TRYING to make my 54gallon corner tank into a reed tank...

[noelskii]

i need help..
i have a 54 gallon corner aquarium..im running a wet/dry, skimmer and a canister filter on it...about 60+live rock 40lbs live sand...and i want to try to make it into a reef tank....what should i do?? what else do i need to get??

 

[flanque]

That's a difficult one to narrow down to a precision without knowing what you want to keep. Let us know and we could go into greater detail, however here are some typical things:

1. Good quality protein skimmer
2. MH/CPF/T5 lighting of sufficient capacity for your inhabitants
3. Auto-top off unit
4. Chiller (if needed)
5. Refrigum

 

[melosu58]

Do you have a sump with the wet dry in it? You might want to think about replacing the media with LR rubble. Wet dry`s are notorious for being nitrate factories which are harmful to a reef tank. I believe doing that and your LR and a skimmer will be enough. I went yrs with just a skimmer and LR only. Since I went to my 125 I`ve add a refugium that flanque reccommended. Also what type lighting do you have? Wattage?

 

[severum mama]

Those tanks seem really difficult to light due to the shape. I couldn't see what kind of lighting you have, but if you need to upgrade it a halide pendant fixture would probably work well. I've seen these made by Coralife and Current USA. The Current one is a little cheaper and comes with moonlights, but both lights are 1x150W halides.

 

[noelskii]

the wet/dry is in the sump...im gonna put my skimmer inside it also....and my magnum 350 only has a "water polisher" in it lol...im kinda on a budget...so i dont think ill be able to get mh im jes tryna get an affordable T5; any suggestions? and should i take out some of my lr ? does it look too much for the tank? im trying to start off with these things...

i want them to spread all over my rocks...lol

 

[fishrfreinds]

You could go with more lr if you wanted to. (i use to have 100lbs in my 55).

Well maybe PC would be a better route? Or a hanging MH pendant?

 

[melosu58]

No dont take any of your LR out. It looks good plus the beneficial results of the nitrifying bacteria will help the biological filtration of your tank.

 

[noelskii]

i have a niger and huma huma trigger in the tank right now...and 3damsels...wut shud i do wit those? and you think T5 HO lighting is good enough?

 

[lando]

Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!!
Good call on moving everything to the sump. I agree that keeping the all of the LR is a very good idea. As mentioned, lighting this tank is going to be a bit more difficult, but with T5's you should be able to keep a good variety of corals, provided you have enough. the two triggers will pose a problem. Neither are considered reef safe. The niger has a better chance then the huma, but both should not be trusted with mobile inverts. You will be drastically limiting what you can put in your reef if you keep them. The damsels are reef safe but very agressive. Might not be a bad idea to trade them in as well.

 

[noelskii]

--photos taken by the crappy camera of the sk3...

is there any particular piece that i should start with? like feather dusters or polyps?

 

[roka64]

I would replace those bioballs with LR rubble to prevent nitrAtes, later....

 

[noelskii]

should i go power compact or t5 for my reeef?
orr this light

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-Light-...1QQihZ014QQcategoryZ46314QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Guest]

I would scratch the canister and keep it as ER for carbon running.

In order of what I would suggest MH>VHO>T5>PC

btw, Jebo are about the cheapest made lights next to Odyssea. Go to Hellolights.com and go with a 250's pendent 14k bulb will be a nice blue with no acintics needed.

What do you got for flow?


btw, hate to be the bearer of bad news but is that a Sea Clone Skimmer? If so, they are very unreliable and a poor performer as well. If hang on is a must I would say the CSS 125 skimmer, or a Remora.