29 to 55 upgrade and journal

[Shex613]

So it has been a year since I setup my 29g FOWLR tank. I have been into fish fresh and saltwater for 4 years now. Freshwater wasn't challenging enough so I moved into saltwater world. Oh my. Like everyone, I had hard lessons to learn. I also breed mystery snails, Apple, ivory, blue, purple and reds and the occasional "mutt", brown. I was completely happy with my 29g tank until it leaked so I had sell my freshwater gang-2 breeding angels, 2 breeding Chinese algae eaters, 1 very fat Blue gourami and a 12" spotted pleco. Thank goodness I sold them all together as they were all together since they were babies and for 3+ years.

On to the upgrade.....
I saved as much water from the 29g- about 10g
Had 20# crushed coral
Had 32# live rock with lots of lovely growth

Added 20# African cichlid mix. Rinsed

75 Aqueon HOB filter
Koralia 240 wave maker
200 heater

Livestock in 55 gallon
2 damsels
2 red legged crabs
6 (?) baby brittle stars
Nazarus snail

Safe and sound in 20g tank and waiting to be moved.
2 Oc clowns mated pair
Eyelash blennie
Peppermint shrimp
Chocolate chip star
Bunch on zebra crabs
Bunch of red legged crabs

Only lost the firefish, little bugger committed suicide and jumped out through a hole the size of a dime. Ugh.

I'm looking for new lighting, filtration and protein skimmer. I want some corals, going to do basic/easy ones hopefully. I know I going to go with t5 LED lights. But need so suggestions on filter and skimmer.


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[NicoC16]

As for your lighting needs, I would recommend you go ahead and get a light fixture that will suit your desired needs plus some more. For example, I have been having my 30 gallon reef tank for two years now and now I am faced with the dilemma of my lights not being powerful enough to sustain my corals. I wish someone would have told me to get a light fixture that will be good enough for the future, because its just going to end up costing you more if you don't start off with the one your going to end up with. Now a days, so much research has been done on LED's that they are the BEST lights for growing/viewing coral without all of the heat and electricity cost of metal halide or T5 (somewhat). I would recommend you to check out the LED's from companies like Kessil and Ecotech Marine as these seem to be the best overall for spectrum and controllability for the price in my opinion. I personally, am about to upgrade my Orbit Marine LED light strip to an Ecotech Marine XR15 w pro because it is fully controllable and upgradable when you need to do so. I do realize that you say you would like to go with some easy corals, but if you succeed at maintaining those corals, you will probably want to pursue more challenging corals later on. As for filtration, definitely start off with a GFO reactor, because I did not and after a year I got a horrible hair algae infestation that has taken me about a year to finally eradicate. If you need any more advice, just ask.

 

[Sniperhank]

To be able to sustain any type of coral one would want, to do so with Radions would be pricey. I love my Radions over my 55, but you need two units to cover the tank. One should look into the chinese knockoff panels like the taotronics for a huge fraction of the price.

 

[Pseudomugil]

If you're looking into getting coral you might want to re home the chocolate chip star. They will eat eat coral and inverts when they get larger.

 

[jason9142002]

That's nice!

 

[Shex613]

I plan on keeping the chocolate chip star in my nano tank


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[Shex613]

So I have moved all livestock, the rest of the rock, and switched out the filters. Everything is looking good, water levels are all good, everything is eating well. My question is my Chocolate chip star was zooming around the tank for the first 48 hours and now he has been in the same spot for at least 20 hours. He normally is very active during the day. When should I start to worry?


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[Sniperhank]

You worry if you see signs of him falling apart or melting. I'm sure it is adjusting to the new surroundings and new parameters.