Tom's 55G Saltwater

[TommyP]

Rearranged all of my rock and hooked up the lighting system. It seems to have 4 T5s. 2 are white and 2 are blue(uv I believe) and 4 LEDs. Here are some pics lmk what you think! Also I noticed a clam. Seems dead idk anything about it. It came with the live Rock I bought from the lady.

[Beengirl]

I like it!! Looks good, leaves plenty of swimming room. Made some crevices for fish to hide. Good job. And that looks to be a brain coral skeleton to me in the 2nd pic.

[TommyP]

Thank you so much. It's my first real tank I have a nano so it was a lot easier/less expensive to get started. What kind of cuc should I get? Resfs2go has some good packages with free shipping. How many snails/crabs/ shrimp should I get?

[Beengirl]

It being a new tank, you probably don't have a lot of algae, so don't get a big CUC to start, or else they might starve. So start with a small package. Eventually you'll need a lot, but no right now. I like scarlet reef hermits, they're supposed to be nicer than red or blue- legged ones. Nassarius, astrea, banded trochus, conch. Vary the CUC and all the surfaces shroud get cleaned.

[TommyP]

How many of what do you think I should start with? Anyone else have opinions as well would be great!

I'm going to get a cleaner shrimp when I buy a clown. I have 1 clown already in a nano tank I've had. Is it a good idea to put him in first or wait until I buy another clown and introduce them to the tank together? He's been alone for about 1 month.

[Spicemonkey]

Many questions... i am setting up a 55g myself
1. Protein skimmer...best unit for $ and what size?
2. CUC what types? How many?
I have a 12g nano currently very well established 2 nessarius snails, 2 turbo & 4 blue leg crabs. 1 firefin and lrge variety of corals

I want a fuge/wet-dry but cant figure out how to fit it with only 11" width under tank hmph. So i will prolly have to suffice with canister filter

[Jaketit]

Build your own stand for a 20 gallon long refugium/sump to fit underneath. Believe me I got a 55 and started just like you did. Canister and all and I had all types of problems until I built my stand and fuge.

[Jaketit]

http://www.aquacave.com/Reef-Octopus...Vue-P2275.aspx
Here us the skimmer I used on my 55. It worked great. Now I got it on my sump and its still workin good.

[TommyP]

What do I do from this point on. Just tested the water.

[Beengirl]

Originally Posted by TommyP

How many of what do you think I should start with? Anyone else have opinions as well would be great!

I'm going to get a cleaner shrimp when I buy a clown. I have 1 clown already in a nano tank I've had. Is it a good idea to put him in first or wait until I buy another clown and introduce them to the tank together? He's been alone for about 1 month.

Ive built the CUC over time. Right now I have about 20 Nassarius (need a few more), about 30 astrea and about 10-ish bande trochus, 2 conchs. 1 cleaner shrimp (love him!!).

If they're not already paired, don't think it matters too much where they meet, just make sure you get one much smaller than the other. I would put him in the DT if it cycled. From what I've read, more likely to have fighting if the tank I small, so the DT would be better.

[TommyP]

i think the tank is almost cycled i have to get the trites down. i posted a picture of the test results today if anyone can chime in and let me know what i should do please. thank you.

[Beengirl]

Originally Posted by TommyP

i think the tank is almost cycled i have to get the trites down. i posted a picture of the test results today if anyone can chime in and let me know what i should do please. thank you.

I see it now, the tests didn't show up on the phone app at first. Yeah, nitrites are too high to put anything in there yet. It's a waiting game at this point.

[TommyP]

Is there anything I can do to get them down? Will a water change help?

[Beengirl]

There's no real way to speed up the cycle that I know of. The nitrite eating bacteria grows slower Than the ammonia ones do. I've heard that turning the heater up into mid 80's can help it grow faster. You said you have a QT tank, right? If its cycled, you could seed the filter/sump with media from your QT tank. That'll help it along.

[Rosesrblu1]

I have the eshopps hob skimmer and its fantastic! Quick break in and pulls all sorts of nasty junk!!

[Ingy]

All the new rock may have caused what looks like a mini cycle. Typically mini cycles caused by adding LR are short lived. Wait a couple days and retest.

[TommyP]

Thanks I will retest it next week. I'm anxious to add fish but I'm definitely going to do this right.

I don't have a qt tank yet bc the 10g I have now has some live rock and a sand star a peppermint shrimp a clown fish in it so I don't want to cut up the media yet bc I still need it for the tank until the 55 is done.

[TommyP]

Hey all. Now that I have my light fixture set up I need something to close the top of the tank. I went to petco to buy 2 24" all glass top covers but it doesn't fit properly. I also have 2 brackets (1 on each side) for the lighting system so it makes it difficult for me to find something. What do you people do to prevent evaporation? Is it needed?

[TommyP]

Am I ready for fish? Tank is clear. Live rock has been in. Bio wheels are darker in color.

[Khij159753]

I'd just get the nitrates a little lower before gettin coral but yes you could add a fish