help with a new tank

[Dvsfx]

So I have been running my 10g nano/sw tank for a little over 4 months now with one minor issue that has been i cant seem too keep any coral frags alive 2 zoa slowly crapped out on me and i really dont know why :s but as far as everything else in my tank including 3hermits 3 snails 1 emerald 1 pom pom and a blue velvet damsel all seem to be healthy and all have sum serious personalities (which ive grown to love) of there own.

Anyway ive decided to upgrade and give everyone a little more space to roam.. now this is were my questions come in
I have this allure to hexagon tanks and there's this 55gal at my lfs im tempted to pick up, now ive probably made a couple mistakes in my first tank when setting it up and I want to really do it superb this time,
so ill try an do a step my step of that in my head and list the questions i would come across ...
how deep of a sand bed? ive heard dsb(6inches) are good for nitrafying bacteria. is this true? and how could i airate it and keep it fresh, so to speak
how much live rock? I have about 12lbs in my 10gallon so should I duplicate this ratio into the 55?
skimmer? never used one and dont know much about them
even on my 10 gallon I get well what i would call surface scum? which i find quite annoying how could i prevent this?
im not really going to worry about the lighting until later because I know I will need powerfull ones to penetrate the depth of the water and i never really see ones that arnt super long at my lfs.
I was also thinking about (even though i lack the knowledge on this atm) of sumhow converting my current 10 gallon well i have 2 into a refugium for the 55 or even having like one 10 gallon as a refugium and one 10 gallon as a tank to keep my prized boxer crab so i can keep an eye on him & practicing with corals since i do have proper lighting for it(or should anyway) and maybe connecting them all with a series of pumps and overflows so the total water mass would be 75gallons,
tell me if this is a terrible idea, im here to learn and will not take offence.

and finaly I would like to have the 55hex a semi-aggresive/predator tank
im sure my damsel can hold his own in that kind of enviroment and i think it would be good for him to be a little challenged , so what would be sum good options for livestock?
and i do realize i will be more limited in the hex over a 55 gallon long, do to the surface to air contact.
So all input is greatly appreciated I know I have alot of questions and its all alot to read over but im sure you all understand once you start talking about the aquatic life you look after you quickly realize its more a passion then a hobby

 

[spoonman]

I think a hex would be very limiting. Rock structures would be narrow and tall, not leaving much space for corals without shading each other. I personally would go with a longer and shallower tank for one of the reasons you mentioned. Easier to get light to the bottom.

 

[Dvsfx]

thanks spoonman , yea another good point i didnt realize over shadowing from other corals. well im not really worried about the coral aspect of the tank as of now I probably wont even consider adding any for a long time. I like them for the actully footprint of the aquarium as im not really interested in devoting huge amounts of space to aquariums , and i can get my coral fix from my 10 gallon, but what did u think of my idea? of having the 55 as a dt, a 10gal as a refugium and a 10gal as just coral tank and have the water cycle through them all? even if i get a long tank i can still use this same concept.

 

[spoonman]

I am very new to the whole sump/refugium world. I have a 29 gallon with a canister filter and am setting up a 75 gallon with sump. So, I am in the learning stages of sumps/refugiums. Seems like it could work though. Fish will have to be chosen carefully also. Some require swimming space that a hex would not have. I would think fish like cardinals...etc would be OK since they don't need a lot of swimming room.

 

[Dvsfx]

well ty, although the hex may be eye pleasing to me im sure alot of fish will find a 50 gallon long alot more spacious.
I have much to consider, Thanks again!

 

[sanchezkk]

I am have a question about a new tank myself.

I am now in the later phases of the fishless cycle. My ammonia source is converting to nitrites within 2- 4 hours at a time. My Nitrites are off the charts. Now my question is: why are my nitrates still at 20-40 and not gone off the charts like the nitrites?

 

[carey]

I would pass on a hex tank, I had one and it just wasn't very user friendly. LOL Hard to rockscape and light so I went with a 29g regular tank which was a lot more fun.

