Jack's 55 gal build.

[Jack22]

I've had my tank set up for about 2 months. This is my fist saltwater tank. Wanted to say thanks to everyone, this forum has been a huge help.
Started out with 50lbs of dry rock and 7lbs of live rock, just starting to get some purple and green spreading over all the rocks. I'm officially addicted to this hobby. Already wanting a bigger tank.

 

[Beengirl]

Your tank looks great! Welcome to the addiction!! (It only gets worse.) Lol.

 

[Jack22]

Thanks. I added my first corals a few days ago. A mushroom, star polyps, a kenya tree coral and a Xenia. Can't wait till they start growing.

 

[Jack22]

Added 2 star snails and a sand sifting starfish to my clean up crew. I rearranged some of my rock work and vacuumed the substrate, must have stirred up some silicate cause boom here comes another diatom bloom.

 

[Dano.]

Added 2 star snails and a sand sifting starfish to my clean up crew. I rearranged some of my rock work and vacuumed the substrate, must have stirred up some silicate cause boom here comes another diatom bloom.

Yup got to love those diatoms, lol. I try not to mess with my sand bed. I let my clean up crew mess with that. But the tank is looking great so far! Love the rock work

 

[Jack22]

Went to my LFS to get filter media and ended up buying a lot more...

Added a white torch frag, what I think is a frogspawn frag, and a Sailfin Tang. Here's some pics. Hard to see the Sailfin he's grazing in the back.

 

[Jack22]

Couldn't be happier with my tank, except for this stupid seaclone protein skimmer. Worked okay for a few weeks then I cleaned the collection cup and rinsed out the filter foam on the pump. Now I have a tank full of micro bubbles that I can't get rid of and it's super loud. Not making a weird noise or anything I just louder than it was.

Anyone have any suggestions for solving these problems or should I just write it off as a bad investment and look for a new skimmer? If so, can anyone suggest a good model? I'm looking for a hang on tank shimmer that works well and is reasonably quiet when running.

 

[Jack22]

Sense I'm going to have to rip apart my entire tank to get all my fish in a quarantine tank (Ich problems) I figured I'd redo the aqua scape. Anyone have any ideas that look good in a 55? I have around 60lbs of rock. I was thinking 2 big pyramids, one in each back corner and leaving the middle and front open.

 

[Phranque]

I like the way you've got it arranged. Looks like you've got good flow around all the rock-work......though I'm thinking you could use another powerhead on the right hand side. If you stack the rock in two side pyramids in the back corners, you are going to have dead areas in & behind the rocks where detritus & old food are going to collect and cause you some serious headaches.

 

[Jack22]

I agree, I wish I had bought 2 smaller power heads instead of one big one. That's a good point about the dead spots too, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks.

 

[Jack22]

Anyone run a UV sterilizer? How effective are they?

 

[HovaRockz]

I have my uv sterilizer running non stop it does wonders to my water quality, I love it... It's was a great investment

 

[HovaRockz]

Tanks looks great by the way, how about an update photo jack

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Here's my 55 if you wanted to see a scape... Lots
of hiding places.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

This is what it looked like before...

 

[Jack22]

I think they both look great Benamayer.

The second pic is kinda what I was thinking. What made you change it up? Also, is that a long spine urchin in the second pic? My LFS has one that I'm tempted to buy.

 

[Jack22]

Tanks looks great by the way, how about an update photo jack

Thanks. I had to quarantine all my fish thanks to an Ich outbreak. Had to destroy most of my rock work to catch them so my tank is a mess right now. I'll post an updated pic this weekend after I put it all back together.

 

[HovaRockz]

Ok can't wait to see how it comes out looked very promising

 

[Jack22]

Got some great advise on the sick fish forum. Thanks everyone.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I can only imagine you had some comments on the Sailfin in a 55 gallon tank. Good luck to you. Since you already have a ICH outbreak, you may want to evaluate what started it.