Turning my 55 into a sw tank. Goin dark side.

[Kanta]

Ok so I talked myself into finally taking the plunge, I sold my colony of trophs so I could do this. I know the basics sorta kinda, I have a buddy kinda giving me pointers here and there but I have a couple questions that he cant seem to answer me straight up with.

1. What kind of tank is easier or better for beginners. fowlr or reef? I would really like to have an anemone in there somewhere.

2. Is there a list of reef safe or tank size chart for fish? I know fw sizes but salt is a whole different ballpark for me.

3. Last but not least, am I able to run my marineland filters in salt, or will I have to go buy something else to run? The filtration is the most confusing part for me.

Thank you ahead of time for even looking into this tread and helpful comments are even more appreciated.

 

[Wiggles92]

Okay, here goes:

1. A FOWLR is way easier for beginners as it has less exacting requirements than a reef while providing more built-in natural biological filtration (live rock) that an FO. You can still have an anemone in there, but you will need to have the appropriate lighting and water parameters, but those can still be achieved with a FOWLR.
2. Yes, there is a compatibility chart out there; here's a link to it. You can check whether a fish is reef-safe or not on LiveAquaria.com or you can just ask us. You're looking at lower stocking levels for saltwater than you would have for freshwater.
3. A sump is preferred over HOB filters which are preferred over canister filters (which are best avoided). You're also going to need a protein skimmer.

Let us know what you have in mind for your stock.

 

[Kanta]

Thanks wiggles, much appreciated. Well let me name off a few fish that I am interested in and lets work from there. I don't want anything too extravagant, but enough for me to really enjoy.

1. Chalk Bass
2. Flame Angel
3. Marine Betta
4. Emerald Crab(s)
5. Cleaner Shrimp(s)
6. Jawfish (any kind really, I think they are neat)
7. Cherub Angel
8. Goby(s) Any kind will do, I wouldn't mind having a few, Love they way they scoot around.
9. Coral beauty
10. Turbo Snail(s)
11. Pistol Shrimp (might be risky)

I know what I have listed will overstock my tank like crazy. It is just the fish I know are small and are supposedly for beginners. So I can thin out my list and work with that.

As for the sump, I am not able to do that. Sadly the stand my tank is on is an old antique dresser like thing, very sturdy and looks very nice, just no room for anything under it.

 

[BigCountry]

What wiggles said.

FOWLR you will not need anything but a protein skimmer and a 2 powerheads (facing each other on opposite sides of the tank). The rock is your bio filtration and the skimmer is your mechanical.

Invest in a good skimmer and FOWLR is not difficult.

From there you can branch your way into reef. Reef needs lots of good light and next to perfect water params so it is more difficult, but it is the most rewarding for sure I bet. Some day i will be going reef

 

[Kanta]

What wiggles said.

FOWLR you will not need anything but a protein skimmer and a 2 powerheads (facing each other on opposite sides of the tank). The rock is your bio filtration and the skimmer is your mechanical.

Invest in a good skimmer and FOWLR is not difficult.

From there you can branch your way into reef. Reef needs lots of good light and next to perfect water params so it is more difficult, but it is the most rewarding for sure I bet. Some day i will be going reef

Would the extra hob filters hurt? I know the live rock filters, but what about solid waste?

 

[Wiggles92]

My input on that stock is in red.

1. Chalk Bass-- Never heard of these before, but it looks like they stay small from what I just read; should work well.
2. Flame Angel-- One angel per aquarium; I'd pick this one over the cherub angel and coral beauty angel if you have the extra money.
3. Marine Betta-- A little bit big for this aquarium.
4. Emerald Crab(s)-- Skip these and get dwarf blue leg hermit crabs.
5. Cleaner Shrimp(s)-- These rarely come in handy, and the pistol shrimp might eat them.
6. Jawfish-- Good choice; you'll need a deep sand bed for them.
7. Cherub Angel
8. Goby(s).-- Great starter fishes; many possibilities including symbiotic relationships with pistol shrimps. Need to be careful with picking species to avoid aggression issues
9. Coral beauty
10. Turbo Snail(s)-- Great for cleaning hair algae on the glass.
11. Pistol Shrimp (might be risky)-- Should be fine unless other shrimps are added.

