working on a new 55 gallon tank - advice needed

[lziarek]

Hello everyone, im new to the site, but not new to the hobby, well atleast when concerned with freshwater.

I am under a fairly constrained budget, so keep that in mind when making suggestions

So far here is the tank setup:
standard 55 gallon glass with black trim, matching hood (came with the tank), and
a black wood stand, tetratec fp300 filter (this is the first time i have tried something other than a penguin and so far I am very pleased with it, it has an interesting feature that fills and empties an atrium like chamber resulting in a gurgling noise as well as mini waves), a seaclone skimmer with maxijet 1200 powering it (alas it was what I could afford, but since I am not interested in a full reef the LFS said it would be enough for doing fish with some corals). I have 40lbs of crushed coral and 13 lbs of live rock so far, the goal is to slowly buy up about 70lbs of live rock over the next month and a half (budget constraints). Basically I add a piece of live rock to the aquarium each week slowly building up the internal geometry of my tank. I need suggestions on what else to buy, I am thinking about investing in better lighting and an extra pump to place in the lower corner of the tank to get movement of water in the nether regions =). Should I add more crushed coral, or add some live sand? Fish are currently not a concern since I want to build up all the rock/sand/equipment first, then make sure the tank is completely cycled.

 

[saberry]

I'm making the transition from fw as well. What type of lighting do you have right now? If it is standard fluorescent, I don't think you can do much in the way or corals without upgrading first - I think I will be going PC in the near future. So far, the best prices I have found on lighting are at petsolutions.com.

Otherwise, I would definitely get a couple maxi-jets to create some current.

Also, to save some money, you might want to consider getting some base rock and then just add in a smaller amount of live rock. Over time, the coralline algae should spread to all your rock. I think folks here are recommending about an 80/20 base rock to live rock ratio. You should be able to pick up base rock for less than $2.00 per pound.

I'm still very new to sw myself so hopefully some of the veterans will chime in here too in case I have overlooked something crucial.

 

[malkore]

I'm another FW planted person setting up a SW tank!

For live rock, you might consider www.liverocks.com
they have some pretty sweet keys rock that's colorful, and only about $2 and change per pound. The shipping cost comes back a little harsh...but they overnight ship it to your doorstep! Even considering shipping, it's a few bucks cheaper over all for me to get the keys rock..and that's what I'm doing. 30lbs for a 40gallon breeder tank...and I have 3 basic reef rocks from the LFS taht weigh in at 10lbs.

I got 2 maxi-jets for current, each is rated at 295gph, so I'm over 10x per hour with the pair. I went with the prizm deluxe skimmer (not the prizm pro...too costly). I heard bad things about seaclones leaking and not being too great. my skimmer may not be enuf for a full reef, but by the time I'm ready for that, I can afford a cpr backpack or Remora.

Now I just gotta order my bulbs and light kit...2x96 watt with Miro reflectors from ahsupply.com. builing a simple canopy is easy