i need some help new 55gal

[lostseamonkey]

i finally decided on what i want to do but now i need some help
heres my idea i need some ideas on quanity of each please
have not orderd the skimmer or filter yet thought i would get opinions here first? thanks all
55gallon tank with canopy with light
Aquaclear 500 Aquarium Filter
Jebo Skimmer
Bangaii Cardinal
Tang
clownfish
firefish
Wrasse
foxface
Hermit Crabs
snails/crabs
Starfish
Shrimp
Sea Anemone
Some Corals
Mushrooms
sand

[mastershake]

not certain but i hear bad things about jebo products...cheap korean company or something. also if you want anemones and corals you are gonna need more lights then just the strip light that comes with the tank, either more strips or PC s or soemthing. also a lot of people woul;d suggest a bigger tank for a tang, they tend to need lots of swimming room, what kind were you considering? and i would suggest liverock simply for the filtration purposes, its great biological, the skimmer and the aquaclear wont help with that which is probably the most important.

[electrikat]

I have the jebo skimmer and jebo lights and they are just fine. If you get enough live rock you won't need the filter so save your money. You are going to need 3 to 5 wpg on the lighting if you will only be getting shrooms and polyps. A standard lighting that comes with the tank won't even come close to being enough(like mastershake said). Ditto about the tang. Be sure to get one of the ones that don't get very big if you just have to have one.

[lostseamonkey]

thanks ill leave out the tang any ideas on how many pounds of rock shrooms & sand i will look into the extra lighting thanks

[electrikat]

1 1/2 to 2 pounds per gallon. The rocks that the shrooms come on will be counted as well but the 1 1/2 pounds is your starting point in general. I have been told 1 pound per gallon on the sand but am not as sure of that as the rock.

[nickthapainter]

use the "calculators" link at the top of the page: it will give you how much sand you need depending on the dimensions of the tank and the sandbed depth you wish. (nifty little tool)

[PatM]

If you go to the AA home page there is a sand bed depth calculator which should give you a good idea of how much sand you need. electrikat is right on with the live rock, 1 1/2 to 2 lbs per gallon will provide great filtration. Forget the aqua clear filter and go with plenty of live rock, a deep sand bed, usually about 4 inches or so (use calculator), and plenty of power heads to keep the water moving. You'll also need 3-5 watts per gallon of lighting for soft corals, and more for more of the advanced hard corals. As for the anenome you need to give the tank about 6 months minimum to mature and then the anenome you choose must fit your lighting output. There are some anenomes that will survive under low lighting and some which require very high lighting, just do your homework. Also, stick to about 1-2 crabs/snails/janitors per gallon to keep the tank in tip top shape. I cannot speak for the Jebo skimmers but I use the lights and have had no problems, except that I had to throw out the cheap bulbs and replace upon arrival because they sucked!

[PatM]

I see that as I slowly toiled away at writing my reply everybody else already wrote what I was writing.