Now then, from that list I've narrowed it down to this for fishes:

• 1x Chalk Bass
• 1x Flame Angel
• 1x Jawfish
• 4x Gobies (Assorted Species)

You'll notice that this seems to be pretty low stocking, and it is definitely is; you could probably add a few small free-swimming fishes in there to compliment the angel considering that the other fishes tend to be rock hoppers.

Your clean-up crew (invertebrates) will ideally be something like this:

• Yx Pistol Shrimp (with Y being the number of symbiotic gobies)
• 20x Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab
• 10x Astrea Snail
• 20x Nassarius Snail
• 2x Fighting Conch

The fighting conchs are not necessary, but they're pretty cool to watch (look like elephants with shells) and do a number on leftover food & detritus.

Would the extra hob filters hurt? I know the live rock filters, but what about solid waste?

Get the HOB filters and/or a sump. More filtration is always a good idea in this case. A system that's just a skimmer, powerheads, and live rock has to have pretty low stocking in order to be successful; you'll need more than that for what you want just to be safe.

 

[Kanta]

Now that was an amazing reply and I appreciate ot greatly. I love the sound of goby/pistol shrimp symbiote. Saw a youtube vid on it and was pretty neat. 4 more questions being raised.

1. Does specific gravity have to be exact? Or a pretty close round about?
2. Why so many snails and crabs? Wont they breed?
3. Is it still a 1lb per galon rule for live rock?
4. Will I need to change up my light fixture? Its just a standard 4ft light. I figure I will bur better to ask before I jump.

 

[BigCountry]

FOWLR gravity needs to be 1.020-1.025. For Reef, 1.023-1.026. I try to keep mine at 1.023

I have never had snails breed. I have seen a few hermit crab babies (small white shells with tiny crabs in them) in my tank as of late, so I guess they breed lol. Also crabs eat snails.

Yup 1lb per rock per gallon. Try to do the same with the sand, it will help with the bio filtration.

Long as your not doing reef - corals etc you can run any sort of light you want. Corals need proper lighting. Fish don't care.

The HOB will not hurt. It might actually be a good idea until you can get some powerheads since it will produce a decent amount of water flow via the top of the water.

 

[Otherone]

1-Swing arm hydrometers are good for close enuff salinity readings, Refractors are exact specific gravity readings choice is yours. Refractors are more commonly used with small + large polyped stoney corals not really nessassary for FOWLR and soft polyped corals.

2-General rule 1 per gal Hermits + snails but they'll grow or die depending on the amount of food your tank produces, can they breed sure but goes back to food supply. Hermits generally kill hermits, usually will only tolerate their own species. Snails, use a variety as different species clean and eat differing algaes from differing places.

3-1lb LR per 1 gal is a easy suggestion but not a rule, infact with open water predators rock piles can get in their way. The more rock you have the more biological filtration your tank has. If you have a sump you can put rock in there as well.

4-For fish light isn't a real issue, for photosynthetic inverts(corals, clams, anemones) it is. Also if your big on multicolored rocks thru coraline algae better lighting will yeild better results.

 

[Wiggles92]

1-Swing arm hydrometers are good for close enuff salinity readings, Refractors are exact specific gravity readings choice is yours. Refractors are more commonly used with small + large polyped stoney corals not really nessassary for FOWLR and soft polyped corals.

2-General rule 1 per gal Hermits + snails but they'll grow or die depending on the amount of food your tank produces, can they breed sure but goes back to food supply. Hermits generally kill hermits, usually will only tolerate their own species. Snails, use a variety as different species clean and eat differing algaes from differing places.

3-1lb LR per 1 gal is a easy suggestion but not a rule, infact with open water predators rock piles can get in their way. The more rock you have the more biological filtration your tank has. If you have a sump you can put rock in there as well.

4-For fish light isn't a real issue, for photosynthetic inverts(corals, clams, anemones) it is. Also if your big on multicolored rocks thru coraline algae better lighting will yeild better results.

x2.

The only thing I disagree with is the one hermit/snail per gallon rule; I tried that twice before and had over half of them die off after a few weeks which is why I recommended less than that.

Also, the dwarf blue leg hermits are probably the safest bet when it comes to avoiding them killing snails; they generally only will kill ones that are dieing already.