New to SW....Just a few questions

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

spongebobby

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
24
Location
Missouri
I have recently purchased a 55 gal oceanic aquarium with a CPR bak-pak (rated for 60 gal) with the bio-bale. This tank will be a FO tank. My questions are:

1) The LFS told me to only cover the bottom 1/2 inch with live sand, is that correct?
2) Can i have LR in this tank with standard FW lighting hood and the above mentioned filtration? If so ho much do i need for proper filtration?

Thanks for the help and any suggestions you have are welcomed.
This is a great site.
 
Welcome to AA!!!!

Personally I would have more sand. Go 2-3 inches if you want You dont need to have LIVE sand. just put Aragonite or Tropical PS and seed it with a cup of sand from your LFS SW tank.

As for the LR question, You said you wanted FO if you add live rock you'll have FOWLR. the LR will act as a bio-filter providing you have enough of it. A usual guideline is about 1 /12 Lbs per gallon.

The filter question is a little iffy. I havent heard much about these myself but I know other people here have.
Stick around, I'm sure someone else will answer that question for you.

AK
 
1/2" of sand is fine. You can have LR, but the light that comes with most 55gal tanks won't be enough. If you can find a couple of 48" fixtures and use a daylight bulb in one and an actinic in the other, you'll have enough light for the coraline. You probably won't be able to keep any photosynthetic critters though. I maintain a 75g tank with the above mentioned lighting. Coraline growth is good enough that I have to scrape it off the front glass every time I service the tank. Your skimmer should be fine. I'd remove the bio bale if you are going to have LR though. You'll need to pay close attention to your alkalinity and calcium levels to get decent coraline growth.
 
You should also invest in a powerhead to keep the water flow up. A heater would be helpful to keep the temp stable.
 
Ok got my tank set up, here it is

CPR bak-pak2 w/bio bale, 1/2 deep LS, Penguin 1140 PH for surface movement.
Ordered some walt smith rock,should be here Mon or Tues. Tank has been running for about 24 hrs. now.

My questions are,

The PH seems to be to much , there are actual pieces of the LS floating around in the tank, it's rated at 300 gph. Is that to much for a 55 gal ? Also can i put the LR in right win i get it ? It is cured so do i just remove the dead stuff that i can see and stick it in the tank? I only ordered 15 lbs. for cycle. How long will it take for the clarity of the water to get better?

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated.
 
Back
Top Bottom