55 Gallon Reef In Progress

[xRage10]

Ok, as soon as I start typing this, my tang just did his business right as soon as I looked over. Fantastic.

On a brighter note, though, I've finally decided to go reef. I've had enough of my FOWLR, especially since the only fish I have are essentially reef compatible. So, let's get started.

SKIP THIS IF YOU ONLY WANT TO SEE THE TANK/SPECS

Just a little "history". This aquarium was originally purchased with the intention of housing a baby oscar until he reached maturity, then I would upgrade to a 75. Boy, that didn't last long. After about 4 months of freshwater, I finally decided I was going to go saltwater. I gave my oscar (along with a few dither fish) to a buddy of mine and emptied out my tank. After about a month of cycling, my water levels read well and I got my first two fish. These were a yellowtail damsel and a three stripe damsel. Another ten pounds of live rock and about half a year later, I am where I am now, and I'm dang proud of it so far.

SKIP TO HERE

Current Plans

• The plan is to have my lighting here within the next month. The only lighting I've had for this aquarium is an old 24" basic lighting strip that came with my dad's old 54 gallon corner aquarium. The fixture I plan on getting will have two 250w metal halide bulbs, four 48" T5 bulbs, six "moonlight" LED's as well as a few cooling fans.
• I do plan on getting more live rock in this time. I'm just a college student so I am on a budget, so after I pay for the lights, more rock is the next step. I plan on getting about 20lbs more of live rock.
• Because of all of this, it will probably be two or three months until I actually get any corals and anemone in my aquarium. So if you just want pics of a reef aquarium, please come back then.

Current Stock

• TWO Damselfish
• ONE Firefish
• ONE Gold Head Sleeper Goby
• ONE Ocellaris Clownfish (LFS had it labled as a Percula, but it looks more like an Ocellaris to me)
• ONE One Spot Foxface
• ONE Sailfin Tang
• FIVE Algae Hermits (Carried over from old 10 gallon, plan to get more)
• SIX Mexican Turbo Snails (Also carried over, plan to get more)

The Sailfin Tang is the only fish that is likely not to be kept long term, simply as he'll likely get to big. Only time will tell, though.

Future Stock Additions

• ONE Flame Dwarf Angelfish (Getting tomorrow as long as he's eating at the LFS)
• ONE Reef-Safe Angler (Painted Angler preferred, hoping to get when I reel in a little more cash)
• FIVE Great White Sharks (Okay, maybe not)

Future Corals

• I honestly, to this date, do not know exactly what corals I want. The only corals I'm sure I want is a little colony of polyps. I also want an anemone for the clown, but we'll see about that. The beautiful thing about me not being able to put corals in for a couple of months is that I get time to decide

What's Going On Now?

• Just in the finishing stages of getting rid of the red cyanobacteria that haunted my aquarium for about two weeks. Finally had the time to get out to the LFS and get some chemiclean. Doing a 20% water change tomorrow night, then a top off. Aquarium is already looking better after just one day of the stuff!

The Pics

• I'll post a pic tomorrow night after the water change. Lights just clicked off (on a timer) about an hour ago so I'm not gonna get all off schedule with the lights. Bye bye until then!

 

[Jrob]

excited to see it...my tank is going through the diatom brown algae phase right now...hopefully doesnt stress out my fish..
sounds like a good plan though, and i'm a college student too...good luck with your budget lol

 

[xRage10]

Thanks Jrob, words of encouragement are always appreciated

On a side note, to anyone who's looking just for the pics, I do apologize. I've been busy and haven't had much time to grab a camera, take pics, and upload them. I'll get them up as soon as possible though, I promise!

Just a quick little update: the Foxface and Sailfin Tang have taken a real shine to each other in the past couple of days. They're always swimming around together and seem to get along together more than any other fish in the aquarium currently. Great sight to be seen, though neither of the fish love the camera. The few times I've tried to nab a good picture, they dart away behind the live rock. The clownfish has a great personality, though. He's always out, always swimming, and has become a personal favorite of both my sisters and my girlfriends. It sure is an amazing fish, really hope I can get it to call an anemone home in the next couple of months.

