55 gal setup

[Steve190]

60lbs of live sand 2 power heads protein skimmer 9lbs of live rock is what I have in it so far. It is starting to clear up from when I put in the salt. How soon should I wait too introduce fish to the tank and what type should I use to start with.

 

[bill302]

Prolly need about 40 additional lbs of live rock in near future. What is your salinity and do a google search on cycling a saltwater tank with a raw shrimp. you will need an ammonia, nitrate, nitrite test kit to begin with... Cycling with live fish is cruel to the fish.....

 

[Steve190]

Salinity nitrite nitrate ammonia and ph are all good. The rock is starting to peel so I plan on getting a filter to help collect it

 

[bettaowner]

I would add fish like firefish, ocellaris clowns, a pair of neon gobies, and tanaka's pygmy wrasse

 

[Steve190]

Added a sump thinking about taking the skimmer off because it creates small air bubbles when it returns the water to the tank

 

[Tkey3425]

Added a sump thinking about taking the skimmer off because it creates small air bubbles when it returns the water to the tank

What skimmer are you running? and you're probably going to need at least 10x the rock you have in there now. I use base rock with live sand in all of my tanks. Use 1-1.5 lbs of rock per gallon and the same formula for sand. Petsolutions.com has good dry base rock cheap. 50lbs for $70 free shipping. Its fairly porus and the pieces that weren't i fixed with a drill. I hate 90% of hitch hikers and live sand seems to be less likely to house them although I did have several sand sifters in my sand. My 200gal has 275+ lbs of rock. Maybe even more I never weighed it out together. And 250 lbs of live sand. The sand will seed your rock for bio filtration. My tank took 3 weeks to complete the ammonia cycle and another 1-2 weeks to stabilize. I've had fish in it since the first month. Boost it with some bacteria in a bottle every other day for 3 weeks and I added a raw shrimp for a couple days after the first week of letting everything settle. My tank has been running for 2 years and I haven't lost a single fish. Other than a snowflake clown that tried to catch a food pellet by my mp60 just before it hit 85% flow. Oh and also I'd take the aerator off of the power head. Saves you from evaporation and salt creep. What lighting are you going with?

 

[Steve190]

Took the aerator off didn't like it anyways. I have a 48 in led light. The skimmer is a hang on and I am going to put it in the sump eventually. I have added 30 more lbs of rock

 

[Tkey3425]

Took the aerator off didn't like it anyways. I have a 48 in led light. The skimmer is a hang on and I am going to put it in the sump eventually. I have added 30 more lbs of rock

You're on the right path. Just don't jump the gun on adding any fish or the hobby might become quite costly. Trust me I lost many due to impatience. Nothing good happens fast in marine aquariums. I personally do not cycle an aquarium with livestock and don't run my skimmer or uv sterilizer for the cycle either. Give it at least 4-6 weeks before adding any livestock. Best of luck. Also adding live rock after stocking with fish can cause a mini cycle unless its cured. Some LFS will falsely sell "cured" live rock and the die off will spike your parameters. I added 4 fish at a time in my 200 gallon and still got a readable spike so don't dump too many in.

 

[Jasonrusso]

Is the skimmer brand new? My reef octopus made micro bubbles for about a week but went away after it "broke in."