If you have the room for a four foot tank I would highly recommend a 75g. Same size as a 55g but 6 inches wider. It is an awesome tank to rockscape and to keep a great selection of fish so you won't be wanting or needing to upgrade again for a while. lol

 

[Animal-Chin]

55hex a semi-aggresive/predator tank

Problem with a 55 is semi agresive fish usually need more space. If you put a trigger or puffer in a 55 it'll probably stress out and die eventually. I found for my 55 good fish are wrasse's, clowns, blenny's, small angels like a coral beauty and cardinals. When I first set up my tank I thought 55 was big so I bought a humuhumu trigger, a butterfly and a blue dot puffer, none of them made it.

 

[Dvsfx]

well thanks everyone really helped me out on the decision , and Sanchezkk im a beginner myself so I dont claim this to be the 'actual anwser but my opinion would be that..
cycling a tank is exactly that a cycle
ammonia converts into nitrite and then into nitrate
so if i would make sense of this i would say that it would take alot longer to see nitrates then the time it takes for you to see nitrites and maybe the conversion process from ammonia > nitrite happens alot quicker then nitrite > nitrate.
dont know for sure but that would be my opinion, i know this is probably a big no-no in the fish community but I was soo confuzed when I was in the fish store staring at all the supplements and test kits that i only purchased a nitrate test kit out of the 3 and seeing as it may be the last stage in the cycle that was alright one day I did the test and that test tube was glowing and then the next nothing so i judged that was the end of my cycle
slightly over a week in a 10 gallon with uncured LR , i waited a week and added a cuc and 3 more until i added a fish , and he's still going strong.
Hope that helped

 

[Dvsfx]

another question thats sort of off topic but im very curious is...
my bv damsel kicks up the sand with his tail, i looked it up and apparently it can be a form of nesting done by males so i female has a clean spot to lay her eggs, which is quite brilliant because i finally know which sex he is.. which leads me too. are damsels capable of chaging sexes like other fish?

 

[sanchezkk]

well thanks everyone really helped me out on the decision , and Sanchezkk im a beginner myself so I dont claim this to be the 'actual anwser but my opinion would be that..
cycling a tank is exactly that a cycle
ammonia converts into nitrite and then into nitrate
so if i would make sense of this i would say that it would take alot longer to see nitrates then the time it takes for you to see nitrites and maybe the conversion process from ammonia > nitrite happens alot quicker then nitrite > nitrate.
dont know for sure but that would be my opinion, i know this is probably a big no-no in the fish community but I was soo confuzed when I was in the fish store staring at all the supplements and test kits that i only purchased a nitrate test kit out of the 3 and seeing as it may be the last stage in the cycle that was alright one day I did the test and that test tube was glowing and then the next nothing so i judged that was the end of my cycle
slightly over a week in a 10 gallon with uncured LR , i waited a week and added a cuc and 3 more until i added a fish , and he's still going strong.
Hope that helped

I see what you are saying and I agree but what does CUC mean?

 

[Dvsfx]

sorry for all the questions to anyone that may get annoyed I do gather information from other sources but I always like to double check on here after. So another thing is what size of tank would a skimmer start to be like mandatory for and what would I /be able to go up to and still get away with one, doing weekly water changes? or with a bigger tank could I even do water changes bi-weekly?

 

[Dvsfx]

CUC= clean up crew. lol yea aquatic lingo, i just picked that one up recently;P I started off with 3 various hermits since variety is the spice of life and an emerald that hitchhiked on my life rock, so she actully survived the whole cycling process and I didnt even acclimate her its been nice watching her grow and i tell yea those lil guys are almost fearless I would recommend one since they one of the only things known to eat bubble algae. furthermore you will probably get to a stage in your tank soon after cycling when everything gets coverd in a rusty color , which is called diatoms' I was told they will go away but if u want get a few troshus snails, they cleaned my tank up in a day and there very tough able to right themselves and even shake would be predators (hermits) off of them. But these would all depend on what sort of fish plan to put in your tank because im pretty sure they would be quick snacks for a puffer

 

[sanchezkk]

Oh okay that makes more sense to me now.

Also, now this is only an observation of an article I read at some time, about skimmers and such. I read that Mangrove roots in a tank can and would replace a skimmer. If I were you, I would research that and give it a try. I also remember the article stating that it would totally eliminate the need for a skimmer. I hope that helps.

 

[Dvsfx]

great suggestion ! as i am deffinatly building a refugium from one of my 10 gallons . i will look more into this and give it serious consideration. ahh i love this hobby so much i wish to turn it into a profession one day