Aside from that, it's like I said. Sorry there haven't been any pics yet, I'll try to get some up within the next day or two. Stay tuned people!

 

[Otherone]

I'd be cautious of polyps and dwarf angels - they look at polyps like m&m candies, esp. the smaller ones like star polyps and ones with bright orange/yellow interiors.

 

[FLESHY]

He's always out, always swimming, and has become a personal favorite of both my sisters and my girlfriends.

Girlfriend(s). Well done.

 

[xRage10]

I'd be cautious of polyps and dwarf angels - they look at polyps like m&m candies, esp. the smaller ones like star polyps and ones with bright orange/yellow interiors.

Thanks for the note. I actually haven't gotten it yet, still not eating at the LFS. I'm glad to hear that, though. I go to three different LFS's and all three of them manage to tell me different things. Each one has it's flaws, that's why I try to do as much research as possible. Always helps to get some advice from some other forum members though

Girlfriend(s). Well done.

Amazing how much putting in an apostrophe can change the dynamic of a sentence. Actually meant to put sister's and girlfriend's. Nice catch though

UPDATE

Got a new 10 lb piece of live rock. I've still got another 20+ lbs or so to go (currently have 30 lbs in there), but it's starting to come together. I'll try to get a pic up tonight. I'm not liking the current lighting conditions in my room. It's just that time of day where it's starting to get dark, so these pics just don't look right with the lights in my room on or off. Soon, though, I promise that, if anything else, I'll get a full tank shot up and I'll try to get some close ups of the fish.

 

[TMartinez]

With any angelfish you run the risk of it eating a coral or two. Sometimes as long as its fed properly you'll have no worries. Some won't leave them alone. Kind of a "luck of the draw" kinda thing... I plan on adding a Potter's angel to my new setup and I'm prepared to take a loss to see what happens

 

[FLESHY]

I have a non-dwarf angel in my 125g. He is pretty good...well fed, but has really only picked at a couple things.

All depends on the fish...you will just have to wait and see.

 

[xRage10]

Still, makes me nervous. I'll just think it over, never in a rush to add anything new to the aquarium lol

By the way, pics as soon as they get to my email address. Just phone pics though that I took last night. Regardless, pics

 

[xRage10]

TIME FOR PICS!!

Finally, all of the pics have come through to my email. Here they are, but first, note a few things.

1. I still hate my rock formation. While I still think it looks better in person than it does in the pics, it still seems to be a mess. It will be changing over the next couple of weeks. I'll also be purchasing at least another 10lbs of live rock, probably another 20lbs, before I go off and decide on some corals.
2. My foxface, gold head sleeper goby, and firefish are all really shy when I get even remotely close to the aquarium. Pics of them are limited, and still aren't too great. There's one of the sleeper goby (just the head, though, and it's blurry), two of the foxface, and I think four with the firefish. Regardless, enjoy.
3. Ignore the unbalanced lighting. They are two completely different lights, one only rated for a 10 gallon but at least gives the other half of my tank some light. See my future lighting towards the end of the post.

Without further ado, here are the pics!

Full Tank Shot


Others

Random Snail Pic lol

Enough Pics, Time for Future Lighting


Ok, well I've done some research, and as a college student I'm pretty limited on cash for this. Regardless, I've found a light that I think is both plenty good to grow corals/anemone and affordable enough for me to get. Some specs are:

• 2 250watt HQI bulbs (One on left half of tank, one on right) 15000k +2 ballasts
• 4 54w T5's High Output Actinic Blue
• 6 Dual Bluemoon LED's
• http://www.aquatraders.com/48-716W-Metal-Halide-T5-LED-Combo-p/54267.htm

I believe this will allow me to grow most aquarium corals and allow me to keep an anemone without much of a problem (light wise). I'm ordering the light this coming weekend and hope to have it within a couple of weeks. There haven't been any real complaints about the quality of the light fixture itself, but no one has said anything about the lights durability and lifespan. Guess I'll see when it happens.

Quick question, though. With this light, What kind of anemone can I get that will host an ocellaris. I've checked the sticky on some anemones that will readily host clowns, but none really said anything about hosting an ocellaris. Any thoughts on possible anemone guys?