First Salt Reef tank!!

[Yamyracer]

I am at the very early stages of this project. I have a 55 gallon tank with only water and salt in it. When should I add my crushed corals? How much should be added? And how long should I expect a canister filter rated for a 75 gallon tank, take to clear the water up to add corals, and fish?

Thanks for the help!

 

[mr_X]

Don't use any crushed coral. If you want a sand bottom, I would suggest something finer. Maybe something a little larger than sugar sized. the larger the grains, the more detritus (left over food and fish poop) will get trapped between them, causing you problems down the road.
You will need rock. You can use all dry rock or buy live rock from the lfs or an online vendor, but you will need to add that and then cycle the tank. Then comes fish, one or two at a time, with weeks in between so that your bacteria colony can grow to accommodate the bio load, then comes corals.
The canister filter should take a few days to clear the water and then it should be removed.

 

[Yamyracer]

Is CC really that bad? I like the look and was told with regular vacuum cleanings it would be fine. Although your not the first to suggest against CC.

So what im gathering is:
1. Water/Salt
2. Live sand/CC
3. Filter the water for a few days
4. Add rock and let cycle for a few days
5. Slowly add fish and coral

Starting today I should be adding my first fish in approx. 2 weeks

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

+1 on sand over the crushed coral. But in terms of the cycle, there's no way to tell how long it will take. 2 weeks may not be enough time, add your rock and sand then add an ammonia source (either pure ammonia or a thawed deli shrimp in a media bag or panty hose) and let nature take it's course. Any fish added before the cycle will be put through cruel and unnecessary pain as they'll be living in poison essentially.


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[mr_X]

Is CC really that bad? I like the look and was told with regular vacuum cleanings it would be fine. Although your not the first to suggest against CC.

So what im gathering is:
1. Water/Salt
2. Live sand/CC
3. Filter the water for a few days
4. Add rock and let cycle for a few days
5. Slowly add fish and coral

Starting today I should be adding my first fish in approx. 2 weeks

I would not want to vacuum the bed in my reef tank, ever. Eventually, there will be a lot of beneficial organisms living in the bed and you would be sucking them out to die.
As for "live" sand, you don't need it. Just buy dry sand and rinse it well before adding it. it will become live on it's own in a short time.
I agree with red in that a cycle will probably last longer than a couple days. I would wait on fish until you have seen an elevated ammonia level in the tank, and then seen (via test kits) that it disappeared.