even really have a marine tank without a skimmer either, haha

I am wondering if you are planning to do a folwer tank because you read that corals are really hard to care for?
In all honesty, you will more than likely get into corals somewhere down the road, we all get sucked into it, haha.
And most soft corals are no harder to care for than most of the fish.

It's really just the hard corals that require a little more effort on your part, but if you already plan to have a sump with a good skimmer, that really is all the filtration you need to keep even hard corals as long as your water parameters are okay.

Bio-balls aren't a great idea. What bio-balls do is add surface area for the beneficial bacteria to grow, but that is exactly what live rock does as well, so as long as you have an adequate amount of live rock, bio balls really don't help. Plus detritus get stuck in them and they are IMPOSSIBLE to clean, which in most cases causes them to be a "nitrate-factory".

Canister filters should really be left to freshwater tanks. If you have a sump, it can do everything a canister filter does and you can make it the way you want it.
Any type of mechanical filtration must be cleaned weekly, so else the trapped debris will start breaking down.
If you want to use carbon or phosphate remover as you would in a canister filter, you can add them in a bad into the sump (between two baffles) or use a media reactor, which only run $40 and are a lot more effective than using media in a bag.

I really hope this helps out with your questions, if you think of any other questions you can think of, don't hesitate to ask.
Good Luck with your tank!

Nick D.