Starting a 55gal SW FOWLR

[Gilberh]

Hi all,
I have just joined the site and have found tons of great information from everyone but just wanted to share my plans and have input from experts about getting this tank setup.

My husband and I have been working with freshwater fish for 10 years. At one point we had four tanks going with our largest being 55 gal. We have no down graded to our 55 gal and a 30 gal tank. We are moving our FW fish from the 55 gal to the 30 and plan on turning the 55 gal into a SW tank. My husband and I visited about 7 different FS in our area this weekend and went on a shopping spree. We were hoping to keep cost to a reasonable budget but soon realized it will take a bit of money to get it started even with the tank and stand already here. We are going to turn our 10 gallon that we have not been using into our Qt tank. My husband and I already have a canster filter for the 55 and were going to purchase a second one the same size to help foster the filtering process. We also plan on purchasing live sand and rock from one of the local FS here. I have already bought a protein skimmer that was recommend on another forum. And I am looking at purchasing 2 powerheads to help with water circulation.

Some of the questions I have are.
-Should I purchase powerheads? If so what type and how many are needed for a 55 gallon tank?

-Sand vs crushed coral. Do I need both? I was already planning on purchasing live sand for the aquarium.

Any other suggestions/tips.

Thanks All!

 

[rive1404]

Welcome to AA, fellow Kentuckian!

I'm no expert, but I'll give my 2 cents. I have a 55 gallon FOWLR and I use a Fluval 405 as the only means of filtration. It serves adequate, but you have to remember to keep up with water changes and to clean out the canister's sponges and material regularly as lots of debris and other things of the sort will accumulate and pollute the water. I don't even use a protein skimmer, really. But I guess it wouldn't hurt.

I have one powerhead and its a Koralia 3. I point it towards the surface of the water to help with aerating the water.

I use live sand as my substrate. I've read that crushed coral tends to leach more nitrates and pollutants as detritus and other things accumulate, whereas live sand is a little easier to clean.

What kind of fish are you looking to put in there? And what kind of filter are you using?

 

[Aquarium1]

Welcome to the site , where in KY are you, if you don't mind?

I've heard Koralia's are great phs. I agree with rive, sand is better, although live sand isn't usually alive by the time its sold in the store, if you can get aragonite, that would just fine . Crushed coral can create nitrate factories. Protein skimmers are great methods of filtration, especially for tanks over 40g. Accompanied with live rock, you don't really need any other filter, as canisters can become a nitrate factory as well if you don't clean them regularly (with tank water of course).

 

[Gilberh]

My husband and I recently moved to Louisville. Right now we are using a Top Fin Power Filter 60 with 300 gph. We were looking at adding another one just to help with flitration but that sounds like we may not need it with the live rock and protein skimmer we have. The fish we were looking at putting in the tank eventually are:
1 damsel
2 clowns
2 chalk basslet
1 flasher wrasse
3 cardinalfish
2 coral banded shrimp

We may end up putting in less depending on how the tank is doing with the system we have running. It seems a little overwhelming right now but I guess we will get there eventually.

 

[melosu58]

Here is a good link on starting tanks and equipment needs.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/stock-list-and-tips-for-maintaining-your-sw-tank-73477.html

 

[Patrick Cox]

Hi fellow Kentuckians! I am in Lexington and starting a 36 Gal. SW FOWLR. I just ordered my LR and Sand online. You can get much better prices online than from LFS. I will let you know how it looks. I will start a build thread this week once my supplies show up. Good luck on your new tank.

Pat

 

[Gilberh]

The cheapest place we have found here is Sandy's which has live rock for $4 lb and $2 for live sand (not dry) its actually been cycled in a tank. We were thinking of buying maybe 10 lbs of live rock to go in the tank. Haven't decided yet if I should get it online or not. Might have to cure it once it gets here probably wouldnt be wet and I knew shipping would probably be expensive. But it will probably be a week before we put any rock or sand in so let me know. I bought araganite sand from Petsmart here a 20 # bag was $22. Dont know if I paid too much or not but it seemed like a good deal.

 

[rive1404]

I bought my aragonite sand from Petsmart for the same price. Make sure you rinse the sand well or the water gets murky real easy. You may want to end up getting more LR unless your plan is to slowly add rock over time, which is what I did; just make sure not to add too much at a time or you'll have a mini cycle.

I never realized there were so many people from Kentucky here. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but have any of you been to kyreef.com? It's a pretty cool community where you can meet other saltwater addicts in Kentucky. There's also some great deals on the classifieds.

 

[Patrick Cox]

The cheapest place we have found here is Sandy's which has live rock for $4 lb and $2 for live sand (not dry) its actually been cycled in a tank. We were thinking of buying maybe 10 lbs of live rock to go in the tank. Haven't decided yet if I should get it online or not. Might have to cure it once it gets here probably wouldnt be wet and I knew shipping would probably be expensive. But it will probably be a week before we put any rock or sand in so let me know. I bought araganite sand from Petsmart here a 20 # bag was $22. Dont know if I paid too much or not but it seemed like a good deal.

Here is where I ordered my LR and LS. It was recommended by another poster in these forums. I spoke on the phone with the owner and he gave me confidence about ordering from them. I should have my order on Thursday or Friday so if you can wait, I will let know how it looks.

pat

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