new to salt water

[spencelee10]

What's a good skimmer

 

[spencelee10]

Is the sea clone skimmer a solid buy? Maybe for later on down the road. Is there a better protein skimmer for a better buy?

 

[spencelee10]

Ok so I think I'm getting a 55 gallon rather than the 20 long. So I'm just wondering if I start as just a fowlr can I just use the stock fluorescent lighting then upgrade to the t5 when I add coral. Also any stocking suggestions?

 

[carey]

The 55g will be much more fun! And yes for fowlr you can use the stock lighting.

What kind of fish do you like? I always recommend gobies and blennies and of course the obligatory clown fish LOL

 

[spencelee10]

My thoughts were 2 false perc clowns, definitely a firefish (can I keep more than 1 in a 55), a bicolor dottyback, and a dwarf flame angel, what other suggestions? Also r all these reef safe?

 

[carey]

i hear that firefish are jumpers. do you have a lid on your tank?
I think flame angles are hit or miss on corals but the others are fine i believe.

And i think you have room for the firefish not sure if they get along with each other. you might wanna check

 

[spencelee10]

I'll b using the hood until I get coral then I was going to use egg crate with my t5 lighting

 

[spencelee10]

Also if I get the flame unselfish should I add it before or after I start adding coral? Which will make it less prone to nip?

 

[carey]

I'm not sure if theres any order in adding the fish vs. corals. Sorry...

 

[spencelee10]

So if I add
2 firefish
2 occ. Clowns
1 bicolor dottyback
1 flame angel
Will that b overstocked for a 55?

 

[carey]

I don't think so. i have 4 clowns, a blenny, goby and a royal gramma in my 55g with room to spare.

 

[spencelee10]

Could I keep a green mandarin with my current setup? I've heard they r very hard to take care of but could I just add it after my tank had been established?

 

[carey]

Your looking at at least a year of establishing your tank if ever. I've been tossing around the idea but they really are almost impossible to keep.

 

[spencelee10]

What if I established a colony of copepods for them to eat

 

[carey]

I was going to setup an entire 10g tank to grow pods. BUT I've researched it to death and even then it probably wouldnt be enough to keep it alive. I've heard they can eat 1000 pods a meal 3x a day. theres no way you can grow that many. they are recommended for large established tanks with at least 70lbs of LR.

 

[spencelee10]

Yeah sounds like a little too much for a beginner like me. What about adding a six line wrasse or a yellow tail damsel or both