Complete salt newb. 55G suggestions.....

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B

BloodThirsty

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 31, 2006
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Indiana
Hello everyone. I just came by a extremely nice 55G and my plans for it to be a grow out tank for my freshwater tank has been dashed by my wife. She says she wants a salt tank made out of it. So my question to all of you is what do I need and what kind of stocking options do I have?


Here is what I have for the setup:

55G tank with hood, Fluval 304 canister filter, basic strip lighting and heaters. Your basic 55G setup.

I am open to suggestion for both large(er) and smaller fish. One thing is that she said she wanted more then a single fish in the tank. So if this was yours what would you do? Thanks in advance.
 
Well if I were you if you like clownfish put a pair of clowns in there,and you might want to upgrade the lighting,you could have mushrooms for coral,and you need lots of live rock and live sand.
 
Man if I were you I'd go with smaller fish. You could get a lot more use out of a fairly small tank that way. You don't have to buy all that much live rock or sand you can make your own if you want ;). Ask her what her fave colour is and then let us know and we'll give you some ideas gotta keep her happy and it's cool that she's interested.
cheers
Max
 
Buy some regular base rock or tufa rock. Place it in the tank w/some quality live rock w/ lots of coraline and you will have it spread to the newer, bland, base rock. If you are not going to upgrade the lighting, try to get live rock that has been already growing in a tank w/ low lights. That way you have a better chance for the base rock to get seeded buy the more expensive Fiji,Tonga, etc. Look into buying some chemicals for the tank as well. Some products are made just for producing coraline growth. I just used kalkwasser and a few micro.'s and had good success.
 
Well to be honest the coraline needs less light than any green plants and grow much deeper in the ocean than any green plant. What you're really after is the bacteria anyway it will seed the base rock that you put into the tank and allow bio-filtration etc. I would add my premium rock after you have finished your cycle so that you can introduce more critters to your tank to assist your clean up crew and to recycle nutrients for your fish. If you keep your params good as muskee said you're tank will really bloom the coralines and pods "little shrimp" will go every where and those are sure signs of a healthy tank.
Oh and I know you didn't ask this put I would also start a qt. tank going as you are setting up your main. It will save you lots of money effort and heart ache.
hth
Max
 
if it were my tank i would do a low light coral tank. get a basic t-5 light setup. doesnt have to be HO or VHO but can be. after that i would focus on a nice skimmer. no one mentioned one of these. lose the canister and us a sump if possible. if not make darn sure you clean the canister often. exspecially if your doing a coral tank. shoot for about 80lbs of LS and about 60-80 lbs of LR. if you want to seed base argonite and rock, then you need to be more patient with stocking. i would shoot for smaller reef safe organisms. they tend to have a lot of color as most SW fish do, and they like to swim within the rock and corals. if you do not intend to do corals then i wouldnt worry about the light. your coralline will grow regardless. i would also stay away from any coralline enhancer products as they have shown to cause shifts or "swings" in your Alk and pH. take your time with setup and dont expect to be able to start stocking with fish right away. you want to get your tank cycled and wait for the brown diatom algae to come. at this stage add a clean-up crew. after a week or so look at your first fish I.E. the hardiest, and most peaceful in the tank so they dont form a territory. when you get them, have a small 10G tank for a QT and hospital tank set up. every fish you buy should be put it there and monitor for 3-5 weeks. if sick, treat accordingly. when you feed, use garlic guard or other vitamin suppliment. i would also advise you to read some well published books, and keep active in this forum. the ppl on here are great and will always be around to lend you a hand.
 
I have a freind who has an established tank. He has a good bit of live rock. Can I put some rock in his tank to seed and then transfer it to my tank?
 
that would work, you just dont want to add to much. you may throw off his tank paramaters and effect his fish and coral if he has any.
 
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